#a problem with many love triangle YA plots | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

daisymylove · 1 year

Text

Right, I may get some heat for this, but here we go. MAJOR SPOILERS OF CHOT AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

As someone who had been waiting for this book for TWO YEARS, my main take away is that Chain of thorns ended being an utter disappointment. As a former fan of Game of thrones, and other fans will get my meaning, I say this book gives me season 8 vibes: a ludicrous and incomplete conclusion to something that could’ve been epic, marinated on wasted potential.The thing is, we KNOW everything will turn out alright with the world at the end and the villains will fail, after all, this is a prequel on a ya series.We know that many of those characters are the ancestors of the TMI and TDA gangs, BUT that does not mean it couldn’t have been a very enjoyable story that leaves you at the edge of your seat, for we would get to see HOW things came to be

What bothers me the most is how Daisy’s protagonism was stolen, and that’s a first for a cc lead.

Its hinted several times in TDA that Cordelia was a hero whose name shadowhunter history would never forget.She was the sword that stood between evil and the world, saving it from doom on a byegone era... but she kinda didn’t? I shit you not, Cordelia’s greatest features on this book were to kill Tatiana (seriously?) and bang james on a tub.And that’s all.And if anyone had to kill tatiana at all, that person should be grace, it would be a great end to her arc of abuse, but that’s beside the point here

All the build up of “we must get cordelia in there so she can vanquish belial and end this’’ was for literally NOTHING.

After so many people either doubting her, or saying she was their only hope, after spending most of the book not fighting and staying on the sidelines because of the paladin busyness (and making some unhinged decisions along the way), she doesn’t fight Belial AT ALL. WHAT? If she had stabbed james, would it be cohf 2.0? well yes, but it still would’ve been better than james going “time for suicide mission lololol” and driving cortana to his chest.And the healing blade? where did that come from? That was such a cheap way for him to not die

The trip to Edom was for literally nothing.Sure, it brought her and lucie closer after the strain on their friendship,but that doesn’t require a trip to Edom, they could’ve just talked and sorted out their shit

Kit’s death was ridiculous and UNmourned. Tatiana, who has no training whatsoever, killed him throwing a poisoned dagger on his shoulder. Nevermind that In book one this boy survived an also poisoned gash that ripped his torso open. Who remembers that anyway? Its not absurd at all.

Point being that if youre going to kill him, do it with dignity and give weight to it.We don’t see his funeral, we don’t see the adults finding it out, nor his parents and henry mourning, we barely see the tlh gang mourning.Jem was throughly mourned, AND HE DIDN’T EVEN DIE.Kit’s death was the literary equivalent of the Loki meme “yes very sad, anyway”

On the topics of things we didn’t see, I’m livid that there was so much page time wasted on that senseless love triangle THAT EVERYBODY KNEW WOULD AMOUNT TO PRECIOUS NOTHING, and many important things were either told, or left open.I just wish this love triangle had never happened and Cordelia and matt had remained platonic friends. Give matthew another love interest or none at all, he and james already had enough problems to work through as it was

They could’ve left for france together as just friends you know. They could’ve even kissed on the basis of “why the fuck not? we are both pining and everything already went to shit anyway”, but then realized it was a mistake and let’s leave it at that.Also it came to a point where the romantic stalling of the minor couples was just too much, it felt like page filler instead of the true conflict resolution they needed to set things right and be together.I was reading all that and wondering “all right, but where’s the actual plot?”

the explanation for the family tree was ridiculous.I would prefer some “when the city of bones fell, we lost an awful lot of data, and thats why all the documentation of the period is messed up”

The whole conflict of the clave finding out about Jesse’s identity was resolved too easily at the end

Matthew coming clean to his parents and charlotte being pregnant again was such a big and anticipated moment, and yet all we get is Cordelia telling us what james told her

Charles comes out in front of everyone and we dont see that

Will and tessa cry thinking their kids are gonna die and we dont see that

Thomas’ come out was a bit better, but it was still telling rather than showing

dont get me started on the plot holes.Im pretty sure cc said we would see james get more powers, but all we got was the as old as time cliche of protagonists losing their powers, and that didnt make a slight of sense.They automatically lose their powers after belial “dies”, while tessa remains very much a warlock and a shapeshifter? Make it make sense. Those powers come first and foremost from Tessa, Belial dying doesnt alter the demonic blood on their veins

The cherry on the top of a long list of absurdities, to me, are the watchers. Anyone can correct me if Im wrong, but how in the world there were so many dead silent brothers and iron sisters? it doesnt add up, there should be some of them, but not enough to flood dozens of shadowhunters on their own.The nephilim only have a thousand years of existence, (magnus said more than once that he has met warlocks who had been born before the first shadowhunter was created) and those folks not only live absurdly long lives, but tend to die of natural causes.Jem lived for over a century as a silent brother and aged only two years.It doesnt add up

also am I missing something, or how matthew, thomas and alastair escaped the massive statues was completely brushed over?

The two truths and a lie was total bullshit.It was also said that there would be political marriage, the gang would go to idris and camille and wolsey would make come backs,but none of that happened.

thats it, thats my rant that probably no one will read bc of how fucking long it is

90 notes · View notes

wingedshadowfan · 7 months

Text

some basic ya/fantasy/romance tropes that fourth wing took a spin on, imo (spoilers)

-weak and dainty female character trope - while violet is physically smaller, weaker and gets injured easily, we find it's due to a disability she was born with and there are two main ways she goes about this: she trains hard to become stronger, wherever that's possible, and also uses disability aid (because isn't that what Tairn's saddle is? the shorter daggers too, to some extent) which i think is so important and much better than her refusing that aid/never getting it in the first place, she takes no shit from characters who look at her like there's something wrong with her but she also knows her own body and its limitations

-the demsel in distress female character trope (similar to the one above) - because of her physical disadvantage and her lack of preparation for the riders quadrant, violet gets saved/protected by others in many situations and even gets accused of "hiding behind strong men", but as the book - and her training - goes on, she begins to stand her ground more and more, earning herself the nickname "violence" and making up for any physical shortcomings with intelligence, stubbornness and fervor, hard work, skill and good character (the reason why tairn and andarna both chose her, the former giving her a crazy op signet), so much so that she ends up single-handedly offing the guy who accused her of not being able to defend herself

-the enemies to lovers trope - unpopular take but violet and xaden were never truly enemies! despite it being marketed that way. at least not on xaden's part - his dad didn't kill brennan and he's known this (him responding with "hardly" when she said they were even when they first met at parapet), we don't know if he knows this but while lilith did "catch" his dad, she was against forcing the rebellion children to watch the executions too. so violet basically started off as a nuisance to him (she was never strong enough to be a problem - he thought the parapet would end her for him if need be), after watching her for a while - seeing the mismatched boots, her collecting berries, flinging the daggers, choosing to keep his secret, poisoning people, defying all odds - he even made sure the other marked ones wouldn't try to kill her either, which he easily could've just stood aside and let happen, because she became interesting to him, again through intelligence, skill and kindness, and the (mutual) interest and attraction developed into feelings; on her part it was a bit more difficult because she knew less and felt like everyone was out to get her, her most trusted people had warned her about him so she naturally kept thinking he hated her and wanted her dead - but other than him moving her squad to fourth wing on parapet day he'd made no moves indicating he wanted to harm her and had consistently been helping her instead; they never hated each other personally because they didn't know each other and when they really got to know each other, they just found respect and admiration for the other

-the good guy/bad guy/good girl love triangle (though it's usually more of an angle or a choice the girl needs to make) - in the very very beginning i was rooting for dain because i love childhood friends to lovers and i thought running from the riders quadrant could be a turn the plot takes for violet, i also personally didn't see myself finding a guy who wanted me dead all that sexy (even less considering his dad killed my brother), especially when he's apparently a cold blooded murderer, emotionally unavailable and generally quite threatening, but i am well aware there's a specific demographic who would eat the dark moody ripped bad guy up and leave the "boring" soft cute nice good guy childhood friend in the dust - that's a trope i despise and i'm so glad that here a) violet fully acknowledges, despite being physically attracted to xaden, that he's toxic and she shouldn't like him because he can't meet her emotional needs. and i don't remember characters from other books with this trope being so delightfully intelligent and self-aware (which is important because otherwise you're basically selling young girls the idea that this is okay and that unavailable, dangerous, messy men are hot and you can fix them - violet doesn't even try to fix him, she sets a firm boundary and forces him to fix himself and get his shit together if he wants her!) and b) it turns out xaden and dain's roles are actually reversed, with dain being much more toxic, manipulative, hypocritical and crossing boundaries he shouldn't be, while xaden is more supportive, attentive and caring, protective but not coddling, and while he's not ready to admit a lot of things to himself just yet, he's got some self awareness going for him too and he's sworn to do better (so rare in such books)

#fourth wing #rebecca yarros #xaden riorson #violet sorrengail #dain aetos #riorgail #iron flame #fantasy #romance #young adult #new adult #the empyrean

20 notes · View notes

fairysbookshelf · 19 days

Text

Princess of Dawn by Megan Gilbert

Princess of Dawn By Megan Gilbert

Book Stats:

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(4/5)

Spice Rating: YA ❤️

Tropes: Love Triangle, Chosen One

Publisher: Crafted Press

Review:

When her father dies, Galdina is forced to take the crown. Only problem? She hasn’t received her power from the gods yet, and can’t technically take the throne until she receives it. Not to mention, there are many people who wish not to see Galdina on the throne. The Syndicate-The other governing body, still view her as a child, and believe she needs to be married before she can take the throne-leading to 5 suitors showing up during the week of mourning.

This book gives me such red queen by Victoria Aveyard! It has that same kind of plot feel-The plot twists have me reeling, so much so I wanted to throw my book across the room. This book kept me very much engaged, which is hard to do with me and fanasty. The book overall was just very well written and was easy for my brain to understand.

The characterization and character growth was generally amazing. I really enjoyed it!

I also loved the use of multi-POV, it really added that extra kick/layer to the storyline.

My only complaint is that it could’ve used a tiny more world building in the begging-more than just a map. The way the world is set up is perfect, as it’s definitely unique but it was hard to fully grasp because they were saying all these words about the highlands and the low lands and I had no idea what they were talking about!

They also alluded to mistakes that the former king made- but didn’t actually explain them and just alluded to them.

Overall it was a great read, highly recommend if you love Victoria Aveyard or even Leigh Bardugo!

#book of the month #book quotes #book review #bookish #booklr #books #books & libraries #books and reading #bookstagram #bookworm

3 notes · View notes

twistedr0se · 2 years

Text

Twst fan writings and fem!readers | a retrospective

DISCLAIMER: This isn't calling any writer out in particular, I've just been seeing many of these tropes within the twst writing sphere and I wanted to open up the dialogue and comment on it. Don't use this as an attack on anyone in particular or use this as something to "expose" someone for.

First things first I'd like to prefice that I actually do enjoy reading works and discussions with fem!readers from time to time. I myself enjoy all forms of reader no matter the gender expression as it gives me the true experience of reading through the many stories and scenarios from every single gender expression I embody throughout my life. I wouldn't want fem!reader content to be eradicated just because of some mistakes nor do I want it to be seen as something horrible. From my perspective fem!readers have helped me a lot in gender expression and sexuality and I'm sure it can be very euphoric for many nb and trans individuals just like the gender neutral and masc readers have done for me as well! Just because something is flawed it doesn't make it unreadable nor does it make it unsalvagable.

So from a fem!reader enjoyer's perspective (and one who is nb to fem aligned in the gender spectrum) I'd like to discuss many of the things that I find I take issue with when reading many of the fem!reader works and discussions within the twst fandom. With that, I'll get down to the specifics.

Part 1 - Objectification

When it comes to the fem!reader stories and headcannons I've seen so far, there is a sense of objectification that I pick up from a lot of the stories that center fem!readers. This is one that centers fem!readers the most as masc!readers and genderneutral!readers don't quite get this treatment. Some examples go along the lines of twst boys treating the mc as a prize or something to "possess" or "claim".

This is even more amplified when it comes to works relating to romance as it's primary plots (and even more when it involves love triangles or two or more twst boys). That is not to say that jealousy or possessiveness itself is inheritly problematic or something taboo to write about, but the many times I've seen jealous headcannons of readers being subjected to many things against their wills and having it not be acknowledged is something that needs to be discussed on.

The possessiveness that is portrayed upon by the twst boys in fanon can be very uncomfortable to read upon considering that many of these portrayals fall prey to the same trope as the poorly written YA genre in terms of how badly it treats female leads. Things when the boys develop an overwhelming jealousy against the reader to the point where it harms them (isolating them from their friends, locking them away somewhere, etc) is not something that can be pleasant to read for general headcannons that have this out in the open.

Personally it is quite uncomfortable seeing many of these things being portrayed, and on a more objective or storytelling note, this can be very out of character for certain boys to be disrespecting the reader’s boundaries and privacy in this way. Many of the twst boys have been in canon very respectful and very slow to jealousy, so it is very uncharacteristic that they would suddenly bare such extreme jealous feelings towards those who even dared to approach the mc.

There is an issue when it comes to characterization of the twst boys that directly relate to this problem. Which leads us to the next part;

Part 2 - Characterization

When it comes to the characterization of many of the twst boys, these forms of possessiveness and objectification may be very out of character at best and incredibly creepy at worst (we will come back to this in a later part). In this part I'll be talking more on the characterizations of the boys and how that affects the portrayals of fem!mc

1.The twst boys seeing MC as weak because of her being a girl

This is seen a lot for headcannons pertaining to fem!mcs and while I do understand that there are some readers who portray the fem!mc as weak, there is still something to tell when the ratio between "MC is weak and helpless" and "MC is not weak and helpless" is staggeringly tipped on the scale of the weak and helpless area.

This trope is seen in a lot of self insert fanfictions and while it may be true to some instances, the way this is written as a default is something that can be very demeaning and patronizing because the masc!mcs and gn!mcs do not get this treatment.

One example I can give is the many hcs and fics of the twst boys coddling mc and being overly protective over her because she’s a girl. Many of which are also used as plot tools to objectify the mc even further and putting her into a position of being a constant damsel.

Damsels in story can be used as an important tool to move the plot along. But we must ask; why is this over represented and only seen mostly with fem!reader content?

2. The twst boys treating mc differently because of her gender

This can be a tangent to the first point but many of these tend to overlap as many of the misoginystic tropes tend to do that. But what would I mean by this?

It would mostly have to do with the twst boys treating MC as if she were an entirely different creature just because she is a girl in a school full of boys. Many of which tend to use this as a plot device for many twst boys to ogle at her and treat her as an object or an otherworldly being when she is just like the rest of them, she just has a different gender.

This can be seen in many stories of MC showing up at NRC as an official student and having students be surprised and shock that a female(tm) is in their school. Now I am here to say that this may be possible as some boys tend ot be more awkward around girls than others, but to emphasize this her; this isn't a highschool, it's a college.

So to have these boys act out like prepubescent teens that have never seen a woman is highly innacurate to their characters to put it lightly.

3. The rigid fem! roles and experiences

I’ve noticed this in many of the x fem!reader content and it is not exactly brought up whenever I see discussions relating to fem!readers and her portrayals. But now I feel like it’s time I put it into the perspective from someone who isn’t a “traditional” female.

Many of the issues I stated above, whether unintentional or not paint a very cishet view of what fem!reader is, and this can be very troubling for those who identify with being fem yet are not represented into the stories that describe themselves as “for the fem readers”. I’ll explain;

The portrayal of fem!mc is usually one of the typical shojo girl, which is understandable due to the many yume fans in the twst fandom. And while I do not fault them for existing within this space, there is no doubt that there is this perception among the fandom that fem!mc is just like a shojo girl.

This can reflect in many ways; it can reflect on how the outfits are implied to have nothing but skirts and dresses, it can imply that fem!mc is softer and weaker in comparison to how gn!mcs and masc!mcs are written, as well as the general expression or aesthetics of the mc being strictly through a cishet lens.

There are many women readers who will not fit this criteria. Be it that they may not be presenting with fem clothes yet still aligning with the fem! Label or that they just do not have the features that the mc is portrayed of having by the general views of fem!reader writers, and this is a problem because as a writer of x reader content, the one thing that you shouldn’t do is alienate the audience when it comes to what the mc looks like.

Many fem!reader enjoyers and fem aligned people are not always weak, dainty, skinny, nor light skinned, and this is not to say that those traits are a bad thing; but we must also ask why this is over represented when the beauty of reader inserts is that readers no matter who they are can be inserted into the hcs or fics where they have various stories with the canon characters, and that simply cannot be achieved with such rigid implications on what the mc and their gender expression is. Not all fem!readers will have mousy brown hair, light skin, nor have dainty features or want traditionally feminine clothing all the time, and I believe we need to realize this in order to achieve the trueness of having a reader insert where every fem reader can insert themselves into them.

Part 3 - Intentions

Now, I've discussed a lot when it comes to my gripes about fem!mcs and the bad tropes that I tend to see with it, but now I'm here to discuss about the one thing that separates these tropes from certain posts relating to dark fiction.

You might be asking why I'm bringing up the point of dark fiction in this post? Well, as you can attest there are many of these tropes that are present within the spaces of dark (or specifically yandere works) and it is used there.

I'm writing this part to say that the one thing that separates those that I have gripes with and the ones that I do not are of one word; intentions.

Many of these dark fiction works such as yandere works have those tropes to serve a purpose within the story. They do not sugarcoat the themes and the tropes in this posts and show it's rawest form on text. Many of these works make themselves known and are intentionally set to disturb and give this twisted perspective towards the readers, which is something that I am fine with as a writer (despite me having some squicks and some taboos I will not touch on my own).

However, when it comes to the things I describe here, the are not of the works of dark fiction, but they are shown in normal posts as if it were something that is common or widely agreed upon. Which is something that I take issue with as these things can be very harmful to those who wish to not see or read these things. Many can be harmful for fem!readers who have dealt with this in real life and having to deal with this in fandom with the characters they want to read about. I can personally attest that some of these things and the way that the fandom treats fem!mc is something that disturbs me and makes me stray away from reading exclusively fem!reader stories for a period of time. This all moves onto the next part; how it effects the readers.

Part 4 - the effects

The romanticization of many of these things can be very worrying to a lot of people. But let’s break it down from a personal standpoint and an overall standpoint as to the effects this has.

On a storytelling perspective this can be very detrimental in breaking the illusion of the story and the suspension of disbelief. The greatest thing that can make or break a piece of work is characterization, and mischaracterizations more often than not shoot your ideas in the foot and make it so that they cannot flow well within a story. This affects the audience dearly as it gives a sense of dissatisfaction for some, and for others it gives a bad standard as to how to write proper works.

On a personal standpoint, many of these toxic behaviors like possessiveness can be very harmful to those who have experiences with these sorts of men in real life. Having to deal with this and then coming back into the fandom world and seeing many of these being shown (without the purpose of it being dark fiction) can be very disheartening for them to read. The overgeneralization of the fem experience when it comes to how the twst boys treat fem!mc can alienate many who are not the stereotypical shojo girl writers tend to portray fem!mc as. It can be uncomfortable at best or trigger very traumatic memories at worst.

Romanticizing certain tropes without thinking about it on a critical lens can be very detrimental for your work and your mentality, and it’s something that we need to discuss and be fine with in order to move on to create better works of fiction.

I’m not saying that these things should be regarded as high art and should be heavily scrutinized. Fanfiction and fandoms are meant to be for fun after all and we all start somewhere, but when it comes to these writing mistakes and flaws it needs to be discussed so that others can learn from it and grow from it.

I'm also not saying that fem!readers everywhere would be brainwashed into thinking that these toxic behaviors are okay, I know that the twst fandom has many smart and inquisitive people that bore out many great analysis pieces and content.

Yet we all as a fandom have to ask this question, after everything that I’ve stated in this post;

Why is it that only the fem!mcs get this treatment?

#twst #twst x reader #discussion post #rose.txt #twst discussions

44 notes · View notes

astrathechinchilla · 2 years

Text

WARNING: LONG, UNHINGED RANT

(Also mentions of grooming and predatory behavior)

This rant is mostly for my benefit cause I need to just YELL, in a sense 😅

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The way people criticize Keira is BULLSHIT~

Like, I’m not going to lie, I have my problems with Keira. I don’t think she was handled properly for the role she was meant to play- AKA: the female lead/love interest

However, I criticize constructively, not destructively. I always suggest better ways something could have been done rather than only listing the negatives. I don’t use my criticism as an excuse to viciously/cathartically lambast a character when that energy should be directed towards the people who actually deserve that slap to the back of the head, THE WRITERS.

They’re the ones that chose to use her, for the most part, solely as a vector for drama and basically nothing else, so much so that they dropped her in favor of Ashelin in Jak 3. This is mostly attributed to the sexist ways people wrote in the times this was made, combined with how short and bursty the cutscenes are, leaving not that much room to write actual conversations. However, this doesn’t excuse them for this; Keira deserves more respect than this, especially from writers now.

Sure, this problem is fixed later in Jak X, but honestly, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE. The damage was already done and what they salvaged makes them look worse, showing that they could’ve written a good relationship between Jak and Keira as well as make Keira a way more interesting character.

There’s this trend(probably old news but it’s worth noting at least) in Jak and Daxter fanfics where Keira isn’t Jak’s love interest, and authors make her just the worst(especially in ones where it’s an OC that’s the love interest. That’s the problem I’m watching out for the most when writing my fic actually. I don’t want to accidentally do the exact same thing as some of the hacks that used to write these kinds of fics) and that’s total crap. We ALL know it is. They’re are so many other things they could do with her character, but they choose not to for a multitude of most likely shitty reasons.

This is also partially caused by the major tone change between the first and second game. Though I believe the ‘darker’ tone of Jak 2 mostly serves in the series favor, it damaged some parts and made them worse in the process- mostly the romance subplot.

I actually quite liked how Keira and Jak were in the first game, they were quite cute(it was pretty barebones and basic, but cute nonetheless). Their chemistry was fine; it had that early 2000’s crush energy, but I liked it and wanted to see it develop into something more when I first played the game. It had the potential of being good.

However, when they started to complicate shit with the love (triangle/square/rhombus/whatever shape ya want) was when that potential was thrown out the window. They use her character to lazily create tension where there didn’t need to be, cause there was already tension with the war going on. We already had three(four if you count Krew) factions in Jak 2 fighting for control of Haven. They didn’t need complicate the romance if it wasn’t going to go anywhere in the first place.

This also affects Ashelin’s character in the process(which I could talk about if people actually like reading my feral rants about this game, I have A LOT to say about her)

This doesn’t help the fact that they wrote one particular party of the messy subplot to be an actual SEXUAL PREDATOR. Yeah, Errol’s a major part of what went wrong with Keira and directly affects her story.

His character says so much more about how lazy the writers actually are- the fact that they don’t bring any of this up and dismiss this quickly is part of the problem. They simply dismiss this whole messy plot that could’ve been potentially interesting, the hints of Keira being a potential victim of Errol’s grooming, her growth out of that, realizing that she hurt her friend and properly apologizing for her hurtful words to Jak after having someone who knows better properly explaining to her what’s really going on- it’s all wasted because of the short length of the cutscenes.

While this may potentially excuse the writers of the games for this(it DOESN’T, but I do think they tried their best with what they had), this doesn’t excuse fanfic authors from doing the exact same thing, ONLY WORSE! They don’t have the same constraints as the writers did in Jak 2, so time shouldn’t have been an issue.

I don’t believe this is a big problem for modern authors of today(I haven’t checked in a while), but I highly caution fellow new authors who are only recently starting to write and post their fics from doing the same as people did years back.

Also, the ‘Keira is a bitch’ plot is boring, uninteresting, and OVERDONE. Y’all can do better as authors. You can make her in the wrong without painting her as a horrible person in the process(AKA, like a lot of teenagers). You can make her naive without her being a total idiot entirely. You can make her a person, not a vector for drama. People can make mistakes.

Besides, SHE’S ADORABLE✨ Have you seen her? Just-

LOOK AT HER 🥰

If you’re not gonna have her date Jak, give her an S/O of some kind. Why do you all think I gave her girlfriend in the first place 💕

….Also ‘Will-they-Won’t-they’ plots can kiss my ass-

#jak and daxter #keira hagai #Keira deserves rights #and respect Ù-Ú #I’m prepared to punch someone in the face for this girl #my sweet angel I will protecc #me: *slides oc towards her* here #have a girlfriend #me: *sees post about shit takes on Keira*#me: *aggressively starts to type*

14 notes · View notes

adamwatchesmovies · 1 year

Text

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)

When you call a film a Frankenstein’s Monster, the assumption is that you've stitched together pieces of different properties to make a new thing. That doesn’t quite work with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. If it were merely Vampire Academy (which is part Twilight) plus Harry Potter, it would have two legs, two arms and a single head. This movie is more like a teleportation accident. All the arms, legs, and heads are still there, creating a would-be franchise starter so unoriginal you can keep yourself entertained by predicting what’s coming next.

Teenaged Clary Fray (Lily Collins) worries her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey), when she begins drawing a strange symbol. Soon, Clary begins seeing things and people no one else can, which is when she’s introduced to the world of “Shadowhunters”. “Mundanes” cannot see them, but demons live among us. The Shadowhunters are half-human half-angel warriors who hold the forces of evil back. When the villainous Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao) kidnaps her mother, Clary and her best friend Simon (Robert Sheehan) join Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell) to help. Hopefully Jocelyn' abduction does not mean the Mortal Cup (one of three Mortal Instruments given to the first Shadowhunter by the angel Raziel) has fallen into the wrong hands.

The more YA novel adaptations I see, the more credit I must give to the original Twilight film. Both it and the Harry Potter series started off small, building up their love plots and world-shaking final battles. The imitators make the mistake of introducing so much in the first chapter you can hardly keep track of what’s happening. This world has angels, demons, witches, vampires and werewolves… all living among us and right under our noses. There’s the obligatory love triangle between Lily, her creepy best friend who pines for her (seriously, Simon is totally a proto incel) and the hunky, dangerous, tattoo-clad supernatural warrior who doesn’t want anything to do with the girl but can’t stay away from her. There are prophecies, magic tattoos, betrayals, revelations and so much going on this feels like two or three movies crammed into one. Well, in many ways, it is. If you haven’t seen The Maze Runner, Divergent, The Host, Eragon, Red Riding Hood, Beastly and so many others, this plot may seem novel but to the rest of us, this is a parade that makes you wonder “what’s next?!” in the worst way. Just wait until the part where they talk about Sebastian Bach. It’s so loopy I almost say it’s worth seeing this movie for it alone.

Part of what makes The City of Bones so entertaining is that it keeps finding new ways to be bad. Overall, the special effects are fine for a mid-budget production but note the way the afore-mentioned werewolves never transform on-screen because… you know, that would be expensive. As you watch and wait for the titular City of Bones to appear, keep your expectations low because the sanctuary is so unimportant it should’ve been omitted entirely. The romantic love plot is the middle of much bigger things will either infuriate you, or cause you to slip into uncontrollable laughter. I know these are teens with raging hormones but come on people. The peril outside is so much bigger than who’s kissing who! I know this is supposed to be wish-fulfilment for teenage girls. It's just that Clary makes so many wrong decisions and causes so many problems it’s a little embarrassing to watch.

Despite everything, I’m disappointed this picture never got the sequel it so desperately wanted. They drop a bomb towards the end. I want it resolved so desperately I’d sit through at least 2 to 3 more of these just to see it resolved. It’s another thing to make fun of. This is the embodiment of teenage angst in the middle of much bigger things, which means I had a great time watching The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. (August 30, 2019)

2 notes · View notes

cupcakesandtv · 3 years

Text

I was gonna do a cute title like “Never Have I Ever suffered from poor plot pacing” or “Never Have I Ever been so attached to a character that it will slowly wreck the show.” But those were clunky titles and I’m not a tv writer (yet) so I’ll leave that alone.

I liked the season more than I thought I would. I was worried that the Aneesa stuff would pit Devi against her in a way that felt icky. I was worried that they’d ruin Paxton. I was worried they’d forget all about the continuing grief journey. But they didn’t do those things. Well. I have some complaints but overall, if you’re not spending all your time drenched in fandom, it was good. It was fine.

Maitreyi Ramakrishna made me cry. Poorna Jagannathan made me cry. Lee Rodriguez made me cry. Megan Suri made me cry. Also Sharon, Eleanor’s step mom? There was a bit where she got me really teary. Or as Paxton mentioned “puffy.”

I laughed at Trent falling off the roof. I screamed at Paxton getting Regina George’d. I loved Kamala realizing that standing up for herself like Devi would was important. I chuckled warmly when Trent asked Eleanor to dance.

Overall, it was lovely.

But I think there were some serious pacing problems. It was smart to get the dating two boys mess kiboshed by the end of ep2. I liked that Devi herself was the snitcher and that her own hubris brought her downfall. She was not out here letting Zoe Maytag take her man or even pretend to.

I didn’t like that we seem to have circled back to Paxton is dumb, doesn’t talk, only cares about popularity, and the show frames his attraction to Devi as only being physical. He liked her in season 1 because she was weird. She said things he didn’t expect. He got to be vulnerable with her. But I guess he just waited in his car for her all day (including having Chinese food delivered to his jeep) because he thinks she’s just hot.

I didn’t like that Ben is portrayed as not only attainable, but as the better match for Devi. The montage of things we see them doing is competing against each other, kissing, and like studying? It doesn’t seem like they have fun except when kissing. I feel ya, Devi, kissing is fun, but Fab is right, Ben’s grand gesture was dangerous and as boring as her dad’s daily commute. Fab is also right that Ben has never been nice to Devi and he’s been a jerk to Fab and Eleanor too. I didn’t see that improving at all over the season. Somehow they just accepted him into their group? Oh right, btw Ben still doesn’t have friends. He just has a different gf now.

I didn’t like that Ben was the reason Devi was jealous of Aneesa. There were valid reasons that Devi was jealous of her and boiling it down to Ben felt like an excuse to keep Devi and Aneesa in conflict for longer than necessary. A lot of things felt dragged out and longer than necessary. But that’s to my point about the pacing and being attached to Ben to the detriment of the show. Why does Devi even like Ben? Literally what has he done? One grand gesture? And sometimes they banter. He still calls her “David” which still is so yikes considering how ethnic names are often mocked by white people. It’s like he enjoys having the high ground to be cruel after she hurts him. (The tattoo thing was mean in a way that felt way too much like he was rubbing her nose in it.) And even when they have those little moments throughout when we’re supposed to see that aw, they still like each other, they were just like him being the barest minimum of nice when Devi was suffering. I’m sure plenty of shippers will have list upon lists of things Ben has done and how he and Devi clearly like each other. But it was a lot of tell and not show. “Ben challenges me! I picked up 15 bags of trash today,” is such a weird way to think of someone you like?

The show’s attachment to the love triangle, and Ben’s part in it, will be the nail in its coffin. Just like Danny going off the rails and wanting Mindy to be a trad wife made so many of us rage quit The Mindy Project, the way they’ll continue to push Ben vs Paxton will keep us bored.

Let me shift back to things I liked again. Absolutely adored Paxton’s episode. I know Chrissy Teigen fucked up and couldn’t be the narrator after all that bullying she did came to light but I would very much like to know what her script looked like because it was probably peak comedy. I feel like her image as a famous, hot asian american (pre the scandal) would have been a better fit than Gigi Hadid. But Gigi did well enough and I enjoyed it. Love that I nailed Paxton’s parents as hippies, it was DELIGHTFUL to find out they’re Jesus hippies. Can’t wait to write some religious trauma into Paxton’s story one day. Love Paxton’s grandpa and I liked how that worked its way around the whole season. I was impressed. OH ALSO SHOUT OUT TO GRANPAX FOR BELIEVING IN OUR GUY WHEN EVEN HIS PARENTS’ DIDN’T. I know I’ve previously said that I hated the idea of Devi tutoring Paxton. I think he’d be way too proud. But the show made it work in a way that made sense. And it was nice to see him come around to understanding he needed to do better for himself. I didn’t love Devi yelling at him that she couldn’t hold his hand forever but I liked the way it got him to see the reality of that point. He couldn’t use Devi as a crutch. He needed to do the work himself. Even if it was hard. I mean, he’s still a junior in high school and clearly he’ll be fine for senior year swim team but pish posh. It worked for the story to have that be a catalyst for him to figure his shit out.

The “Crazy Devi” stuff really hit. I could see them building to it and I kinda hate that it never got back around to Paxton. I would have liked to see him assuring her she wasn’t crazy. Or even admitting that he started that nickname. (The whole time he was being ~mean to Devi it felt like the writer’s knew Ben was so awful last season that they had to make Paxton look mean too as balance but Darren clearly played it as Paxton being uncomfortable when he was mean to Devi. A contrast to Ben, like I mentioned before, enjoying being cruel to Devi.) I’m glad she went to her therapist about it though. I’m glad that Dr. Ryan assured her that despite her actions being extreme, they were based in pain and trauma and that didn’t make her crazy. The thing with her mom dating….phew. I have never related more, Devi. My dad died when I was a whole ass adult so my trauma is not the same. But the things grief can do to you: like say, when your widowed mother mentions a man more than once in conversation and you start imagining scenarios as to why she’s even TALKING about another man. I’ve been there, Devi. She was right to be hurt and mad finding out her mom lied to her. But I loved the way her Grandma smacked her and reminded her that her mother was an adult. Our parents are imperfect human beings like we are. They make mistakes, or rash decisions, and sometimes they do things just to feel. And Nalini needed to feel. I loved the way that unfolded. (Although I don’t think Common is a very good actor….sorry don’t throw tomatoes. He is very hot so I GET IT NALINI, I DO.)

It’s like 1am so the last thing I’m gonna talk about is the made up hurdle of Paxton being embarrassed of Devi. I can’t believe they took an excuse that he made up to fool his sister last season (“I’m cool, she’s known for winning the spelling bee”) and made a whole goddamn episode about it. It was transparent as one final obstacle for Devi and Paxton to clear before they let them get together. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they ended up together. Him hitting her with his car and wanting to take her to the hospital, her demanding that he be clear about his intentions, that was all very cute. But Paxton has never been embarrassed of Devi. In season 1, he hung out with her without any qualms. He had her at the hot pocket. He cheered her on when someone tried to make fun of her after the party. Trent even looked UNCOMFORTABLE when he iced Devi out after her mom called him an idiot. His friends knew who she was and didn’t seem at all concerned with her social status. If anything, Paxton found that part of Devi refreshing. And in season 2, we’re shown that oh, during their brief time dating, he never referred to her as his girlfriend and oh Trent was always there. The explanation given makes sense I guess. But it doesn’t really. He wasn’t embarrassed because he was dating her and she lied. He was hurt. He didn’t even come up with the excuse of her not mattering to him until just before that car took him out. In season 1 when Paxton found out Devi had been telling everyone they were having sex, he wasn’t embarrassed. He was hurt. He thought they were friends. Instead, she was using him to raise her social status. But he didn’t rebut the rumor. He didn’t correct anyone! He wasn’t embarrassed. So this last ditch hurdle felt like they ran out of material. It was nice to see Devi stand up for herself and say that she wouldn’t just be the secret girl, but overall, it just wasn’t believable. Especially since they won’t let go of the love triangle and still left it WIDE open for Ben to swoop in next season.

So while I’m glad they ended up together, it just feels like it will be switched up next season when she will inevitably date Ben. For some unknown reason. Idk he’ll probably cheat on Aneesa to kiss Devi. Again. That will probably set off more Devi apology tour and hijinks. But at this point, I’m over it. I think the show was best when it was about Devi (and Paxton) learning and trying to do better. But Ben really drags most of that to a grinding halt.

#Never Have I Ever #NHIE SPOILERS #anti ben #daxton #devi x paxton #i have a lot more to say about other bits but i gotta sleep

157 notes · View notes

maddiesbookshelves · 2 years

Text

Crave #1 (out of 7) by Tracy Wolff (January 2022)

My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.

Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me. Which could spell death for us all. Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.

Would I recommend it to anyone? To the me from ten years ago maybe, she probably would have loved it. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know. You really have to love clichés YA girl x vampire loves stories. And even then... I hope there's some better stuff out there.

Level of (dis)satisfaction based on the summary and my expectations? Let's be honest, I had absolutely 0 expectations for this book. When I read the summary I immediately thought "it looks so bad, I need to read it, it'll be funny". So...

My thoughts on it? I know very well that I am not part of the target demographic for this book at all, after all that's part of why I read it, so I'll start with the positive before dumping all the salt in my body into this post: I was agreeably surprised by some aspects of this book, especially by the fact that Wolff didn't go the traditional route and didn't write a love triangle (at least not in this first book because I've seen some things when I read the summary of the other books...). The truth about Grace's origins was unexpected but I liked the originality. Some parts got a genuine laugh out of me, not just because I was making fun of the book. I could feel that there was a real effort to stand out and do things a bit differently than other books in the genre, but it still wasn't great.

Unfortunately, that's all the positive things I can say about this book, so take a deep breath and here we go:

To start off, the summary is a lie, Grace isn't wondering about anything, she's just a sitting duck, passively waiting for things to happen until something so obvious happens that she can't not face reality anymore. I waited for over half the book for Grace to FINALLY realize that the people around her aren't human, and even after that, there was absolutely not plot aside from "oh Jaxon ily u so handsum but y u ignore me?" (yes, the vampire's name is Jaxon, goddammit. He lost all the respect I could have had for him when I learned his name), it was aggravating. I almost gave up on this book 180 pages in, but I'm stubborn and I wanted to know if there was ever going to be any kind of plot. Which there was... 50 pages from the end. And it was extremely weak.

Overall, the book was full of infuriating clichés but I think it kinda goes with the genre. For example, the immediate physical and mental attraction the MC feels towards a boys she's never met and just can't explain. The only thing Jaxon has going for him is his face, because he's a pompous jerk (with a screw loose if we see it from Grace's point of vue since he keeps saying weird shit) at the beginning of the book. And Grace is just like "oh no, he's a pompous jerk and he can see in my eyes that I'm attracted to him when I shouldn't be but he's so sexy". That was literaly Grace's internal monologue during the whole book. I skipped so many paragraphs because I was at the end of my rope. Also, the moments when they interacted in public were so awkward. Imagine two teens just standing in the corridor, staring each other in the eye while everyone goes about their business. Insufferable.

Now the problem is, I read the summaries for the other 6 (six!!) books in the series and I'm extremely curious about some things. So I'm still pondering, do I read at least the second book? But I kinda fear for my mental health if I do.

French version under the cut

Mon monde a basculé le jour où j'ai atterri au lycée Katmere. Me voilà, simple mortelle, au milieu de vampires, de loups-garous, et autres êtres surnaturels. Une seule chose semble unir ces créatures de la nuit : elles me détestent. Au point d'espérer ma mort ? Que faire, alors, de Jaxon, l'énigmatique vampire dont je ne peux me détacher ? Avec ses souffrances ancestrales, ce séduisant immortel m'attire plus que de raison. Pourtant, me rapprocher de lui pourrait bien mettre tout le monde en danger… Et si quelqu'un voulait m'utiliser comme appât ?

Est-ce que tu le conseillerais à quelqu’un ? A mon moi d’y a 10 ans à la limite. Je suis sûre qu’elle aurait adoré. Mais sinon, à personne que je connais. Il faut vraiment aimer la romance YA clichée jeune fille x vampire. Et encore. J’espère qu’il existe des trucs un peu mieux.

Niveau de déception/satisfaction par rapport au résumé et tes attentes ? Soyons clairs, j’avais aucune attente pour ce bouquin. Quand j’ai lu le résumé je me suis immédiatement dit “ça a l’air trop nul, faut que je le lise, ça va être drôle”. Donc à partir de là…

Avis sans spoiler ? Je savais très bien en lisant ce livre que je ne faisais pas du tout partie du public cible, après tout c’est un peu pour ça que je l’ai lu, du coup je vais commencer par le positif avant de déverser mon venin :

J’ai été agréablement surprise par certains aspects du livre, dont le fait que Wolff ne soit pas tombée dans le cliché du triangle amoureux (tout du moins pas dans ce premier tome parce que j’ai vu certaines choses en lisant les résumés des autres tomes…). La révélation sur les origines de Grace était également inattendue, et j’ai apprécié l’originalité de la chose. Certains passages m’ont fait rire pour de bon, pas juste parce que je me moquais.

Concrètement on sentait qu’y avait des efforts pour se démarquer un peu des autres livres du genre mais c’était quand même pas fameux. Malheureusement c’est tout ce que je peux dire de positif sur ce livre donc prenez une grande inspiration et c’est parti :

Déjà, le résumé n'est pas du tout un bon reflet de ce qu'il se passe dans le livre : Grace ne se demande rien du tout, elle attend passivement que les choses se passe jusqu'au jour où un truc tellement évident lui arrive qu'elle peut plus ignorer la réalité. J’ai attendu plus de la moitié du bouquin pour qu'elle réalise ENFIN que les personnes autour d’elle ne sont pas humaines, et même après ça, il y avait tellement pas d’intrigue en dehors de “Oh Jaxon jtm t tro bo mai pk tu m’ignor” (oui, oui, le vampire s’appelle Jaxon bordel. J’ai perdu tout le respect que j’aurais pu avoir pour lui quand j’ai appris son prénom), c'était affligeant. J’ai bien failli abandonner ma lecture au bout de 180 pages mais je suis têtue et je voulais vraiment savoir si une intrigue autre que la romance entre Grace et Jaxon allait pointer le bout de son nez, ce qui a finit par arriver... A 50 pages de la fin. Et c’était extrêmement bancal.

De manière générale, c’était bourré de clichés insupportables, mais je pense que c’est un peu une caractéristique du genre. Par exemple, l’attirance physique et mentale inexplicable envers un mec que l'héroïne a jamais rencontré. Tout ce que Jaxon a pour lui c'est qu'il est beau, sinon dès qu'il ouvre la bouche au début du livre c'est pour être un connard prétentieux (avec une case en moins si on se place du point de vue de Grace vu qu'il dit des trucs bizarres). Et elle est juste en mode "oh non c'est un connard prétentieux et il lit dans mes yeux que je suis attirée par lui mais que je devrais pas puis il est sexy". C’était littéralement le monologue interne de Grace pendant tout le roman. J’ai sauté tellement de paragraphes parce que j’étais au bout de ma vie. Et les moments où ils interagissaient en public étaient beaucoup trop gênants. Imaginez deux ados qui se regardent avec des yeux de merlan frit en plein milieu du couloir. Insupportable.

Le problème maintenant c’est ce que j’ai lu les résumés des 6 (six !!) autres livres dans la série et je suis extrêmement curieuse par rapport à certaines choses. Du coup j’hésite à lire au moins le tome 2 mais en même temps je tiens à ma santé mentale.

#seriously what do i do #should i read book 2?????#ozeifezijfz #crave #tracy wolff #crave series #books #booklr #book recommendations #book recs #book reviews #ya books #crave tracy wolff #french

25 notes · View notes

smalltownfae · 2 years

Text

Book Review: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

Rating: 4.5/5

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Pages: 374

Review:

I haven’t read these books in a decade and I must say this one still holds up pretty well. I only read the books once before. I read the entire trilogy before I even watched the first movie and my last memories of the series are from the movies, which I didn’t even finished watching. I never watched the last movie and I didn’t care for those adaptations that much anyway. It bothered me how many dark moments were ignored or toned down and how much emphasis was put on the romance, even if I understand the reasons why that was done for the movies. That said, I kept being surprised each time I was reminded how dark this book actually is and how little romance there is in it. It’s true that there are two boys that have a crush on the main character, but she just doesn’t really care. Katniss can be read as aromantic or someone that has yet to figure out her feelings in that filled since she was never in love before. She sees one of the boys as her best friend that is more like a brother and the other one as a person that keeps being kind to her and she feels like she owes him something. That’s about it.

The first obstacle in this series is that people need to sustain their disbelief enough to buy that in this world there are only 12 districts and the Capitol and that these people really enjoy seeing teenagers kill each other to death and think that is the way to put the people from the districts in place and avoid a revolution. That can be hard to do and I get if some people can’t do that. As a reader of speculative fiction, I have no problems with this premise.

The second is that this book is written in first person present, which, from what I’ve seen, is mostly just used in YA and a lot of people are not fans of it. Personally, I feel that it works really well when it comes to adventure and action stories because it puts the reader in the middle of the scene at the moment that is happening. For me, at least, that is more immersive in these kind of books. I just don’t read much of it because usually action scenes bore me and to this book’s credit very little of those bored me here and I think part of it was the writing style that helped my involvement as a reader in the scenes.

Most people probably know the basic plot of these books by now. The Hunger Games are organized by the Capitol and a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and18 are picked from each district to participate in these deadly games where there can only be one victor. The books address a lot of themes in a really good way that makes sure the readers understand the messages without it being dumbed down. There is the capitalism, the fashion industry, poverty, social class conflicts and a lot of others. The list is really big and most of the themes are presented constantly in the first part of the book, that I had to stop myself from taking notes of since there was just so much to analyse in every page.

One of the main reasons the popularity of the romance bothers me so much, besides being such a minimal part of this book, is that it completely overshadows sisterly love. The most emotional moments in this book are when Katniss sacrifices herself from her younger sister and then when the youngest competitor in the games, that Katniss got attached to because it reminded her of said sister, dies. Giving so much importance to the “romance” does this book an enormous disservice and I hate the love triangle and the “who will she chose” in fandom spaces. I hate it even more if it’s not a thing in the source material!

I honestly forgot how ruthless and logical Katniss is and this made me realize that books with a lot of internalized thoughts by the main character are extremely hard to adapt. Seeing Katniss think about so many things at the same time and question if something is true or if she is being manipulated is one of the best parts of the story. It’s what makes her dynamic with Peeta so great! We are shown that Peeta can manipulate a crowd and he is good at lying so it’s completely believable that Katniss doesn’t know if he is being honest or just playing the game. I remember being unsure myself when I first read the book. When it’s found that Peeta wasn’t actually lying about his crush on her it also makes the dynamic more interesting because all along it was Katniss the one that was manipulating both the audience and Peeta so there is that shift in what she thinks and how she acts that I really appreciate.

Katniss is also shown as unlikeable. On page 2 she is already admitting she tried to drown a cat and throughout the book she kills a bunch of animals and some teens. Besides that, she uses manipulation to survive and drugs Peeta in order to put him to sleep. Sure, most of these things are justifiable to some extent, but the way readers interpret it depends a lot on presentation. Katniss is not hated because we see her internal thoughts and feelings about each situation.

Now, the book isn’t perfect. There is a short moment where a kid with intellectual disability is compared to a pet, for example. This happened in conversation and was said by a teen which doesn’t make it unrealistic, but it’s there and some readers might be put off by it. There is also the fact that Katniss immediately trusts Cinna even though he is a resident from the Capitol. She trusts him just because he wears simple clothes and doesn’t look as extravagant as the rest. I love Cinna and I understand the connection between extravagant fashion and evil in these books, but fashion can also be used for self expression and not all of it is evil.

It’s also true that Katniss survived partly because of luck, like having the gold mockingjay pin given by her friend and that made Rue trust her and having Cinna as her fashion designer, but also because of her small kind gestures, like when Tresh let her live because of her alliance with Rue.

As I wrote above, action scenes tend to bore me so I found myself a little tired of it in the 2nd and 3rd part of this book. However, I think a lot of readers love that and will enjoy those scenes. We are limited by Katniss’ perspective, but even like that I got interested in some of the side characters no matter how little they showed up, like Foxface. It’s actually nice to see that this book has a bunch of strong female characters when a lot of the ones being published today still seem to get that wrong and only favour the protagonist.

This review is long enough, but, summing it up, this book is pretty much as good as I remembered and still one of the darkest, if not the darkest, YA books I ever read. I might have no interest in the new books in the series that are coming out now, but I completely understand the popularity of these ones.

#thg #the hunger games #suzanne collins #book review

18 notes · View notes

hellsbellschime · 3 years

Note

Ok, so I’ve always noticed some of the racism on TVD , most notably the treatment of Marcel and Emily, and the founders day parade episode (which, as a Virginian I have to say that the episode made me low-key ashamed when I re-watched it years later). But it took me a while to catch onto the racism on Bonnie‘s character. I was wondering if you have done a meta about it and could link me to it, or if you could do one?

Well it only took me like a year but here ya go!

youtube

Despite the fact that The Vampire Diaries is a show that was ostensibly created for girls and young women, the show undeniably seems to lack a certain level of respect or basic interest in its female characters. And while every single significant female character demonstrates that misogynistic point of view in one way or another, one of the most unique, distinct, and apparent instances of The Vampire Diaries' sexism is on peak display with one of it's leading female characters, Bonnie Bennett.

Bonnie obviously occupies a particularly interesting role in the series because she's the only black leading character, and it's also hard to miss that The Vampire Diaries universe has a pretty apparent issue with it's non-white characters as well.

The race problem on TVD expresses itself in a few different, extremely blatant ways. The most obvious issue with people of color on The Vampire Diaries is that those who are actually PoC within the narrative itself are typically pushed to the sidelines and relegated to supporting players at best, but there is also an issue with presenting PoC performers who are white-passing as white characters.

None of the PoC characters in The Vampire Diaries get very good treatment, but the series seems to be exceptionally problematic when it comes to its presentation of black characters. While black people arguably get more representation than any other non-white characters in this fictional world, they are almost all outrageously attractive, extremely light-skinned, and conveniently lacking in any emotional needs or inner life that needs to be addressed within the narrative, seemingly designed to show up, perform whatever service is necessary, and once again fade into the background if not just be killed off entirely.

This is an issue with every black character in the series, but given that Bonnie is the most significant and prominent in the series, it comes as no surprise that she was affected the most intensely by these biases. It's one thing to be a black character, it's one thing to be a female character, but being a black female character in the TVD universe is exceptionally crippling. But how exactly did the misogynoir of The Vampire Diaries completely neutralize Bonnie Bennett as a character?

Bonnie was mistreated, dismissed, and outright ignored in many big and small ways throughout the course of the show. But, a lot of that treatment can be pretty easily sorted into a few categorizations. The Vampire Diaries went through a pretty seismic shift from the start of the show to the end, but it has always been a series that falls primarily into two genres, the supernatural thriller genre and the romance genre.

The show pretty clearly transformed from a show that was firstly a supernatural story with a romantic subgenre into an almost entirely romantic story with a supernatural backdrop, but it's safe to say that the vast majority of the plotlines were either focused on magic or love. And, it's not particularly difficult to see how Bonnie was forcibly excluded from a predominant storyline in each genre, even when it made absolutely no sense.

Bonnie was a completely inexperienced witch at the start of TVD, so her cluelessness and powerlessness made a certain amount of sense at that point. But by the end of season 2 at the very latest, it seems fully established that she is one of the most powerful living witches in the world, and for the bulk of the series it is plainly acknowledged that she is one of the most powerful witches who ever lived. Which is exactly why Bonnie's position in the narrative is baffling.

In quite a few instances, Bonnie's magical abilities seem to be somewhat inconsistent, at least in the sense that, if she can solve some of the biggest problems that the Mystic Falls gang is confronted with, then it's very odd that she can't solve the others. And while plenty of characters in TVD are occasionally used as plot devices rather than characters, Bonnie seems to be the one who is specifically designed to show up, fix what needs fixing, and then become set dressing once she's no longer necessary as the mystical solution to every unsolvable issue.

And this is actually a significant problem with the witches at large, but of course is most recognizable with Bonnie because she is the most prominent witch. While not all witches are women of color, it seems like they are far more represented in that faction of the magical world than in any other. So then, it's interesting that the witches are presented as servants of nature who are meant to selflessly restore order to the world without actually using their abilities for their own personal gain.

Of course there are plenty of witches who appear to use their powers for themselves, but still, it's incredibly meaningful that the lone black main character in the series is constantly sacrificing herself for the sake of the otherwise entirely white cast of characters. It's even more meaningful that she seems to willingly put herself in the line of fire every time, and it's also extremely telling that she suffers and even dies without complaint for the sake of other people.

And while TVD has never been the kind of show to linger on emotional moments for too long, Bonnie seems to stick out like a sore thumb in this circumstance as well. Most of the main and even supporting characters have moments where their pain is acknowledged and at least has a second to breathe, but there are quite a few situations where Bonnie should be upset but isn't, or where her emotional journey as a character literally takes place off screen.

This lack of acknowledgment and nearly complete omission of an internal emotional life that doesn't involve sacrificing herself for her friends only further makes Bonnie feel like a plot device instead of a character. And, while no character needs a romantic relationship to make their character complete, it is incredibly relevant that, on a series that was built largely on a foundation of romance and arguably became a completely romantically driven show by its end, only one of the female leads was pretty much never presented as a viable love interest.

Nearly every character is either threatened or charmed into doing what someone else wants them to at some point during The Vampire Diaries, however, Bonnie's charm-to-threaten ratio seems to lean very heavily in favor of threatening. That in itself wouldn't necessarily be a huge issue, but it seems to punish Bonnie in a way that is so severe that it's completely illogical.

Trying to intimidate Elena or Caroline, people who at best have the strength of a baby vampire and at worst are as powerful as a normal human, makes sense. But trying to strongarm the most powerful witch in the world instead of just convincing her to do what you ask seems like an incredibly dangerous and completely baffling decision.

And yet, that is how Bonnie is forced to do nearly everything that she doesn't want to do in eight seasons of the series. By the end of season 2, TVD has canonically confirmed that Bonnie is powerful enough to destroy Klaus Mikaelson, and yet people like Klaus, Katherine, and even vampires as young as Damon get Bonnie to do things by simply bullying or even assaulting her into doing it. And what does Bonnie typically do in response? Absolutely nothing.

At a certain point, the consistent contrast between Bonnie's mystical strength and the way that people treat her in order to use that strength becomes a pretty gaping plot hole. And while it's not unheard of for someone to try to sweet talk Bonnie into joining their team, it is almost always done by a character who is far less powerful than she is and who is completely irrelevant to the narrative at large.

In contrast to characters like Elena and Caroline, the distinction between them becomes even more obvious. Perhaps a thin argument could be made that because Elena is a doppelganger that makes her a tad more unique, but when one of the most powerful creatures on the planet was wrapped around Caroline's finger, it really begs the question, why wasn't anyone ever as invested or even obsessed with Bonnie as they were with the other two female leads on the series?

After all, Elena's love was consistently treated as if it was the greatest prize that anyone could possibly win, and the two male leads were completely obsessed with her and willing to do anything they could to try to win her over. And despite the fact that Elena was at the center of the love triangle that was a significant driving force behind the story for the entire series, she still managed to score a few love interests that weren't Salvatores throughout the show's eight seasons as well.

And, while Caroline was actually treated as more of the reject love interest in comparison to the unattainable Elena, her record with romance is also incredibly varied. Even though she was portrayed at best as the consolation prize and at worst the abuse victim, she did have some sort of romantic relationship with the two male leads in the show. Or at least, that is how The Vampire Diaries chose to portray it.

In addition to her horrorshow with Damon and her incredibly brief marriage with Stefan, Caroline is also a love interest for Klaus, Matt, Tyler, and disgustingly, Alaric. Arguably the only main male character who doesn't serve as Caroline's love interest or potential love interest at any point is Jeremy.

Although this laundry list of love interests can be partially excused by the fact that Caroline is characterized as someone who wants to date a lot, the contrast bet0ween characters like Caroline and Elena and characters like Bonnie is astonishing.

Over a nearly decade-long run, Bonnie's only legitimate leading men are Jeremy, Elena's kid brother who Bonnie will willingly die for but who also prefers a literal dead person over her at one point, and Enzo, her epic love romance that comes about at the very end of the series in a relationship that almost entirely develops off-screen.

Of course, female characters do not need love interests to validate their characterization or very existence, however in an environment where every single barely significant supporting character seems to get at least two love interests, it's incredibly telling that Bonnie Bennett gets two important love stories in eight seasons of storytelling.

It seems even more relevant that the show seemingly went out of its way to sidestep almost any and all opportunities for romance in Bonnie's character arc. Whether it was Kol, Kai, or Damon Salvatore, there were quite a few instances where there was a clear and easy route to develop a love interest for Bonnie in a way that made sense and had a pretty solid amount of audience support, and yet the series always went out of its way to avoid it.

In stark contrast, Caroline is still seen as a viable option for a burgeoning love story when she's pregnant, and Elena is an acceptable love interest when she's literally unconscious. And yet, in a series that began with romance as its secondary genre and that evolved into a romance series with a supernatural backdrop, Bonnie is supposedly not as appealing of a love interest as Elena and Caroline regardless of any circumstances, no matter how insane.

If these issues existed in a vacuum then they might be excusable, but considering how poorly The Vampire Diaries treated its female characters and black characters, it's pretty much impossible to avoid the reality that Bonnie Bennett's entire character arc was likely hamstrung by the fact that she was a black girl.

In any reasonable circumstances, Bonnie would have arguably been at the center of every single supernatural storyline, and she logically would have been a far more appealing love interest to any powerful characters in the series. But instead she spent the vast majority of her screentime with her inner characterization ignored, her personal development unexplored, and serving as little more than a glorified deus ex machina who didn't even want her friends to bother mourning her when she literally sacrificed her life for them.

Representation was always an issue in The Vampire Diaries universe, and unfortunately it seems like Bonnie was the definition of their token black character. Although the series had eight entire years to course correct and had many seasons where they were desperate for new ideas and decent character development, the racism and misogyny of the series seemingly prevented them from ever tapping into the enormous untapped potential of someone who should have been one of their flagship lead characters.

#bonnie bennett #anti tvd #anti the vampire diaries #misogynoir #racism #sexism #misogyny #tvd #the vampire diaries #bonnie bennett meta #anti tvd meta #tvd meta #meta #my videos

45 notes · View notes

kiwisandtea · 2 years

Text

Indie Book Rec’s

because I’ve been reading like there’s no tomorrow and have found a number of indie/lesser-known authors with books I really love, and because I’ve not yet earned the right to leave reviews on Amazon, I’m taking to Tumblr, I guess.

Idk why any of you followed me but you’re getting book rec’s.

SO. Buckle up. I’ll probably do this every month as I log my reading journal.

Rec’s and descriptions/reviews under the cut because I expect it to get long.

The Bright Spear Trilogy by H. L. Macfarlane

(Prince of Foxes, Lord of Horses, King of Forever)

Gothic Scottish fairytale. Probably YA. Faeries, kelpies, and that one stubborn human girl ready to throw hands. Healthy polyamory. Multiple POVs. Not spicy/smutty.

Synopsis of book 1: Girl meets faerie. Faerie gets turned into fox. Girl’s parents blindside her with surprise fiance, so she decides she’d rather help the faerie than marry a Londoner (she’s Scotch to her core). They go in search of a kelpie. Bonding! Sweet betrayal and sweet betrayal again.

Book 1 is honestly my least favorite of the three (book 2 is the best and I’m still mad about book 3 even though it was good), but that’s just me. I read the whole trilogy in 2-3 days.

Quick reads. Fun. Nothing too serious for too long. Happy endings, but with plot things hanging over our heads. No “love triangle” because we’re smart and can just sort it out with polyamory and respecting each other.

Content warnings: miscarriage and implied dub-con/rape in book 3 is all I can remember.

Bought from ThriftBooks, but also available on Amazon and at B&N

City of Thorns by C. N. Crawford

(Book 1 of the Demon Queen Trials trilogy)

(Honestly cannot tell how popular/well-known this author is but in my mind, they’re newer/lesser-known)

Modern coexistence with demons. Little romance-y, little murder mystery-y. Probably YA. Mildest of the spices. Fake dating.

Synopsis: Girl kidnapped by demon because she looks exactly like his Arch Enemy TM, but once they realize the mix-up she agrees to pretend to be her doppelganger to get information for him about his other enemies. Except her doppelganger is a succubus and she doesn’t have the slightest idea how to act sexy and confident and powerful. Queue sexy demon teaching her to be alluring and shameless.

Another quick read. Very fun. The ending is just like bam-bam-bam. I’m still reeling. Stay tuned for when I buy and read book 2 in Feb.

Content warnings: murder, 1 (one) mild sex scene, some blood and gore, guns?

Bought from Amazon, also available at B&N

Thief of Spring and Queen of Night by Katherine Macdonald

(Hades and Persephone duology)

Hades and Persephone retelling, but faeries (yes, I was skeptical at first, too). YA. Romance. Mildest of the spices. Fun twist on Greek mythology.

I’ll skip the synopsis, because it’s just Hades kidnapping Persephone (for good reason, okay?) and keeping her in the Underworld for part of the year, as is expected from most Hades and Persephone retellings.

The difference is that the ‘gods’ are faeries of the Seelie Court and this Hades is not dark and broody, but young and fun and hopeful, which threw me off at the beginning, but I absolutely fell in love with him. Fantastic. Beautiful. Protect at all costs. Demeter is not the one causing problems in this story, but Zera (Zeus & Hera; she killed him and took the name and his powers).

I gave both of these books 5 stars. I already want to re-read them. If you have any interest in Hades/Persephone and/or faerie romance novels, I highly recommend these.

Content warnings: many mentions of Hades’ traumatic childhood, including verbal and physical abuse and dub-con/rape

Bought on Amazon, not on ThriftBooks or B&N that I can find

In the Shadow of Demeter by Vic Malachai

(stand-alone Hades and Persephone retelling)

Literally the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, just from Persephone’s POV (mostly).

After all the other Hades and Persephone retellings I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot and will read more), this one was a bit lackluster. I think this is where people should start, before they get into the retellings that stretch the story a bit (re: Neon Gods and Macdonald’s above, etc.). That being said, it was short and still good. Hades has a personality that isn’t dark and broody, and they have a history before he squirrels her away to the underworld. There’s peace at the end.

If you like Greek mythology for Greek mythology, very good. Think Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (and presumably Circe and The Song of Achilles, which are on my shelf and tbr).

Content warnings: none that I can think of

Bought on Amazon, not on ThriftBooks or B&N

Pretty Girls Make Graves by Steffanie Holmes

(Dark Academia quadrilogy)

Dark academia! Crumbling uni, secret societies, murder mystery, intrigue, danger, a hot priest. Bully romance, lots of second-hand embarrassment. Little spicy.

I’ll skip the synopsis and repeat: hot priest. Naked in the first chapter. The rest of it is summed up in the dark romance/dark academia description. Absolutely loved it, cannot wait for the next three books. (Stay tuned for book 2 in Feb).

Content warnings: bullying, murder, priest doing not Godly things, some violence and drinking and the usually stuff rich assholes get up to

Bought on Amazon, also available on ThriftBooks and B&N

Signed up for her newsletter to get extra content, which in this case gave me two chapters from the book from the priest and the good bad boy’s POVs and left me with way more questions than the book itself. Then she sent me one of her other books for free as an e-book and that led to:

The entire Briarwood Witches Pentalogy by Steffanie Holmes

(Earth and Embers, Fire and Fable, Water and Woe, Wind and Whispers, Spirit and Sorrow)

Polyamorous witches (reverse harem, one girl and 5 guys). Troublesome fae. Some surprising twists and turns. Spicyyyyy (but not kinky).

Synopsis: Girl’s adoptive Christian parents killed. Girl finds she has inherited English castle. English castle comes with four hot guys (*eyes emoji*). Surprise! She is witch. They are all witches. And they must stop the Unseelie King, obviously. Also, sex increases her power. Queue lots of sex and lots of trouble and some really amazing guys.

Binged all five in a few days. It’s really one single, long story.

Content warnings: murder, self-harm, attempted suicide, major character death (don’t worry it’s not permanent), literal “burn the witches at the stake” mentality and mob

E-books, but available on Amazon, ThriftBooks, and B&N

#book recs #book recommendations #h l macfarlane #c n crawford #katherine macdonald #vic malachai #steffanie holmes #and this is just the indie stuff #lol

3 notes · View notes

yukinojou · 3 years

Text

I already squeed quite a bit on Twitter, but turns out my Shadow and Bone thoughts demand longform. So that was a 40+ tweet thread or using my Tumblr for an original post for once.

I was wary about the Shadow and Bone adaptation the way I'm usually wary about good books being adapted onscreen. It was amplified because my actual favourites are the Six of Crows books, and because the American-based movie complex has a bad track record of doing anything based on Eastern Europe. 8 episodes in 3 days should tell you how much I loved it - the moment I finished, I wanted more.

First, the technical praise:

Damn but the plotting is tight. It took me a while to realised it's based on heist movie bones, where every little thing (The Freaking Bullet!) is important. The story fulfills its promises and manages not to bore at the same time - it delights by the way they're fulfilled. I called out a few plot developments moments before they happened, and I was happy about it. Such a joy after so many series where "not doing what viewers expect" led to plot holes and lack of sense. It might be an upside to the streaming model after all.

From a dramatic point of view I can tell all the reasons for all the changes, especially providing additional outsider points of view on Ravka (Crows) and letting viewers see Mal for themselves the way he only comes across in later books.

Speaking of which, this is a masterclass in rewriting a story draft. SaB was Bardugo's first, and having read later books you can really see where she didn't quite dare to break the YA rules yet, especially Single POV that necessitated a tight focus on Alina's often negative feelings rather than the big picture and a triangle that felt a bit forced. The world in the series is so much bigger, the way Bardugo could finally paint it when SaB success gave her more creative freedom, and some structural choices feel familiar too. It's a combination of various choices by crew and cast, but the end result meshes together so tightly and naturally.

Visuals! Especially the war parts because Every Soviet Movie Ever, but also the clothes (I would kill for Nina's blouse in the bar), the jewelry, the interiors. The stag was so very beautiful. And a deep commitment to a coherent aesthetic for each character and setting.

Look, you can do a serious fantasy series with colours! Both skin colours and bright sets and clothing! And all scenes were well lit enough to know what's going on, even in the Fold!

Representation (aka I Am Emotion)

To start with: I was born behind the Iron Curtain, in the last years of the Cold War. The Curtain was always permeable to some extent, and we have always been aware that while we have talented artists of our own, we never had the budgets and polish of the Anglosphere Entertainment Machine. So we watched a hell of a lot of American visual storytelling especially because yeah, you can tell we don't have the budgets. 90s and 2000s especially, it's getting better now.

In American stories, the BEST case scenario for Eastern European representation is the Big Dumb Pole, the ethnic stereotype Americans don't even notice they use, where the punchline is that his English is bad or that he grew up outside Anglo culture. Other than that, it's criminals, beggars, sex trafficking victims, refugees. Sure, we may look similar (except we really really don't, not if you're raised here and see the distinct lack of all those long-jawed Anglo faces), but we are not and have never been the West, never mind America. It's probably better for younger people now, but I was raised under rationing and passport bans. Star Trek and Beverly Hills 90210 were exactly as foreign to me.

The first ever character I really identified with was Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5 (written by J. Michael Straczynski, yay behind-camera representation). This was a Russian Jewish woman very much in charge, in the way of strong women I know so well, not taking any bullshit, not repressing her feminity. I recognised her bones, she could be my cousin. The sheer relief of it. There have been few such occasions since.

The reason I picked up Shadow and Bone in the first place was recommendations from other Polish people. I've had no problems finding representation in Eastern European books because wow our scene is strong in SFF especially, but it's always a treat to find a book in English that gets it. And Leigh gets it, the bones of our culture, and I could even look past the grammar issue (dear gods and Americans, Starkova for a woman, Morozov for a guy) that really irked me because of the love for the setting and the characters, the weaving in of religion/mysticism (we never laicisized the same way as the West, natch), the understanding of how deep are the scars left in a nation at war for centuries. The books are precious to me, they and Arden's Winternight and Novik's Spinning Silver.

To sum up: Shadow and Bone the Netflix series gets it. You can tell just how much they've immersed themselves in Eastern European culture and media, it comes across so well in visuals and writing and characters. Not just the obvious bits (though the WWII propaganda posters gave me a giggle), but the palaces, the additional plotlines and characters, the costumes, the attitudes. About the only thing missing in the soldier scenes was someone singing and/or quoting poetry.

I will blame the Apparat's lack of beard on filming in a non-Orthodox country. Poland's Catholic too, but I very much imagined him as an Orthodox patriarch, possibly because I read the books shortly after a visit to Pecherska Lavra in Kiev and the labyrinthine holy catacombs there. Small quibble, not my religion, not my place to speak.

(I've seen discussion on the issues with biracial representation in the show, which is visceral and apparently based on bad experiences of one of the show writers in a way that's caused pain to other Asian and biracial people. I'm not qualified to speak on those parts, other that Eastern Europe is... yeah. Racist in subtly different ways. If anything, the treatment of the Suli as explained in Six of Crows always read so very true of the way Roma are treated, and even sanitised.)

And now for the spoiler-filled bits:

Kaz and Inej. I mean... just THEM. So many props to the actors, the writers, the bloody goat.

I adore the fact the only people who get to have sex in the show are Jesper and a very lucky stablehand.

Ben Barnes needs either an award or a kick. The man's acting choices and puppy eyes are as epic as his hair.

So Much Love for Alina initiating the kiss. Her book characterisation makes sense, she's so trapped in her own head because she has no time to process everything that's happening, but grabbing life by the lapels is a much more active choice. Still not making the relationship equal, but closer to it.

Speaking of, Kaz's constant awareness of how unequal his relationship with Inej is, and attempts to give her agency. I'm really curious how his touch issues come across to someone who doesn't know the backstory there.

Feodor and his actor. He looks exactly like the pre-war heartthrob Adolf Dymsza, a specific upper-class Polish ethnic type that's much rarer now that, well, Nazis killed millions of Polish intellectuals in their attempt to reduce us to unskilled labour only. The faces he makes are the Best.

Nina!! Nina is perfect, those cheekbones, that cheek, I was giggling myself silly half the time. I cannot wait to see Danielle Galligan take on the challenge of Nina's plotline in Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, she'll kill us dead.

I already mentioned that the writers fixed Mal's absence from the first book, but Mal in general! The haircut gives him a kind of rugby charm, and Archie Renaux is outstanding at emoting without talking. Honestly, all the casting in this series is inspired, but him in particular.

Extra bonus: Howard Charles and Luke Pasqualino playing so very much against the type of the swaggering Musketeers I saw them play last. Arken dropping the mask at the end... Howard Charles is love.

I can't believe not only was Milo's bullet a plot point, but the fact Alina was wearing a particularly sparkly hair ornament in a long series of beautiful hair ornaments was a plot point.

In conclusion: so much love, and next three season NOW please. Okay, give me a week to reread the books, and an extra day because new Murderbot drops tomorrow...

#shadow and bone #six of crows #shadow and bone meta

24 notes · View notes

psychewithwings · 3 years

Text

The Canary Pt. 2 Todoroki x F!

hi, this is pt 2 of my Shouto Todoroki x musician!reader where its a hot mess bc its kinda a love triangle with Enji????

Listen if ya missed pt 1... its here

TW: anything on my page is 18+, fuck outta here children and get some juice... manipulative relationships, messy love situation/ love triangle, hints at abusive relationship (between reader and her ex), her ex is also a drug addict... and a criminal... if you're wondering why this is such a messy fic its inspired by my watching the show euphoria...

and lemme address this: i know enji got a redemption arc but i wanted to write him with a similar vibe to nates dad from euphoria... to explore the manipulative sides of age gap relationships or relationships with clearly unbalanced power dynamics, my portrayal of him here is not what i would deem perfectly canon but more a vessel for the plot and ideas i want to explore with this piece and the complexities within it, now... that being said... i give you a long awaited pt 2 to The Canary

You watch as Shouto opens the front door and slips away into the night. The door closes and upon hearing the latch click you realize you’d been holding your breath. You exhale long and slow, still stunned by Shouto’s vulnerability. He worries he will never be able to save himself. Yes, you very much relate to that problem. There is something about Shouto that scares you, looking at him in person, it feels like he is someone you’d known forever, that you should have memories of him but the place in your mind that they should be, is blank.

How he feels about you is still incredibly unclear. You had been very aware of how carefully he watched you during your meal, his eyes seemingly tracking each of your movements and committing them to memory. Dinner was uncomfortable, you had wanted to hide and simultaneously prove yourself to him; that you were different from his idea of who you must be considering the circumstances. You knew what he thought; that you were just some shallow girl dating his dad for the money. But that wasn’t the truth.

Maybe someday you and Shouto would learn the truth of who the other was, your pasts, desires for the future, and maybe what that feeling was that made him seem so familiar. You could easily picture yourself trying to make him laugh on a warm spring day and you smile to yourself.

“Well I’m glad to see you smiling,” Enji remarks as he sits next to you on the couch. “Shouto can be a bit harsh, I apologize…” Enji murmurs and wraps his arm around you, a protective and comforting gesture. “No, it’s okay, it’s only natural for him to feel suspicious or confused,” you console. You pull your legs onto the couch and snuggle into the cushions.“I’ll talk to him about it,” he offers but you shake your head. “No, it’s really okay, I think he’s warming up to me.” Enji raises an eyebrow at you and smiles slightly. “Shouto doesn’t warm up to others easily… or at all,” he dismisses and kisses your cheek. You look up at him and blink. “I’m not worried ‘bout it… best to just give it time,” you smile. Enji gives you a single nod before his expression falls stern. “As much as I enjoy your optimism, we need to discuss Friday, I won’t be able to go and I don’t want you going alone.” You inhale slowly and hold your breath until you can figure out the words exactly.

“Enji, I told you, I can take care of myself for a night, I don't need you to watch over me every time I do a gig.” His gaze bores into yours, eyes piercing. “And I’ve asked you nicely not to play this weekend, you’re sophisticated now, a place like the Viper Lounge should be considered beneath you.” You move away from his touch, crossing your arms. While Enji is more supportive than anyone else about your music career, he still didn’t understand. He had been a hero, a place like The Viper is considered scummy in his circle but for you it’s the holy grail of performance venues. You explain time and time again and the words are becoming dull and grey with repetition. “It’s one of the best places for someone who’s looking to get scouted to perform… and the Viper invited me, that's a big deal.” Enji shifts to face you, “I know this feels big to you but it’s just a small set in a shitty dive.”

A part of you wanted to cry hearing those words, but the tears didn’t come. Just a small, sad smile. “There’s going to be talent scouts and agents there… just to see who was selected for the line up and I’m the closing set… It's a pretty big deal.”

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

Shouto walks from the house, his head filled with thoughts of you. Your smile, your voice, that ridiculous yellow guitar. Your eyes, their inquisitive nature. He thinks back to his answer to your question, “I'm afraid that no matter how many people I save, that I’ll never be able to save myself.” He sighs, he can’t remember the last time he could be so honest with someone, let alone someone who was practically a stranger… But there is something about you that seems oddly familiar, though for what reason he felt this way was unclear.

He is about halfway to his car when he feels how light his pants pocket is. His phone… he must have left it inside somewhere, maybe the kitchen? He sighs, he doesn’t want to return to the house, to have to look at you again after being so honest. He had been bold in hopes of- well he isn’t all that sure why he had said something like that so openly, all he knows is the heat is creeping to his cheeks. He takes a breath before hesitantly opening the door. He collects himself, hoping you wont be able to see his embarrassment.

“I told you, there will be plenty more opportunities and you won't have to perform in such a dump,” he hears his fathers voice. He knows that voice… Shouto opens his mouth to call out but shuts it again hearing your icy tone, “you’re not listening... Enji.” Shouto’s eyebrows raise in surprise, you’re not as childish as he first thought. In fact, it seems you’re holding your own against his father in an argument of sorts. He hears Enji laugh mockingly, “I’m not listening? What about Kai?” There’s a long pause, the sound of cicadas filling Shouto’s ears while the name Kai tumbles around his mind. He knew that name from somewhere. “What about Kai?” your voice is so low he can barely hear it. “Is he going to be there?” Enji pushes. Your voice raises slightly in aggravation, “I don't know, I don't talk to Kai, I haven’t said a word to him since the day I left.” Enji scoffs, “Really? It’s suspicious that the Viper Lounge invites you to perform when you’re almost a year out of that scene, he has connections there, what if he’s just using this “gig” as an excuse to get close to you? C’mon y/n, use your head.” Enji’s tone is viciously condescending. Shouto clenches his jaw, waiting for your reply. “I’ve thought about that possibility, but it's an event to showcase new upcoming artists and I haven’t performed there solo before, so I don’t find it totally unbelievable they would ask me.” For once Enji has no rebuttal and you take that as your cue to continue. “Kai isn’t even in the line up… and even if he was, I’m going because this is important to me, this has nothing to do with him.”

Shouto couldn’t keep standing outside listening, he had to get his phone now. He briskly steps inside and shuts the door loudly behind him. “I left my phone,” he announces as he walks through the house to the kitchen. The silence that follows his interruption makes him worry you both figured out he had been listening, though perhaps you were both just embarrassed to be caught arguing. He finds his phone by the kitchen sink and pockets it quickly, before heading back towards the door. He nods towards you both before turning his back.

“Hey Shouto?” The sound of your voice stops him in his tracks. He shifts carefully to face you and sees your eyes glinting with mischief. “You own a hero agency right?” Shouto nods, watching carefully to see where you were going with this. “I’m sure then that you would have a hero capable of a simple bodyguard job, for just this little gig I’m doing on Friday, I know it’s last minute so if you don’t have anyone… I’ll be fine.” He had to play this carefully so as not to expose himself for eavesdropping. “Where’s the gig?” “The Viper Lounge,” Enji scoffs. His father must be furious that you’ve now involved a third party. If there was something Enji Todoroki hated, it was airing his dirty laundry. Shouto was careful not to laugh… you were far smarter than he initially gave you credit for.

“I’ve performed at the Viper before… tons of times-``''You have, but only with Kai Chisaki.” Your face tells Shouto that name hits a sore spot. Hearing his whole name sparks Shouto’s memory and he realises who Kai is. Kai Chisaki, an underground rapper… face tattoos and some nasty habits that earned him a hell of a rap sheet; burglary, assault, possession of unlicensed weapons, public indecency, drug counts too high to keep track of… He’d been arrested again a few months ago, but just like the last, he was bailed out and the charges were dismissed.

“But the Viper asked me to be a part of this gig for showing off upcoming talent… Enji’s just worried for me because he can't be there and my ex has a reputation- ``''That’s putting it lightly,” Enji interrupts, “he’s scum, deserves to rot in prison.” You rub your palms on your thighs and smile gently at Shouto. “I just think the situation would be more comfortable for everyone if I had some protection… Maybe you know of someone that could watch out for me for the night?”

Shouto resists the urge to volunteer, though the temptation of hearing your voice again is overwhelming. “Tch- as if I would trust any of the foolish heroes Shouto babysits to watch after you in that cesspool…” You gaze at Enji with big doe eyes, your body turning, hands inching towards his father’s legs. “You trust Shouto don’t you?” Enji pauses, before he sighs “I do.” You give him a winning smile, “then he’ll pick someone fit for the job.” Enji’s brow creases pensively, “Shouto,” he addresses. Shouto meets his father’s eyes, his heartbeat quickening as he realises what he’s about to ask. “What are your plans Friday? Could you take her?”

Shouto pretends to consider it, but really he counts the seconds until he can agree. He didn’t really know what it was about you that made him want to go with you so badly to this gig. It’s a separate part of himself that Shouto was unfamiliar with, a part of him that wasn’t thinking but desired only to know you… or understand you? There was just something about you. That was all he knew for sure. He nods, trying his best to hide his true feelings. “I could make arrangements to accompany y/n, as long as,” he looks at you, “you’re comfortable with that.” You hold out your hands defensively and shake your head, “if you have to move things around- you’re so busy- I-I don’t wanna cause you any trouble.” Shouto dismisses your statement, “it’s not trouble, I wouldn’t agree otherwise.”

You shift uncomfortably, “as long as you’re sure…” Shouto turns towards the door, facing forward as he leaves you with these words. “It’s important to you, right? Just accept my help.” He opens the door, and holds the frame tightly. He knows he shouldn’t, he hears the chorus of voices telling him not to look back, but it's that one part of him again that takes control and turns his head. He can’t help but smile slightly seeing your expression. Mouth parted and brow raised slightly in surprise. Beautiful.

“We’ll connect about details sometime during the week,” he confirms, “see you Friday.” He hears you call out your gratitude as he closes the door and makes for his car. He slides into the driver's seat and turns on the engine and looks towards his childhood home. The light from the windows casts a glow onto the grass. He finally exhales and with each new breath he gains more clarity about the situation. He shouldn’t care about you, he can’t let himself get any closer. He would help you with this gig and go back to avoiding family dinner like the plague. Shouto leans his head back into the seat and puts the car in reverse. He tries his best to shake off these thoughts but that little devil on his shoulder keeps cackling and whispering suggestions he chooses to immediately ignore.

He pulls out of the driveway and onto the road, pushing thoughts of you away and doing his best to find another topic to think about, something to distract him from the confusion of his swirling emotions. But as much as he tries, he can’t stop thinking about you.

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

if you want to be added to the taglist its here

#todoroki x reader #shouto x reader #todoroki shouto #todoroki x y/n #todoroki x you #shouto x y/n #shouto x you #bnha #mha #bnha todoroko #bnha x reader #bnha x y/n #romancefiend #amelia writes

15 notes · View notes

nextonmy-tbr · 3 years

Text

Book Review: The Infernal Devices

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA Fantasy

Tessa decides to visits London, to find her missing brother but the next thing she knows is that she is being kidnapped, tortured and made to do things, she never knew she had the capability to do. She finally finds refuge with two guys – Will and Jem; who demon-slaying soldiers aka Shadowhunters meant to protect the human world from demons.

Well what happens next? Tessa uncovers some truth regarding her past, where she realizes she may belong in this world. With danger of a group of people having an army of clockwork creatures set to rule London, how will Tessa and her friends stop them? Read the book to find out…

My thoughts: -

So I have been a part of Cassie’s TSC fandom for quite a time and I know that out of so many books that she has written the fandom has highest amount of praise for this series. This hype really made the book intimidating to me; so much that I had put it off reading for quite a while, until I thought that I would have to do the honours to the inevitable. So was the book worth the hype, well I cannot say that for you; but what I can say that I did love it. I loved the plot, characters and story but yet there were some places that I felt disappointed. I will talk in detail regarding them further in this review. But while reading this trilogy the one thing that kept flashing in my head was – Tessa, Jem and Will are the only love triangle in all the history of books that I have read, I have loved, adored and definitely is the only one that I will accept.

Plot: -

“How could three people who cared for one another so much cause one another so much pain?”

The thing I really liked about the plot is that the danger that is posed on this supernatural world of angels and demons is not by some other supernatural person but rather it is by a human. Which I found a lot interesting as I feel Shadowhunters are a lot arrogant in their ability to fight demons. This story is set in Victorian Era and that is something anyone can fall in love into.

Apart from this whole danger plot, another plot that takes up majority of the book series is the love triangle. At least in this triangle we don’t have the cliché of friends who end up falling for the same girl starting to hate each other and having a big male ego tussle, neither do we see the girl having difficulty in choosing between the two. Here, we see these three people loving each other so much, that it literally makes your heart hurt. At the last who she ends up with will surely surprise you, but I have to say I preferred it.

Characters: -

“One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have power to change us.”

One thing after reading this book series is certain that these characters are so lovely and memorable. Though the major focus of the story is on Will, Jem and Tessa, the other minor characters are equally good. But the problem that I had with this series lies in the characters.

First off is Jem, I love Jem and I don’t think I have words how much I have loved this character but what I didn’t like is that Cassie gave him just one narrative that is the second love interest who is dying. There could have been so much more to him but everything he does in this book series is some in the other way related to the fact that he will die. Another thing is diversity. Jem is shown as half Chinese half British, were we know nothing about his Chinese heritage or culture, except he says few words or lines in Chinese to Tessa. Being a POC myself I find it very disappointing that authors try to add POC in their books just for the sake of it, to earn diversity brownie points. Jem is that character in this story and I feel he deserves to be treated better.

Another thing that I found upsetting was the minor characters. I have said this before that they equally good to the main characters but the problem I felt is that they are not given enough page time and I for one would have totally loved to read more about them, especially Cecily, Sophie and Gideon.

Lastly, I would come to conclusion is that even though there were some parts disappointing for me, this book series is totally exquisite and one should definitely check it out.

#book review #booklr #tsc #tid #the infernal devices #jem carstairs #tessa grey #will herondale #charlotte fairchild #henry fairchild #cecily herondale #sophie collins #gideon lightwood #gabriel lightwood #magnus bane

9 notes · View notes