#amelia heartstriker

[fuckyeahheartstrikers]

Heartstriker/DFZ Fic Recs! (No Spoilers)

Heartstriker and DFZ fic recs that are spoiler free! (as in major plot points, but some have character backstory spoilers)

HEARTSTRIKER SERIES

Battle on the Wing— Sheliak_(Sheliak)

AO3: Teen, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Amelia/Svena, Pre-Canon, Complete, 756 words.

An Impulsive Act of Baby Theft— Sheliak_(Sheliak)

AO3: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Amelia & Brohomir, Pre-Canon, Complete, 901 words.

Enemy Territory— Sheliak_(Sheliak)

AO3: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Amelia/Svena, Pre-Canon, Complete, 809 words.

All Our Hues— LemonsBitter

AO3: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Amelia & Brohomir, Pre-Canon, Complete, 1939 words.

DFZ SERIES

50/50— mimiwrites

AO3: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Nikola Kos/Opal Yong-ae, Post- Minimum Wage Magic, Complete, 766 words.

then i might miss you— mimiwrites

AO3: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, Nikola Kos/Opal Yong-ae, Post- Minimum Wage Magic, Complete, 1599 words.

Dinner and a Show— Atomicpom

AO3: Teen, No Archive Warnings Apply, Nikola Kos/Opal Yong-ae, Miniumum Wage Magic, Complete, 1430 words.

#heartstrikers #dfz #dfz series #brohomir heartstriker #amelia heartstriker #svena the white witch #opal yong-ae #nikola kos #fic rec

[bookwormfan1495]

Baby Heartstrikers are fluffy?!?

#Julius heartstriker #heartstrikers #one good dragon deserves another #spoilers #dragons #Amelia heartstriker #Rachel Aaron #j clutch #fantasy #novels #fantasy novels #books

[pisstachio-pierrot]

Um, so I wrote a fic for this fandom of less than a dozen people. 

It’s Amelia saving baby Bob from their mother’s vanity. Slightly canon divergent, since I think Bob was described as the runt of B-clutch, and I don’t think this story lines up exactly, but creative liberties, yo. 

Okay, now someone teach me how to edit videos so I can make a Heartstriker vine comp.

#amelia heartstriker #brohomir heartstriker #rachel aaron #heartstrikers series #heartstrikers #fanfic

[caprisun-wizard]

funny to me how opal in dfz loves her stuff so much she cries at the thought of destantos’ goons breaking it, like she really cares about her stuff

it’s such stereotypical dragon behavior, the very kind of hoarding she chafes so bad with her dad about

#personally i think that she hits it off so well with amelia is bc amelia recognizes opal as a dragon #even before she realizes it #like opal is capable of dragon magic by the end but like she’s a dragon the whole time #anyway i love this series so much #dfz #detroit free zone #heartstrikers #tam talks

[bubblesandpages]

Brohomir saying “you and I are going to be the very best of enemies,” to a newly hatched Felicity right after we’ve spent the whole book seeing Amalia and Svena’s friendship, and establishing that a “dear enemy” is the closest ancient powerful dragons get to being friends is singlehandedly the sweetest moment in the series.

#I don't have the original quote on me so excuse and errors there #this scene plays on loop in my head #it's just asdfovghipsgnjldgildi so sweet!!!! #like we know Bob doesn't perceive the world the way other dragons do #and he's playing a longer game than any of them #and coming off of the scene with Amelia (which had me in tears I may add!!) #and the fact that this is the child of his second favorite sister is just <3 <3 <3 #so UUUUUGGGGH IT'S SO CUTE and I will never get over it #heartstrikers #Fizzy talks

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I’ve read a lot of books featuring various ends of various worlds, but for pure chilling the more you think about it, the worse it gets nightmare value, the destruction of the dragon homeworld in the Heartstriker series might actually take the gold.  It’s a bloodless kind of end of the world, a whimper, as it were, rather than the Leviathan’s bang, but I can’t stop thinking about it.

I think the worst part is that they had an hour.  From the time where they knew something was wrong to the utter, irreparable, indescribably complete obliteration of their entire world, they had one hour.  With all those seers, all that future chained down, literally a fatal surfeit of foresight--even with those incredible advantages, they had one hour, start to finish.

And their end is so complete.  There’s one second of their world left, one infinitesimal moment, between breaths, between the present being over and the future beginning--not even enough space for someone to stand.

#heartstriker #heartstriker series #dfz #to quote myself from earlier #nearly every author i've ever seen with a character who can see the future: 'well okay i can only have ONE' #'and i have to limit them REALLY CAREFULLY so as to keep the narrative tension' #rachel aaron (doing a hit off a genius joint and kicking her heels up on her desk): #'what if a species had SO MANY seers who were SO GOOD at manipulating the future that they ran out of possible timelines' #'just manipulated themselves clean out of existence' #IT'S BRILLIANT #I'M LIVING #the next book features yet more chelsie and i'm so excited about it #now see...idk who would be running the Actual Plot Of The Books in this au #but what if i did an untamed au where wwx is chelsie and nhs is bob and wen qing is amelia and lwj iS THE GOLDEN EMPEROR #wen ning is um....conrad maybe? #and the ducklings are all f clutch!!!!!!! #again: who tf is julius in this? christ only knows i certainly don't #mo xuanyu maybe? #yeah fuck it everyone thinks he's insane so yeah he can carry the bulk of the narrative #WAIT NO jiang cheng has to be conrad so idk who wen ning would be i don't have fuck-all figured out #but like...the Angst #I JUST LOVE CHELSIE MOST OUT OF EVERYONE IN THIS BAR #LET ME MAKE WWX SUFFER!!!!!!

[lyreofsheliak]

Fic: Frozen Ash

Fandom: The Heartstrikers

Character: Svena the White Witch

Also on: Dreamwidth, AO3, FFN. 

Summary: Svena mourns, and plots vengeance. Set after No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished and before Last Dragon Standing. 

Deep in her mothers' glacial fortress in Siberia, Svena the White Witch plotted.

She plotted for the survival of her clan, her ten surviving sisters and five unhatched eggs, in the face of Algonquin’s looming threat. She plotted vengeance against that same enemy—true, Algonquin seemed invincible now, but Svena’s daughter would be a seer, and perhaps a seer could make even the Lady of the Lakes pay in blood for the Three Sisters’ deaths.

Mostly, she plotted against Brohomir, Great Seer of the Heartstrikers, for the death of his sister and her enemy. Amelia the Planeswalker, Svena’s last and greatest rival, who should have died in battle against her, not been struck down by the one dragon she’d trusted.

It galled her all the more because she’d played into the seer’s hands. Amelia had persuaded her to help with an ill-advised bit of magical experimentation, dividing Amelia’s vast flame in half and placing half—for safekeeping, the Planeswalker had claimed—within a mortal mage. A mortal who wasn’t even hers, either of theirs, but who served Amelia’s weakling of a youngest brother. A mortal who’d been dead days later, before Amelia herself, turning that protection into a greater weakness, draining Amelia until she’d been as vulnerable as an old and powerful dragon could be.

Had she refused to help Amelia in her foolishness, Svena was certain that her rival would still be alive. There was no way that the second greatest dragon mage could have met such an ignominious death if she’d been at full strength; even Brohomir was no match for the Planeswalker, either as a mage or as a fighter. Had been no match for her.

Svena swore that she would make him pay for using her. She and her daughter would turn all his plans against him, for that. And they'd make his life a misery, because he'd taken Amelia from her.

Rage made a fine distraction from her grief.

My best and greatest enemy...

#the heartstrikers #svena the white witch #amelia the planeswalker #fanfic/ #sheliak writes/

[chaoskirin]

Book Review -- The Heartstrikers Series

This is a book review about the first three books in the Heartstrikers Series, which starts with Nice Dragons Finish Last.

I liked these books, but I didn’t love them. It's definitely a solid three stars, and I'll read the last two books to see where it goes. Overall, if you like fantasy with YA elements, you will probably enjoy this series.

This review will contain some minor spoilers in order to justify my rating, with some MAJOR spoilers at the end.

First, the good. The plot is absolutely solid and it's clear the the author had a good idea of what she was going to do before she wrote it. It has a very mobster-type feel which I would expect with the way the dragons are characterized. The writing is occasionally clever and the main character is likable, relatable, and I'm able to empathize with his situation. The author may be projecting a bit as Julius' situation can get a little heavy-handed, but the theme of a found family is definitely present and well-executed.

I love the world that's been created. I'm originally from Detroit, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that the entire first book takes place in a sort of ghost-town version of it. I can picture the descriptions of the houses (I used to work in an old mansion converted in to an office, in fact!) and it's pretty clear that the author is from Detroit, or at least spent a lot of time there. Sometimes it got a little name-droppy as far as locations were concerned, but I kept hoping the author would namedrop the place where I'm from, so it's a fair trade. XD (She did not, sadly, but it was still fun to read about.)

The spirits and how they exist is also very interesting. Algonquin is an amazing villain in the second ant third books, and I can't wait to read more about her and the other spirits in the last two books.

There's also a great amount of action interspersed with the narrative, so that kept things interesting! Some books tend to either get lost in endless exposition or endless action sequences, but this book balances them very well.

Now for the not-so-good.

I picked up the first book expecting dragons. The title is "Nice Dragons Finish Last," after all, and while it's very clear from the description that the main character, Julius, is "sealed," I had hoped that there would be at least some mythological creature action. This is kept to an absolute minimum, though, in favor of dragons in their human shape. It's even a rather contrived "rule" in Detroit that dragons aren't allowed to be there. This trope has become outright cliche... I've been reading books for years and this was a common theme way back in the days of Dragonlance--take an incredibly powerful being and shove them into human shape, but add a coolness factor by calling them a dragon. (I wrote this part after the first book: there's much more ACTUAL dragon action in books 2 and 3. I still wish there was more.)

But they aren't really dragons. They think like humans, they act like humans, they seem to have the same emotions as humans... Except for another fantasy trope, which is taking every member of a species and shoving them into a single alignment (lawful evil in this case). Julius is the one exception, so it's a very Drizzt Do'urden situation and it's always been odd to me that every member of a species could be evil/good just because of what they are. (this is especially a problem with goblins and rampant antisemitism, but that's another discussion entirely.)

It's a problem that allows justified racism. If the entirety of one species is mean, it's really easy to make everyone hate them, and you lose the nuance of what real racism is. I would suggest that people not write about racism unless they've either experienced it or they've consulted with members of their community who have been the target of it. This becomes more of a problem in the second and third books when Julius is trying to prove that Not All Dragons Are Bad. And it becomes clear that both humans and spirits are very racist against dragons, but it completely lacks the reality of what racism really is. As one poster on tumblr said, "racism isn't just one species being mean to another."

Essentially, it puts all dragons on an uphill battle against everyone else, fails to become a proper allegory, and discards depth and warmth.

A small problem that I should mention is that sometimes plot points sort of fade? There was a situation where Julius' mom visits and he was very mean to Marci, and she was very upset about that, but it's never actually addressed. It sort of fizzles and ends and then everything moves on. It should have at least been mentioned and tied up.

Another problem is repetitiveness or filler text. When I'm going through beta reading for my books, I ask my readers to tell me ANY TIME they skim over text. When your readers are skimming, what you've written isn't interesting, and it has to be changed. I found myself doing this a lot in this book. I forced myself to read back and see what I've skimmed over, and it was usually information I'd already read being presented in a slightly different way. My advice would be to allow the readers to infer information without explaining it into the ground. One thing I would avoid is the discussion of plans before executing said plans--even if they ultimately go wrong. It's enough to say that your protagonist HAS a plan, then let the text speak for itself. These planning phases were what I tended to skip the most.

I can supply one sample of repetitiveness without spoiling the story too badly: One of the main characters is talking with a dragon character about a plan at the beginning-ish of book 3. And breaking the text down to its basics, it goes like this:

Amelia: You have to. Marci: I don't know... Amelia: But you have to. Marci: I don't know... Amelia: You really should do this. Marci: I don't know... Amelia: It's a good idea. Marci: Okay I'll do it. Amelia: Are you sure? Marci: Yes I'll do it. Amelia: Are you sure???

And the argument became VERY spread out over the whole chapter, interspersed with the same explanation of why Marci Should Do The thing, most of which I ended up skimming to the part where Marci ultimately accepted Amelia's idea.

Another chapter I skipped was in book 3 where two human characters had lunch with Marci. And as soon as it became clear they were discussing stuff Marci basically already knew, I just skipped the whole chapter. It was an unnecessary bit of writing that could have been summarized in one or two paragraphs instead. I went back and actually read it later. I didn't miss anything.

(my examples are from the third book because I just finished it and it's the freshest in my mind, but this is an issue in the first two books as well.)

I think there's a certain amount of realism in conversations like this. The problem is that your readers have already figured out where something is going, and they want to get there. If the author reads this, my suggestion would be this: Sometimes it's okay to cut events out when they're uninteresting. If you hate writing it, and your beta readers hate reading it, it can go. I wouldn't follow the advice that you should cut out EVERYTHING irrelevant to the plot, because sometimes it's fun to have fun, but the extra boring tedium can be safely summarized.

Next, Marci.

I first want to state here that my PREFERENCE is writing female characters. Most of my characters are women. And I understand there are a lot of readers who outright dislike all female characters, but I'm not one of them. I feel like that's an important thing to state before going into more detail about my issues with Marci.

I wanted to read more of the series before posting this review, because I felt Marci was a shallow character after book one. She felt like a female character who was STRONG, but NOT a strong female character.

And through the first book, she felt like a prop to the other main character, Julius, instead of a character all her own. (And to be fair, her ENTIRE story from the first book is sort of... hand-waved in books 2 and 3.)

In the first book, Marci isn't really written with a story arc. She's a sort of deus ex machina for Julius; she appears into his life mysteriously as he's looking for a mage, first of all. And while it SEEMS that she does have her own arc, it becomes clear by the end of the story that she's only a catalyst for the dragons' stories. The thing she's protecting eventually ends up in the hands of the dragons; she's essentially just a walking suitcase for them. She's a roadblock for the villains. And there's not even a true explanation of Why She Has The Thing They Want except that it's really cool and she wants it.

This alone may have prevented me from reading the rest of the series, but I'm VERY glad I did--While Marci has a slow start, her story does pick up in the second and third books and she becomes much more likeable. She still feels like a prop at times (other characters refer to her as a "weapon" even) but within that description, she's fighting her own battles and has become much less shallow.

I do wish she had more agency. I wish her decisions truly felt like hers, instead of the manipulations/machinations of those with higher power. But she's not the worst-written female character I've ever read, and the author makes it clear in the second and third books that she knows how to write good female characters (cough chelsie cough) so I can forgive Marci's shortcomings.

There's one Bad thing that I want to address, too, which mostly came up at the end of book 2 and throughout book 3. And this is a fairly major spoiler, I'm sorry.

You don't give a tyrannical dictator power after you defeat her. You just don't. Julius could have banished his mother if he refused to kill her. He could have let someone else kill her. He could have done any number of things. But the first thing he does is give her a seat on the new council and is just like "yes you still get to make decisions." And as you can imagine, this goes very wrong.

And book 3 is FULL of Julius refusing to let his brothers and sisters kill anyone, even when it's justified. This has always been a trope that rankled... You can't write about a coup and then have nobody die. It suggests that genocidal dictators Can Change If You Give Them The Right Opportunities, and we all know from real life that that doesn't happen. Tyrannical people in power will fight to keep that power. They don't learn. And props to the author for showing that these people don't learn, but... seriously, you don't keep people around who actively want to kill you.

I was so annoyed with Julius by the end of book 3, and the hoops the writing had to jump through to show his decision was good and right. He felt naive and almost stupid. And (VERY major spoiler here, just stop reading if you don't want the end of book 3 spoiled!)

...

...

...

...

...

...

Julius' mother had enslaved his sister for hundreds of years. When the sister was released, she immediately tried to kill her mother.

This would have justified ALL of Julius' actions up until that point if he'd just LET HER. Bethesda hurt Chelsie the most out of ANY Of her children. It would have been a PERFECT way to allow Chelsie to get her well-deserved revenge AND end the problem of Bethesda (who REALLY deserves to die.) And Julius made her stop, because That's Not How We're Doing Things Anymore.

I don't like that Bethesda is effectively not paying for the thousands of atrocities she committed over the last thousand years because the main character is a pacifist. It just doesn't sit right. And IDK if the author is building to Bethesda's death in the last couple books or not, but letting Chelsie kill her would have been the PERFECT end, and I'm really disappointed. No end for Bethesda would have been better than that.

Anyway.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I still recommend reading the series. It's a really interesting urban fantasy-type book, and while it crosses into YA territory, the fantasy aspect is interesting enough to keep me reading.

#book review #heartstrikers series #nice dragons finish last #fantasy #young adult fiction #not bestiary

[gaydelgard]

amelia heartstriker lesbian dragon icon

#alexi reads #heartstrikerblogging

[wonderwafles]

10 fandoms/10 characters

Tagged by @saiansha! Thanks friendo :D

1. RuneScape - Ack, there’s so many! I guess, ultimately, I would go with Moia. I love my poor half-Mahjarrat daughter.

2. Heartstrikers - Amelia Heartstriker

3. Gravity Falls - Mabel Pines

4. Steven Universe - Lapis Lazuli

5. Destiny - Lady Efrideet

6. Arthuriana - Morgan Le Fey

7. Avatar: The Last Airbender - Katara

8. Doctor Who - Rory Williams/Pond

9. Halo - Thel ‘Vadam

10. Runemarks - Maddie

This was fun :) I don’t have anyone in particular to tag right now, but please feel free to do this when you see it! I’m interested in *all* of y’all’s fandoms! :P

#runescape #heartstrikers #gravity falls #steven universe #destiny #the matter of britain #atla #doctor who #halo #runemarks #holy goodness that's a lot of tags

[whywontvulcanseatreplicatormeat]

I’m listening to the Heartstrikers series and Amelia and Svena are such a blatant example of spades romance it’s killing me slowly

#heartstrikers #hs

[fuckyeahheartstrikers]

I know in the Heartstrikers books there’s a lot of emphasis on how Chelsie (and Felicity) takes after her mother (“reeks of Bethesda,” as per Fenghuang), and i know how they're narrative foils to each other and all, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the similarities between Bethesda and BOB?!

Look at this shit. This makes me insane.

Bethesda being initially underestimated by her father and brothers before she successfully staged her coup, and Bob being fully embraced by Bethesda as her seer only to then ultimately betray her too?

NOT TO MENTION ONLY THEY HAVE RAINBOW FEATHERS?!??

Plus with Amelia being in the “starter clutch” and lacking the green eyes, this means Bob is the first child to truly look like Bethesda.(well, since the rest of his clutch died)

Like mother, like son.

#i mean each of bethesdas children both embody and grow beyond different aspects of her #you could find examples in from david and ian to julius and amelia #because mommy issues is what defines this series #but the ‘there’s the fear’ quote matchup??? #wtf? aaaaaaaaaa #anyways love this series #brohomir heartstriker #bethesda heartstriker #heartstrikers #heartstriker series #rachel aaron #nice dragons finish last

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I love how basically everything about dragons in the Heartstriker/DFZ books can be explained by the fact that most dragons are canonically obsessed with dramatics.

#heartstriker #heartstriker series #dfz #dfz series #rachel aaron #why is amelia/bethesda/justin/ian/yong/whoever Like That? because every dragon is a dramstic bitch next question #pour one out for chelsie and julius: The Only Chill Dragons #they don't deserve to be imprisoned in a group project with a bunch of homicidal theater kids #I'm torn about whether f clutch falls under this header but i think yes #more because they recognize the value of dramatics as a status thing than anything else but the result is the same

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Y'all I'm almost done with A Dragon of a Different Color and I want to scream about Chelsie/Xian until I fucking die

Also, the DFZ started throwing skyscrapers and I lost my shit like a fan at a sportball game, THAT'S MY BABY AND I'M VERY PROUD OF HER. GET ALGONQUIN'S ASS.

#dfz #dfz series #heartstriker #heartstriker series #chelsie heartstriker #THINGS I WAS RIGHT ABOUT: ALGONQUIN'S PLAN FOR THE DFZ #CHELSIE #F CLUTCH (we fucking STAN fredrick heartstriker in this house gents) #AMELIA #i love these BOOKS holy shit #if i lived in this universe the qilin himself could not stop me from moving to the DFZ immediately and without hesitation #i dont give two shits if my city moves my apartment every third day! I'll live in rentfree motherfuckers! I'll be a cleaner! #catch me rolling up to the dfz and Figuring It Out from there!!!!!!

[words-writ-in-starlight]

"I’m sure the Peacemaker would still try something because that idiot’s never met a situation he wouldn’t meddle in, but if he rolls in there fire blazing, the Gameskeeper will be able to—quite rightly—call foul."

Yong, leave Julius ALONE he's doing a very good job!

#dfz series #night shift dragons #YONG. YOU ARE THE CRAZY CAT MAN OF DRAGONS. I AM NOT CONVINCED YOU HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON. #i gotta finish the heartstriker books and see if I'm right about the spirit of dragons #i know Amelia's name is amelia but tell me she wouldn't get an absolutely ungodly amount of mileage out of the amelie mbmbam bit

[lyreofsheliak]

About the Heartstriker council...

We know that one seat is elected from the Fangs, one from the rest of the clan, and one belongs to Bethesda in perpetuity. 

What happens if she dies? Is there a contingency for that? (The constitution is both absolutely gigantic and written by a seer, so I kind of assume the answer is “if it’s going to be an issue, yes.” And plotwise I have no idea if I think she’s going to survive the series or not. Or if she’s going to regain her dragon form, for that matter.)

So, who is her heir in that situation? 

The wielder of her own Fang? There’s a certain logic to that, but I have a hard time imagining any introduced character taking it—maybe David, or even Ian, but I have a tough time imagining it. 

Her killer, if they’re a Heartstriker? Julius is unlikely to let that happen; he loathes her, but if he didn’t let his favorite sister, the one who’s suffered the most at her hands, kill her, he’s certainly not letting anyone else do it. 

The dragon who would have been her heir, if the council hadn’t happened? Well, that’s complicated...

Amelia’s technically a possibility, but only technically. She’s not dead anymore, but she is a Mortal Spirit, and there’s probably a conflict of interest in making the goddess of all dragons a leader of a single clan. And besides, it’s pretty well established that she really doesn’t want the job. 

If not Amelia, though, who is Bethesda’s heir? 

The established upper-alphabet dragons, other than Amelia, are Bob, Chelsie, Conrad, and David. 

Bob and Conrad have both already refused to be on the council; I can’t see those answers changing. David wants the job; Chelsie... might also want it, actually. She heartily dislikes the clan other than Julius, the Fs, and possibly Amelia; but since Fredrick picked up her old Fang, the rest of F-clutch is probably going to stay in Heartstriker to support him. And I can see her wanting power; even when the matter of the Fang’s seat first came up, she said that if not for Bethesda’s control over her she’d like being on the council. 

Julius confirms, during the latest book, that most dragon clans are ruled by their “matriarchs”; it’s not clear if this is a hard-and-fast rule, but male clan heads are rare enough to make the Golden Emperor an oddity. Chelsie is both the oldest “surviving” daughter and possibly the only one with children of her own; since her children actually like her, she’s got a built-in power base now that they’re free. She also has a terrifying personal reputation of her own, which could only be an asset to a clan head. (Not to mention the clout of being the Golden Emperor’s beloved.)

And if Chelsie and David are the two contenders, I really can’t see David getting the job. So... if Bethesda does die, I’m betting that Chelsie gets the “permanent” seat on the clan council. 

#heartstrikers #bethesda the heartstriker #amelia the planeswalker #chelsie heartstriker #bob heartstriker #sheliak speculates