#and i'm too stubborn to give up because I WANT TO FANGIRL OVER MY FAVORITE SHOW AND OTP and i'm gonna

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Elena Isn't Sitting Around Telling Sad Stories of the Deaths of Kings. She's Burning Shit Down

There's a trend in adult fantasy lately of mixing magic and technology and religion in some SUPER interesting ways. I loved it in Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga, NE Davenport's The Blood Trials, and now in Aparna Verma's The Phoenix King. Quite honestly, I was sold by the Indian-inspired world with morally grey protagonists and firebending, so finding out that there was tech mixing with magic here too was a nice bonus. This book also does one of my favorite things ever, and includes some really stunning character art in the inner cover...of a PAPERBACK. Publishers: More of that, please. I'm going to do my best to avoid spoilers below, because honestly I think more people should read and love this book and it's rich, complex world, phenomenal characters, deliberate pacing, and lovely writing. Let's talk The Phoenix King.

The world of Verma's debut novel explodes onto the pages fully formed, delightfully complex, and on the verge if shattering. Between the Raveni and Jantari enmity, the Ahrohassain twining into those cracks and applying pressure and murder in equal measures, and some twisted history with gods and fire magic, protagonist and heir to Ravence's throne Elena has her work cut out for her.

Elena is the heir to a kingdom and religion that expect her, like their Phoenix, to control fire. The only problem is that our clever, stubborn, ruthless girl cannot, and her father is no help.

Leo, the current king, is grappling with geopolitical machinations, single-parenthood, grief, possibly some low-key madness, and the shattering conflict of wanting his daughter to be a strong queen and maybe not wanting to give up his power. And despite his desperate bids to leave Elena a stable kingdom, bringing in Samson, the landless king with an army, for a political marriage to Elena, just sets everything on the final downward spiral.

And that's before we remember that we have one more wild card in play: Yassen Knight. (Literally it took me this whole book to train myself out of going, "Yassen? As in Gregorovich???" So thanks for nothing there, Anthony Horowitz...) Yassen has all the world-weariness of a soldier who doesn't understand how he is still alive in a world that keeps dragging him back to hell no matter how many times he hears "just one last mission..."

Elena and Yassen's connection is immediate, but their relationship is best described as a slow burn. The parts of each of them that are wounded recognize each other, but it takes their brains a while to catch up.

Generally speaking, the worldbuikdig and character work are the key reasons to read this book. Both are beautifully done independently, and Verma takes it to the next level by having each inform and influence the other. I haven't seen worldbuilding this quietly understated but beautifully intricate in a while, and that background for some genuinely complex characters is just a stunning combination.

I have more to say about this book, but most of it involves fangirling over massive spoilers, so I will leave you for now with a five-star rating and a strong recommendation to read this incredible book. One can only hope that the next two books of the trilogy come out SOON!

#aparna verma #the phoenix king #elena #yassen knight #adult epic fantasy #adult fantasy novel #indian-inspired epic fantasy #firebending #books and reading #books & libraries #books and novels #books #book recommendations

[sometimesrosy]

What happened with the fandom in S3? I always loved the 100 and got really into Bellarke around S2 but I hadn’t joined the fandom or any fandom for that matter, until after S4 and the beginning of S5. Which I’m actually grateful for because from what I’ve heard during S3 the fandom was a mess maybe worse than now? IDK, the way everybody talks about it it sounds like it was the dark year from the 100

fanwars. shipwars. holywars.

i think there’s something to the idea that people are using media content to replace their religious beliefs, because people become nearly fanatical about their ships and interpretations, and dogma. Like you HAVE to bow down to certain interpretations, and some characters are made virtual gods, while others are made devils, and then we play out this holywar in fandom.

And I am SO not into any of that. I’m watching a STORY. Period. I can learn stuff about it about society. I can learn something about myself by engaging with it and reflecting upon it. I can ENJOY myself. But it’s nothing to worship. 

I do think it was worse in season 3. I personally got caught up in the holywars and was LITERALLY named “The devil” by some in the CL fandom. And names are still being thrown around but the race question and the homophobia question aren’t part of it, so they’re just generic character assassination. The frequent ones I get lately are “a joke” “an ass kisser,” and “you are always wrong.”

 And I’ve refused to participate in it this past season, but I can see a lot of the same dogma being spread around and I can see that people STILL believe the claims of bellarke delusion, and STILL have been conned into thinking that canon is less important than fandom feelings and opinions.

I mean, people are more important than stories, but people’s feelings and interpretations don’t invalidate the canon. The story remains the story it is without regard for how fandom likes it. Or which ship is considered good and which ship is considered evil.

I think s3 fandom was worse, and more divided and more antagonistic. This time around they target the show and the writers for a lot of their antagonism. They hate JR. Or the show itself, considering it to be a betrayal of their ship. It used to be that they considered the other fans to be the greatest evil in the world and they would attack and feel perfectly righteous.

what a mess actually.

Maybe it’s just better for me because I learned how to deal with it and cut it out of my bubble and know better what’s going on so it doesn’t confuse me as much. For someone who wasn’t personally involved in the shipwars, it might feel worse this time around as their fandom fell apart right around them. 

#fandom #the 100 fandom #every time someone tries to focus on fandom positivity they are destroyed by all the negativity #i've seen it so many times #i've had people come after me SIMPLY for shipping belarke and being positive #and i'm too stubborn to give up because I WANT TO FANGIRL OVER MY FAVORITE SHOW AND OTP and i'm gonna #and i am expert in cutting people out of my circle who are toxic so i ignore them which they hate more than anything #you shoulda SEEN what happened when I called one of my haters irrelevant. it was amusing