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#book reviews by a flower
bookcub · 6 months
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You might like The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi if. . .
you love fairy tales
are deeply fascinated by the story of Bluebeard
enjoy descriptive prose and extended metaphors
like engaging with complicated and toxic relationships
adore stories about stories
want a soft magic system
are not turned off by homoerotic and horrifying friendships between teen girls
want to read more Gothic modern fiction
need more women who are villains
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newlullabies · 11 months
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Book Sculptures by creativerascal on Etsy
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godzilla-reads · 1 month
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✨ The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Robin McKinley has a very atmospheric way of writing. A magical, a knightly way of writing. And that is plainly clear in this book as she rewrites four fairy tales and extrapolates on new themes and magic. I really liked this collection as each story felt new and different, even if I already new one of the tales- The Princess and the Frog- which ended up being one of my favorite retellings.
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waldeswogen · 2 months
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Oh lord, what a view...
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✦ ˚  ·   .
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✦ ˚  ·    .
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lovelyylittleladyy · 2 years
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• Currently Reading•
Hi lovelies,
I am currently reading “It Ends with Us”.
I am on Chapter 3 and this is what I am imagining..
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I’m excited to read how Lily’s flower shop turns out! 🤩
Let me know if you have read this book!! 🤍
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freckles-and-books · 10 months
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“If you are a figment of my imagination, some wild dream, I hope I never wake.”
My favorite time of day in spring and summer is immediately before and immediately after the sun sets. The light becomes dreamy, barely streaming through the trees and bushes outside my window, dappling my house in green and gold light while deepening the shadows. And from mid to late May, this light is accompanied by the heady scent of the lilac bush near my door, almost intoxicating in its strength.
I cannot imagine a better time or place to read The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi. There is no easier time of day for me to believe that an otherworld is somewhere close at hand, that my own house is a house of dreams, and if only I could find the threshold, the right shadow or ray of light, I could pass through to a magic world.
Steeped in myth and fairytale, this book is full of yearning for magic. The characters consciously construct and try to follow the rules of the fairytales they know to find this magic and try to reclaim what they have lost. The relationships they form are a part of this construction and are far from healthy, but magic has a cost that must be paid.
Mixing my love of fairytales and gothic stories, with a house I long for, this book was truly everything I hoped it would be. I already want to reread it.
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thecasualbookreviewer · 4 months
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Currently reading:
The sun and her flowers, rupi kaur
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ghostowlattic · 10 months
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short story 
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maddybookopinions · 1 year
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Flowers of Algernon
I revisited this classic from my childhood and was pleasantly surprised at how beautifully written this book was. I remembered liking this book as a child but could not remember anything outside of the basic premise of this book.
This book is particularly unique because we literally watch as Charlie changes throughout the book with how he writes and communicates. The languages he uses shifts throughout his mental ability and we can see what point of his life he resides in.
whilst reading this I was subjected to an influx of emotions, both positive and negative as I read what our main character experienced throughout his life as a special needs citizen. I experienced a looming sadness throughout the duration of the entire book thinking about how Charlie Gordon was a victim of ableism with both his low and high iq's.
Although the intelligence level of Charlie skyrocketed and we witness as he becomes a genius, we are also carried along his journey as he tries to grow emotionally. And despite his rapid growth, we see him move from one end of the spectrum to the other.
This book emphasizes the beauty of humanity that lies in companionship, compassion, and understanding for one another. Charlie was forced to acknowledge his relationship with others up the point of his changing and came to learn to accept and respect them. We see his perspective on knowledge change altogether.
Charlie's conscious and subconscious conflicts with each other and we see as Charlie experience's a number of identity crisis's and moral dilemmas. We see Charlie come to embrace his past self as well as the others around him who are like him while simutaneously being the same thing to others that people were to him.
Additionally, I appreciate how we arent forced to "like" our main character. Charlie morphs from his kind self to a pompous, unlikeable individual and this is the epitome of good writing in regards to a main character. Charlie's real and we see him change and grow realistically
We see how Charlie speeds past his idols and his fall from grace as he mentally declines. One quote that stands out to me the most was "I passed your floor on the way up, and now I'm passing it on the way down, and I don't think I'll be taking this elevator again.". As if it wasn't enough to see Charlie struggle with his loneliness as an intellect, we are forced to watch the literary parallels as he returns to his former self.
This book is an absolute tearjerker and the last line of the book was one of the best last lines I've read in a while, which can be the most awkward and disappointing part of a book.
The line reads "P.S please if you get a chanse put some flowers on Algernons grave in the bak yard". and it symbolizes the death of him as a genius as well as his attachment to his life and it's just such a sad ending.
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thegayhimbo · 6 months
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Stranger Things Suspicious Minds Review
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WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the book, as well as Stranger Things Season 4!
If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews! Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section! :)
Stranger Things Six
Stranger Things Halloween Special
Stranger Things The Other Side
Stranger Things Zombie Boys
Stranger Things The Bully
Stranger Things Winter Special
Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen
Stranger Things Into The Fire
Stranger Things Science Camp
Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”
Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons
Stranger Things Kamchatka
Stranger Things Erica The Great
Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”
Synopsis: The year is 1969, and Dr. Martin Brenner has set up his base of operations at Hawkins Lab. Having brought along a five year old Kali/Eight to keep her contained while her powers develop, Brenner begins recruiting new tests subject for the MKULTRA Project in the hopes of finding others with potential. When college student Terry Ives hears about the experiment, she becomes intrigued and signs up for the program, believing it to be extremely important in shaping the course of history. However, as she starts spending more time on the project, she begins to realize the Lab and Dr. Brenner are not what they seem.........
Observations:
This is going to be a longer review compared to my other ones because I had a lot to say about the book, the show's mythology, and certain theories I have that might come to fruition in season 5. This will be split into four parts (which are titled below), so heads up on that! :)
Last year, when season 4 premiered, I ordered all the Stranger Things tie-in materials that were out at the time, and this was the first book in the series I read. I wanted to know more about the experiments Terry Ives was put through which would eventually lead to her conceiving Eleven, as well as what methods Dr. Brenner used to create human beings with extraordinary powers. To the book's credit, it (somewhat) answers those questions, but also leaves others vague or ambiguous. I couldn't tell if that's because Netflix and Random House Books planned for there to be more sequels to Suspicious Minds. If that was the case, it's probably a moot point now considering the direction the Duffer Brothers went in season 4.
The question I'm sure people are going to ask is whether or not this book is canon, and the honest answer is I don't know. The book was written by Gwenda Bond, and in her acknowledgements, she gives credit to "creative consultant" Paul Dichter for notes and advice. Paul Dichter is a writer who's been on the show since season 1, so there was someone from the writing team who oversaw this novel as it developed. The problem though is 1.) There is a continuity snarl in the book that contradicts information stated on the show, and 2.) The direction the Duffer Brothers took in season 4 begs the question of whether Gwenda Bond or even Paul Dichter had all the information about the show's mythology (such as Henry/One/Vecna and his relationship with Brenner, or Colonel Sullivan and the factions in the U.S. government opposed to the MKULTRA Project).
Because of these factors, I'm looking at this book more as an analysis of what it can tell us about the thought process behind the writers when it came to crafting the show's mythology and certain characters.
Part 1: The Upside Down's connection to the test subjects of Hawkins Lab.
Back in my review of Stranger Things Six, I proposed a theory that the abilities special kids like El, Kali, and Henry/One/Vecna had were connected to the Upside Down. Whether or not some force from the Upside Down gives them their powers remains to be seen, but both supplementary materials and even the show have implied there's a link between the two. Out of all the places Vecna could have been banished to by El, it comes off as too much of a coincidence that she sent him to the Upside Down once she fully tapped into her powers. It's even doubtful El knew what she was doing in that moment when she dissolved him like that. She wanted Henry/One/Vecna gone, but nothing indicates she had any foreknowledge of the Upside Down, or that she consciously sent him to that dimension.
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That's not even getting into how she made contact with the Demogorgon in season 1 despite never seeing it before and not knowing what it was, or how her powers went haywire once she did and ripped open a gate between the two worlds.
In Suspicious Minds, Terry befriends another test subject named Alice Johnson, a mechanic who has a love for fixing machines as well as taking them apart and rebuilding them. When she's given psychedelics and administered electroshocks as part of the experiment, she begins having visions of the Upside Down and the Demogorgon:
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Eventually, these visions show Alice parts of the future, such as Eleven being under Dr. Brenner's control and Terry Ives's eventual fate of being caught and administered repeated electroshocks by Brenner until she was reduced to the current state she's in on the show.
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A lot of this is similar to what Francine/Six went through in her comic debut: She repeatedly had visions of the Demogorgon in the Upside Down, and even saw glimpses of future events as they played out:
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The major difference between Francine/Six and Alice is that Six was shown to be psychic way before Dr. Brenner met her, whereas Alice only began to develop psychic abilities when she started taking acid and was given electroshocks.
This conundrum between characters who were born with special gifts and characters who had their gifts unlocked later in life is something that plays out on the show: Henry/One/Vecna was established as different from other kids growing up, but it wasn't until he moved into the Creel House at the age of 12 that he discovered his abilities. Whether or not something in the house caused his powers to activate or if he just discovered them naturally remains to be seen. Terry wasn't able to remote-view into the void until she began taking LSD during the experiments, and would use that to communicate with Kali in the book and El in season 2 when she came to visit her mother for the first time. El was born with her abilities as a result of the experiments and acid trips Terry went through while she was pregnant.
The idea suggested on the show and by supplementary materials is that psychedelics like LSD and Acid unlock something in the brain, allowing certain individuals to access psychokinetic abilities. However, it's unclear if the implication is supposed to be that the majority of humans have psychological inhibitors that prevent them from having those abilities, or if it all depends on the individual having those abilities at all.
In the book, there are two other test subjects, Gloria and Ken, who undergo similar experiments at the lab, and they don't have the same visions of the Upside Down Alice has, nor are they able to remote view like Terry can. While Ken claims to be psychic, it has more to do with certain feelings he gets about individuals, and when something happens to them. Case in point: He knows about Andrew's death before he's ever informed about it:
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However, he doesn't have visions of the future or the Upside Down the same way Alice does. And as Brenner notes later on, the results of the experiments with Ken were lackluster by his standards:
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That's not even getting into the other participants at the beginning of the novel (prisoners, insane patients, potheads, and draft dodgers) who were given the same experimental treatments and never showed the results Alice and Terry did. Based on that, the development of psychokinetic abilities likely has a lot to do with the person in question rather than the psychedelics themselves. Brenner even proposes a theory that a mind starting out as a blank slate and not corrupted by outside influences plays a major role in an individual developing certain abilities. It's a big reason why he allows Terry to continue coming back to the lab for experiments despite knowing she's pregnant at the time, and despite the trouble she causes him:
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It's also why he keeps Kali/Eight separate from other people besides him:
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That's all well and good, but that doesn't do much to explain Henry/One/Vecna's situation, and why his powers were dormant for 12 years before they suddenly weren't. They haven't established him taking psychedelics as a kid to unlock his abilities, and his angry, nihilistic rant to El at the lab conveys he was well exposed to the world around him and wasn't "a blank slate" in the same way El or even Kali were.
This is why I lean heavily on the theory of the Upside Down being connected to the abilities certain individuals have. Some kind of force or presence in that dimension acting as an influence on people without them realizing it, which could explain how they get those powers. I would even argue the LSD/acid acts as a tunnel between the Upside Down and the human mind via telekinetic energy. It's something the comic Stranger Things Kamchatka also touches upon when Dr. Orlov created a device that harnesses telekinetic energy to bridge this world with "someplace else:"
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On a semi-related note, it's interesting that every time Vecna established a psychic connection with his victims before killing them, he would do it while held up in the air by vines attached to his back:
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The implication I drew from this is that said vines in Vecna's back acted as a way for him to draw power from the Upside Down. In other words, the nature of the Upside Down amplifies his abilities. For now, I'm leaning on the theory that the Upside Down is the original source of his power, and that some force from it reached Henry as a kid all those years ago at the Creel House, which activated those abilities.
Part 2: The Characters
Getting back to the book, the synopsis speaks for itself: It's a prequel centered around Terry Ives (El's mother) during her time at the Lab with Dr. Brenner, and the experiments she was subjected to that led to the creation of Eleven. While there, she befriends several other test subjects: Alice Johnson, a mechanic who (as I described before) begins having visions of the Upside Down and the future once she's given LSD and electroshocks during the experiments. Gloria Flowers, a black college student with a love for the X-Men comics who's forced to join the project to get credits for her classes. And Ken, a self-proclaimed psychic who's later revealed to be gay. All four of them form a fellowship similar to the one in The Lord of the Rings (which is something referenced in-universe by the characters themselves) as they begin to question the nature and ethics of the experiments they're undergoing.
From the way the group is written here, it's clear they're meant to invoke the Party from the show. Ken for instance has a lot of similarities to Will in his sexual orientation and having some elements of being psychic and getting certain feelings at different moments (though in Will's case, it's usually when Vecna/The Mind Flayer is active). Lucas has many similarities to Gloria in being the pragmatic member of the group and having to deal with racism directed at them because of who they are. Alice is similar to Dustin in their natural curiosity about how things work. And finally, Terry has similarities to Mike in their desire to protect the people they love and being the ones to lead the group forward in pursuit of a goal.
The book also introduces Terry's boyfriend, Andrew Rich, who's revealed to be El's true biological father. Andrew is a product of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, both in his opposition to the war in Vietnam, his (valid) distrust of the government, and his willingness to participate in events such as Woodstock and protests about social issues. The book describes him as being rich enough to afford his apartment, and Terry at one point notes he's a little spoiled because of his parents money and his expectation that it will bail him out of any trouble he gets into. Despite this, he isn't entitled or mean-spirited. He's 100% supportive of Terry, and he's shown to genuinely believe in the causes he protests for. All of which makes his fate heartbreaking later on.
If you thought Brenner was a monster for what he did to Terry Ives years later, this book makes his actions even worse. Not only did he steal El as a baby and had Terry's brain fried when she tried (and failed) to get her back, but he's also responsible for the death of Andrew. After Andrew gets in trouble at the University for protesting against the Vietnam War, Brenner specifically pulls strings in the government to get Andrew's lottery number drawn so that he's sent to the front lines in Vietnam to be killed. All of which is done to get Terry back under Brenner's control. And sadly, it works.
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On top of that, Brenner's behavior in this book is straight-up psychopathic with traces of narcissism. I don't mean this the way internet users like to throw those words around to describe people they don't like, but in the actual diagnostic sense: He has no empathy for anyone, not even Kali/Eight whom he views as a lab rat and not as a five year old girl with wants and needs. He has zero issues firing people just for questioning him, or because they react in a way that irritates him. He has no moment of consciousness about pushing the boundaries of his experiments, and his reaction to possibly getting someone killed is to note the loss of potential rather than feel any guilt over his actions. He lacks remorse, he's ruthless in his pursuit of his goals, he makes impulsive decisions based on the results it will get him and doesn't give a damn about the collateral damage he causes, he's definitely power-hungry, expects nothing but respect and unquestioning loyalty from others regardless of whether or not he deserves it, and from what little we do see of his personal life, he appears to have no close relationships. Everyone is a pawn to him.
And to the people out there who keep insisting that Brenner loved the kids under his care............he didn't. His interactions with Kali/Eight in this book are proof of that. Not only is he abusive towards her (including depriving her of sleep when he finds out she's been keeping secrets from him), but his internal thoughts about her make it very clear that he does not empathize with Kali, and only indulges her on occasion to keep her under his thumb.
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On a related note, this is why I take issue with Brenner apologists in the fandom who buy into the excuses he makes to El in season 4 when she confronts him about his past sins. For all the posturing he makes about caring for the special kids in his care, the truth is it was ALWAYS about him and what he wanted. He saw a potential weapon when he met Henry/One/Vecna, used him to replicate other kids with similar abilities, and was not above abusing and gaslighting them to get results. Vecna was right on the money when he said that it was all about control for Brenner. Even in the book, he displays this attitude, which rightfully disgusts Terry:
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This is why I also don't agree with people who insist Brenner was redeemed in season 4. He wasn't. He never takes any responsibility for the damage he causes, and keeps insisting everything he did was justified when it wasn't. Even his dying breath is used trying to guilt-trip El into absolving him for his behavior by begging her to "understand." That is NOT redemption. And based on how El refuses to absolve Brenner as he's dying, she feels the same way. There are some things you can't be forgiven for.
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Kali/Eight is also present here. She's 5 years old when this story takes place, and Brenner has kept her isolated from the other kids (and test subjects) because he wants her powers to develop more. One day, during her experiments at the lab, Terry accidentally finds Kali while roaming the halls, and after befriending her, Kali becomes a main factor in why Terry and her friends keep returning to the Lab despite knowing that Brenner is bad news: They think Kali's being held against her will by Brenner and are trying to find a way to help her escape.
If you've seen the first 2 seasons, you know EXACTLY how that's going to go.
The tragedy with Kali's character is, because of how young she is, she doesn't fully comprehend the situation around her. On some level, she's aware that Brenner is dishonest, and a big source of contention between them for most of the book is her being upset with Brenner because he keeps promising to give her a friend to play with and doesn't deliver (he only fulfills that promise at the end once he's kidnapped El, and it's not out of the pure goodness of his heart). Unfortunately, because Brenner is the parent figure she knows at that time, she still refers to him as "Papa," and goes along with what he wants because she doesn't know any better. She also isn't able to keep her visits with Terry a secret, which Brenner is quick to find out about from Kali and use to manipulate both her and Terry going forward.
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This all adds new context to the scene in "The Lost Sister" when Kali is persuading El to kill Ray Carroll, the orderly responsible for torturing Kali when she was a child and frying Terry's brain with electroshocks on Brenner's orders. She isn't just pressuring El out of a desire for revenge, but also because she holds herself responsible for El and Terry's current predicament. She isn't at fault for what happened (the blame is 100% on Brenner), but she still feels like she is.
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I said this before in my review of Into the Fire, but I sincerely hope the Duffer Brothers bring Kali back for season 5 and give her story a proper conclusion. There was a lot left in the air the night El left Kali behind to return to Hawkins, and it would be cathartic if both of them got closure, and if Kali was able to let go of her anger towards those who wronged her and maybe find companionship and familial love from El. My biggest worry is that, because of how badly she's hurting and because she's still lashing out from the wrongs done to her, she might be susceptible to Vecna's manipulations, especially if he tries to recruit her and use her against El. I have hope she won't descend into the same darkness Vecna has, and that she can find a way to heal, but we'll have to wait and see.
Part 3: The Ending
The last 50 pages of this book were rough to get through. It's not that they were badly written, but when you've seen the show, you know exactly what's going to happen: Kali isn't going to be rescued from the lab, Terry is going to give birth to El and have her stolen by Brenner, and Terry will spent the next several years fruitlessly trying to get El back before Brenner subjects her to a fate worse than death. The only victory Terry manages to achieve at all is faking Alice's death and helping her escape to Canada so Brenner can't use her in further experiments. It's like the writers realized it would be too much of a Downer Ending unless Terry got some way of sticking it to Brenner, so they gave her that moment as compensation. Unfortunately, it still doesn't make the ending any less depressing.
On top of that, one of the aspects that bothers me is, for all the camaraderie shown between Terry and her friends............we never see them again. There's no mention on the show about Gloria or Ken or Alice and if they're still fighting against Brenner or if they know about what happened to Terry. Did Brenner have them hunted down and silenced? Are they still alive? We're never given an answer, and it's likely we might not get one unless they write a sequel to this book. I remember a while back I had a conversation with @pusheen1802 and @lavandulaphoenix about the possibility of a spin-off focusing on Terry's friends, but that remains to be seen, and the spin-offs they have announced don't seem to be centered on that.
And this brings me to how Suspicious Minds ties in with the show....
Part 4: Canon and Continuity on Stranger Things
I said at the beginning of this review that there was a continuity snarl that I couldn't ignore, and that has to do with the year El was born.
The main plot takes place between July 1969 and June 1970 (with an epilogue on November 1970). According to the book, Terry got pregnant in November 1969, and she later gave birth to El in June 1970 after Brenner unknowingly gives Terry a special dose to cause her to give birth earlier than usual. Based on this, it would mean El would have been 13 by the time the first season of Stranger Things starts.
However, on the show, it's specifically stated that El was 12 years old when Becky is telling Hopper and Joyce about the circumstances behind Terry's supposed miscarriage.
From Season 1, Episode 6 "The Monster:"
Becky: I don't think you guys understand. Terry miscarried in the third trimester. She keeps all of this up. Been doing it for 12 years. [sigh] Terry, uh, pretends like Jane is real--like she's gonna come home someday.
If El was 12 years old, that would mean she would have to have been born in 1971. Even if we're being generous and rounding the numbers, she still would have to be 13 if she was born in 1970.
Some people might call this a small nitpick, but it's one that bothers me. I've come to accept that the Duffer Brother and the writing team for Stranger Things may not be so great with numbers and dates (*cough* Will's Birthday *cough*), but oversights like this make me question whether this book can count as canon because of that.
Then there's everything to do with Henry/One/Vecna. It's pretty clear based on how the book was written that Gwenda Bond (and likely Paul Dichter) were kept in the dark by the Duffer Brothers about One's importance to Brenner and Hawkins Lab. There is no instance in the book where Brenner ever thinks or talks about One despite him being the reason the MKULTRA program took off like it did. His inner dialogue is focused on how Kali/Eight has been the only test subject who has shown powerful abilities, and how all the other kids at the lab were "ordinary so far." Based on what's revealed in season 4, we know this isn't true. Henry/One/Vecna had powers by the time he fell into Brenner's care, and had already used them to murder his mother and sister. Brenner also knew that Henry/One/Vecna was dangerous enough that he had to be controlled, which is why he placed the soteria chip in Vecna to keep his abilities suppressed.
And I get for the purposes of the twist in season 4 why the Duffer Brothers withheld information about Henry/One/Vecna, but it unfortunately creates a plot-hole in the book when Brenner is acting like Kali/Eight is the only child who's demonstrated powers thus far.
Final Thoughts:
Usually, I give a recommendation about whether or not someone should check out a Stranger Things Tie-In, but in this case, I'm not sure how to proceed.
The book itself is well-written, and it gives interesting insight into the thought process behind the mythology of the show. It also fleshes out Terry and Brenner's characters while allowing the audience to see the circumstances behind the experiments at Hawkins Lab. However, for the reasons I've just described, I can't 100% claim this book is canon.
I hope this review has given a general overview about the book, and I hope it helps people to decide whether they want to read it or not. For what it's worth, I'm glad I did.
Coming Soon: Stranger Things Runaway Max
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lifebuoyjournals · 1 year
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Had this for a while (can you tell from the cover? Lol) and finally got round to reading it. I like it a lot better than "Milk and Honey" and I find the longer poems more enjoyable than the shorter ones.
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the-head-in-the-clouds · 10 months
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Last read: 'Lonely Castle in the Mirror' by Mizuki Tsujimura
What I wanted: the cover drew me in and the story sounded magical enough to hock me completely
What I got: the best book I've read in a long time! I loved it to pieces and read it as fast as I could. The magical aspect is there (and written beautifully), but it isn't the main focus point of the book. It's more of a base to give the six children room and time to tell their stories, grow and heal. Each of the kids has their own voice, their own reasons to be in the castle in the mirror and I enjoyed it a whole lot to learn about every one of them.
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richincolor · 5 months
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Title: Flower and Thorn Author: Rati Mehrotra Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Romance Pages: 338 Publisher: Wednesday Books Review Copy: Purchased Availability: Available now
Summary: Irinya has wanted to be a flower hunter ever since her mother disappeared into the mysterious mist of the Rann salt flats one night. Now seventeen, Irinya uses her knowledge of magical flowers to help her caravan survive in the harsh desert. When her handsome hunting partner and childhood friend finds a priceless silver spider lily—said to be able to tear down kingdoms and defeat an entire army—Irinya knows this is their chance for a better life.
Until Irinya is tricked by an attractive imposter.
Irinya's fight to recover the priceless flower and to fix what she's done takes her on a dangerous journey, one she's not sure she'll survive. She has no choice but to endure it if she hopes to return home and mend the broken heart of the boy she's left behind.
Review: [Flower and Thorn contains some fairly graphic descriptions of injuries and death, including a haunting supernatural body horror moment.]
Flower and Thorn is a book with some fascinating world-building elements. While it is undeniably a fantasy (with magical flowers that can utter ominous and cryptic comments to our protagonist), the background driver of the plot is actually the Gujarat Sultanate resisting Portuguese colonialism. The blending of fantastical and historical elements is where Flower and Thorn shines, and author Rati Mehrotra did great work in that arena. I also appreciated how Flower and Thorn tackled inequality and oppression within the sultanate at the same time it highlighted the horrors of colonialism, from sexism affecting the nobles’ preferences for an heir to how the flower hunters and their families are exploited and kept in poverty.
The magical flowers are key plot points throughout the story, both in their comparative rarity and their abilities. I really enjoyed the flower hunting scenes in the Rann. Mehrotra did a fantastic job of selling how difficult and dangerous the work could be—and how dangerous the flowers and their thorns could be in the wrong hands. I still can’t quite picture how using the silver spider lily would actually play out, but the concrete effects of the jasmine, hibiscus, and other flowers helped bolster my belief that it could topple enemies and that it desperately needed to be kept away from the Portuguese.
I had mixed feelings about Irinya as a protagonist. When it came to the adventuring side of the book, her stubbornness and determination to see things through were fantastic. The climax in the Rann and Irinya’s emotional journey there were perfection—I was delighted every step on the salt flats. I also enjoyed the romance despite the love interest being off-screen for the bulk of the book. But Irinya was so wildly out of her depth when it came to the palace intrigue portions of the plot that I found myself increasingly frustrated by her choices. The very first chapters of the book are about her being betrayed (it’s in the summary!), so I was certain she would be more cautious, be more suspicious of others, or try to gather more information before acting as we continued, and that just didn’t play out like I’d hoped.
Recommendation: Borrow it someday if you’re a fan of fantasy. The blending of fantasy and history made Flower and Thorn a highly interesting read, and I appreciated the unique magic system. The climax and conclusion of the book were very well done, and I appreciated the emotional journey even if some of the plot points frustrated me. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for Rati Mehrotra’s future books.
Extras: Read the first chapter of Flower and Thorn for free here and see a map for the setting.
Flower and Thorn: A brief history of early 16th century India
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godzilla-reads · 10 months
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🦋 The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
“Magic’s a wild thing. It only flows when life is left to exist in its own natural way.”
Anya is taking up the mantle of Moth Keeper, taking care of the night-village’s sacred Moon Moths which pollinate the Night Flower. But Anya feels like she’s being pulled between her duty as Moth Keeper and her curiosity for the neighboring village that is awake with the sun rather than the moon.
I LOVED this graphic novel. I picked it up because I was in an art mood this morning and fell in love with the beautiful desert scenery, the kindness, and the journey that each character is on. The story focuses on Anya, but all the characters we meet are just as important and just as interesting.
K. O’Neill is fabulous and always writes these stories that pull you in and remind you that there is kindness in the world. There is love and joy and even in the dark, we can be a light.
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waldeswogen · 4 months
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♡ tanto libro y yo tan pobre ♡
* .:。✧*゚ ゚・ ✧.。. * * .:。✧*゚ ゚・ ✧.。. * . *.:。✧ *゚ ゚・ ✧.。. *.
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On Sundays, She Picked Flowers -- Review
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Recently, I finished On Sundays, She Picked Flowers by the amazing Yah Yah Scholfield ( @fluoresensitive )
When Judith Rice killed her mother, she thought she put an end to the woman's hold on her. Seventeen years later, secluded deep in the woods of northern Georgia, Jude knows that the past isn't all that easy to discard. Alone with her strange house and even stranger woods, Jude must grapple with ghosts, haints, beasts, and an enigmatic woman who threatens to undo the tentative peace Jude's built for herself by fanning the violence that lives just underneath her skin.
I've been a fan of Yah Yah's for quite some time, how could I not be when I'm a horror lover? I've long awaited the release of On Sundays, having seen every update, I told all my friends about it the moment it was published, and I even have more than one copy in my home.
One of my favourite things about Yah Yah's work is how visceral it all is, something that's more than showcased in On Sundays. Visceral is a fitting description for many reasons, not only because I can feel the greenery of the woods beneath my skin, feel the rattling of a house whose haunting is architectural deep in my bones. But I can also feel the sharpness of the knife used to skin animals and cut throats, taste the stew Jude cooks from fresh liver left in pile of blood and viscera on her porch. It left me feeling hungry.
On Sundays also has haunted houses, but not in the traditional sense, and it's a ghost story, but not in the traditional sense. There are no pale specters floating down hallways of the house, but its inhabitants are haunted and hunted by the past, by trauma, and the house itself alive is sickly. It evokes the feelings of Jacob Geller's video essay Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House, and it seems fitting that in On Sundays Jude is reading The Haunting of the Hill House.
And it would be remiss not to touch on the beast, the bear, Nemoira. A beast stalking you in the woods is a terror I've long loved and explored in my own writing. Everything about the beast and Nemoira is perfect and satisfies a deep love of mine, from the bloodied gifts left on porch steps to the mysterious woman showing up at the door during a rainstorm to the danger of forgetting that the woman you love is the same as the beast who pressed its teeth to your neck. I'm always reminded of some lyrics from Tamino's song Persephone,
And you've noticed it There is something right here You have come to love, yes you've come to love What you always will fear
I cannot recommend enough that you all buy On Sundays, She Picked Flowers and get the chance to read a beautiful and visceral gothic horror novel.
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