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saintheartwing · 3 years

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So...I’ve Begun Reading Artemis Fowl...It IS Really Good

So, I decided to check out the movie and...ugh.Not good. So I began to think “How badly did they screw this up” and began reading the books.

They’re REALLY good. The thing you need to know about Artemis Fowl is he starts off as...well, a smug snake. He’s a big jerk in a lot of ways who, after his dad supposedly dies out trying to get into a new market in Russia which the Russian mafia doesn’t take kind to, his mom goes nutso. She doesn’t recognize him half the time. His only friend is his butler...and he doesn’t even know Butler’s real name. He’s also a super brilliant young man. Add all that up, and you get a very selfish, self-centered, pretentious young man who doesn’t find ANYBODY his equal.

He decides upon doing some investigation into the more strange and occultish things in the world to get hold of a ton of money through a SEEMINGLY insane, ludicrous way...through the fairy world. Yes, there’s actual elves. He got into it, evidently, by trolling through the ancient stories and there always seemed to be commonalities among them from ancient races.

Artemis slightly lucks out. He’s able to get hold of basically the Fairy Bible, the Book of the People. It provides insider knowledge of how they do things, and through that, he makes a plan. He’ll kidnap a fairy, overcoming their magic, and ransom them for gold. It’ll be difficult, they need to get one that’s low on magic. And they have to wear special sunglasses that will be reflective, for fairies can MESMERIZE people, hypnotizing them. They’ll catch one doing the necessary ritual for magic recharge.

The good news is fairies are fairly commonly popping out of the Underground they live in in Ireland...where the Fowl manor is located. And the ritual is best done near an ancient oak and a riverbend and even better, under a full moon. Well, there’s one not too far from Fowl Manor...and after some staking out...Fowl catches one. A fairy named Holly Short, the only female fairy on the recon unit that the fair folk have.

He, Butler, and his butler’s sister Juliet lock her in a room with a bed. They’ve got their hostage. They use the helmet armor she’s got to communicate with her boss. The fairies figure out where Fowl Manor is, but though they can slow down time, pretty much stop it...Artemis now has fairy tech because he caught Holly, and this means Butler can move freely through the time bubble. He kicks the butts of EVERY recon agent sent to save her. So Holly’s boss, Commander Root, has to come in for negotiations.

Artemis wants gold. A ton of twenty four carat gold. And a ton of gold is, evidently, 64.3 million dollars. A looot of money. Root says that Artemis can’t win. They have a “bio bomb”. It destroys all organic matter used on it, and if they’re caught in a time field, as they are right now, they can’t just race out the front door to get away. There’s only one helmet, and there’s three of them. They’re trapped.

Right?

Well, Artemis says he knows how to escape it. And he’s thought of everything ELSE the fairies would do so far. So...they send in a wild card. Professional Thief Mulch Diggums, a dwarf. Dwarves are natural diggers, they tunnel by unhinging their jaws, eating through the dirt, and expelling it out their rump.

...yeaaah...THAT particular scene from the movie’s pretty accurate. So Mulch is called on to tunnel into the Fowl estate to try and help free Holly. At the same time, Holly’s got a way to break free. She’s been using the bed to break into the floor and beneath the floor...is some earth. And she’s got an acorn on her. With that acorn and the proper words and access to real Earth...she can recharge her magic. Not even reflective lenses can keep her from mesmerizing Juliet. And Mulch finds Artemis’s copy of the Book of the People, thus taking away his big advantage over the fairies. Holly’s now free, but she can’t leave the house. Fairies have rules to adhere to if they wanna keep their magic, and when captured by Artemis, one of his rules was “You absolutely can’t leave the house”. Now...she COULD leave her room. He didn’t say she couldn’t do that. But the house? Nope.

No matter. Root’s gonna send in the gold, get Holly out...then bio bomb the place, stroll in, and claim the ransom.

Unfortuntely his second in command and friend, Cudgeon, has a better idea. They’ve got a troll Holly recently caught. Cudgeon suggested to the fairy’s ruling council to just launch the troll in. Have it wreck the place, the humans will be screaming for help, and then the fairies can just bust in and kick Fowl’s little ass up and down the halls. And if Holly’s hurt, well...too bad.

It goes badly. Butler is strong and skilled but he was trying to get Juliet to safety and he wasn’t expecting a TROLL. Holly tries to help fight it off but she can’t get her helmet to work properly, it’s been damaged, and the weapon she used on the troll earlier to beat it was IN the helmet. She only manages to make it reel back, but she’s badly hurt. BUT...not so hurt she can’t use magic to heal Butler. Who is NOT. PLAYING.

He rises up, puts some nearby knight armor from a standing knight stand on...and has a mace. BAM! BAM! BAM! He has a Sig Saurer submachine gun. BAM-BAM-BAM! Nobody touches his sister. But...Holly asks him not to kill the troll. It’s beaten. And it’s just a dumb animal, please show mercy. So he doesn’t kill it, kicks it out, and Artemis and Juliet and Butler get contacted by Root, who agrees to send the money in, apologizing for the troll.

Holly feels bad that Juliet’s about to get killed, she doesn’t feel bad about Artemis, but she doesn’t want Juliet killed. She says “I have magic, please, isn’t there anything I can do, you’re gonna be killed!” Artemis says there’s nothing she can do. He knows there’s a real danger coming but he’s sure he can beat it.

Although...there is ONE thing Holly could do with her magic.

Then...sure enough...Holly is allowed to leave the house with half the gold. Payment for services rendered. The fairies launch the bio bomb as Artemis and Butler and Juliet drink drugged champagne.

And THAT...is how they beat the time field and the bio bomb. By knocking themselves unconcious, they can weasel out of the time field’s effects. When the fairy recon team comes in...yep. Sure enough, no bodies lying around. Artemis has escaped. So he gets to keep half a ton of gold.

And...well, Holly did some magic for Artemis. She cured his mother of her mental illness. And that’s the first book.

Artemis is kinda unlikable, but having Holly freeing herself basically, not being a true damsel in distress, AND her saving Butler, who’s a lot more uneasy and disliking of Artemis’s plan, makes the story engaging. Artemis may not be a nice kid you can like, but the other characters make up for that. And there’s great worldbuilding and humor, with some nice, dry wit.

The “Artic Incident” shows that Artemis’s mom is having him see a shrink. THe issue is he doesn’t respect anybody else. Nobody alive. Sure, he respects people like Einstein and Archimedes, but nobody PRESENT. And his dad’s still gone.

...or so he thought. A video has come in. Slightly blurry. But a man is tied up to a pole in a Russian winter and a sign on him reads...Hello Son.

...Artemis is sure it’s him. And the FAIRIES are sure Artemis has teamed up with one of the most problematic, and STUPIDEST races of all...goblins. Nasty little things who can breath fire and who are super dumb...but now they’re using human tech to attack the fair folk underground. Who else but Artemis would do it? It’s sinister, evil, clever, it’s totally him.

The joke, though, is it isn’t him who’s sold the tech to the goblins. Holly brings him in to be interrogated by Commander Root, and the scientist centaur, Foaly, who’s a brilliant mind and who makes fascianting devices like iris cams, little cameras that can slip onto your eyes as easily as a contact lens. Artemis isn’t behind what the goblins are doing BUT...he’s willing to help find out who is...

If they help him get his dad back. Well, Root agrees. Holly at first doesn’t believe Artemis actually cares until more time goes on and she realizes “Oh, wow, he’s serious, he DOES care about his dad, he’s not as cold and cruel as I thought”. They find out though that...well...they’ve got problems. While going to Russia, and trekking through the artic to where his dad is being held...goblins attack, and their weapons have been sabotaged! Somebody on the inside has screwed them over.

But no, it’s not Foaly or Commander Root or the like. It’s Cudgeon. He’s teamed up with the pixie Opal Kaboi, a brilliant young woman who “upgraded” all the fairy folk police weaponry...as part of a plan for Cudgeon to take over the fairy lands. He’s sold weapons to the goblins, and he’s depowered the fair folks weapons...but then he’ll come riding in, JUST in time to save them. The weapons of the fair folk will be restored, the goblin rebellion put down, and they’ll all be so grateful he saved them he’ll get into a position of power. And then he’ll make Opal Kaboi meet with a tragic accident. Maybe several. And, of course, he’ll kill off Commander Root and Holly and Foaly and those “mud men”, as he calls Artemis and Butler. Heck, all the fairies call humans mud men. Racist pricks.

Artemis is able to help stop the rebellion. He exposes cudgeon to Opal, Butler and Root kick goblin ass, and in the end, they uphold their end of the bargain and go back to Russia to free Artemis’s dad, faking him being shot. Artemis thanks Holly...rather profusely, at that. He’s SUPER grateful. She’s given him back his family, she’s saved his life once, and she’s just an amazing woman and-

Yeaaah, it’s sorta implied he KINDA has feelings for her. And Holly’s grateful too, not just for the “helping to stop the goblin rebellion and conspiracy” thing. She had lost her finger in an incident involving a train earlier when travelling through the artic with him. A door had slammed and cut her finger off, but Artemis was able to get it back on and to use the magic ritual to heal her, meaning she didn’t have to lose her trigger finger. She gives him a gold coin that she shoots through, a trophy, and says that beneath that exterior, there’s a “spark of decency. Blow on it sometime”.

The next story has Artemis trying to be a bit more...well, less criminal. He’s got some technology he salvaged from that helmet Holly left behind at his house. He’s used the tech and made a fancy computer cube, YEAAAARS beyond anything humanity has. No, he’s not putting it on the market. Not yet. He wants a businessman, Jon Spiro, to invest in his company he’s gonna be making. He’ll keep the cube off the market, Jon Spiro can sell his stocks, and invest in a real winner. After all nobody else has this kind of tech.

Spiro, however, is like “I could just kill you and take your fancy computer here you just showed me”. And Artemis is like “Oh give me a break, I arranged to meet you in a public restaurant, in broad daylight, and with my bodyguard who’s like three times your size, you can’t threaten me.”

Well. actually...he can. Spiro had the ENTIRE PLACE filled with his assassins before Artemis arrived. All the “customers” are his men. He takes the cube and leaves Artemis to get plugged by his bodyguards. Not good! The good news is Artemis rigged a sonic grenade underneath the table and they set it off. So all the bodyguards are beaten down!

Bad news is that one of the bodyguards actually was prepared for such a thing...well, mostly. His teeth are all blown out but he’s still concious enough...to try and shoot Artemis right in the chest.

Butler barely saves him, taking the shot, and managing to shoot THAT guy, knocking him out. But Butler...Butler’s wound is basically fatal, and he reveals his true name, Domovoi, before he goes limp.

Artemis is DESPERATE. He has only one recourse. He sticks Butler in the nearby frozen fish ice tank in the restaurant to keep the body cool, and calls in a favor, getting a cryo pod delivered to keep Butler’s body cool. He then makes a call. A public phone call...that talks about stuff ONLY the fair folk would know, all to get the attention of the fairies. And lucky him...Holly shows up. He begs her to heal Butler.

“Please, Holly. I can’t just let him go. It’s BUTLER...”

“...alright, Mud Boy.” Holly agrees. She owes Butler, after all. He’s saved her life several times and he’s a good man. Foaly the centaur is unsure the magical procedure will work, it’s NEVER really been done before. Artemis keeping the body cool has helped, but...it’s a shot in the dark.

But...the magic ritual works. Holly heals him. But she’s also sorta...took some of his life force. The process made him age a bit. He’s now got a beard! But, still, he’s alive.

Artemis admits what happened with the cube computer, and Jon Spiro. And the cube is SO powerful and SO beyond normal human tech, in Spiro’s hands, it’d be a nightmare for all parties. He can easily, if he cracks the code on it, find out about the fairy folk. So Artemis offers to clean up his mess if he can get some help from Holly. Commander Root says sure...if he agrees to a mind wipe. He, Juliet, and Butler. They’ll remove all memory of the People from him, he won’t remember anything about fairies and the like, and they’ll fill in the gaps since, after all, he’s known about them for several years now.

Artemis agrees, and they come up with a plan. Jon Spiro can’t get INTO the cube. So Artemis will agree to come to him in exchange for Spiro not going after him and his family, and he’ll crack the code he put on the cube to allow Spiro to make use of it. But it’s a trick. He’s wired with some fairy tech to spy on Spiro through it all as they make a plan. He’ll “fix” the cube, crack it open...but make it so it won’t actually tell Spiro about The People. On top of that, he knows full well Spiro wants to use the cube to get even with his rivals...

And what better way to do that than to break into their own corporate HQ with the cube and hack their security and steal all their stuff right from out of their noses? Artemis is like “I don’t think that’s a good ideaaaa” in a sort of more subtle “Stop, don’t, come back” bit from Willy Wonka. He’s COUNTING on Spiro being a “rub his face in it” type...and Spiro really, REALLY is that type. Super petty, super smug. And super screwed. Artemis and the gang manage to trap him, get the cops to show up, and they steal the cube back, with Artemis tricking Spiro handily. He even fiddled with the cameras in the facility that Spiro tried to break into to make it look like HE wasn’t even there at all!

With the adventure done, the gang has to have their memories wiped. Artemis gives Mulch Diggums, who helped with everything, the gold coin memento Holly gave him saying “it means a lot to me, and I’d like you to have it”. He also thanks Holly for everything. He has both his family and now real friends thanks to the People. He wishes he didn’t have to forget that.

Soon, the memory wipe is done. Artemis tried to leave behind some memory triggers to get AROUND the wipe, like unsent emails, online storage, and even a time capsule buried in the yard. But...well, that gold coin he gave to Mulch the dwarf isn’t ACTUALLY the coin.

It’s a computer disc. With a few memory triggers on it. He also has a note attached to it. “Wait a few years and come find me...we’re gonna do a TON of business together”, basically. Artemis, meanwhile, realizes a short time after the mind wipe that..something isn’t right. He was washing his face...when a tiny lens fell from his eyes. A corroded contact lens with a mirrored layer behind it. And Juliet and Butler had them too. But they don’t remember putting those lenses there...clearly, something’s up. And he’s determined to find out what.

Meanwhile, Holly and Foaly are rather sad about wiping Artemis’s memory. They were really beginning to like him. They’re worried, too, that maybe wiping his memory has taken away all the progress he’s made. Maybe he’s back to being that cold, cruel criminal Holly met those few years ago...

Well, the People will soon end up needing him. Because the pixie Opal Kaboi, sinister mastermind and sociopathic inventor, has been faking a coma, and she’s got two servants of hers to break her out. She switches herself with a clone of her that’s brain dead to fake the coma, and she’s got a plan. She’s disguised herself as a human, the child of a billionaire environmentalist, and she’s going to make herself human...and have her dad do a special project. A project...to tunnel down into the Earth to tap into the core.

And, well...fairies live underground. The two races are sure to meet thanks to this project, and Opal is sure they’ll be war, and with her sinister technology and skills, she intends to wipe out the fair folk and have humans win, and then work her way up from there, getting more and more power so she can finally take over the world.

Artemis, meanwhile, is engaging in some theft of a very special painting...the Fairy Thief. He’s now gonna be the youngest thief in the entire world, and as he admires the painting, he realizes something about this Pascal Herve painting. The fairy is lingering at the window because she can’t come in unless INVITED. How does he know that?

At the same time, Holly and Commander Root are trying to track down a goblin general who was able to sneak out of prison. Root has recommended Holly to basically take over the division she’s a part of, to be, well, a commander herself. And he also wants her to know how proud he is of what she’s become. He’s become a secondary father to her after she lost her own dad twenty years back.

...I think...you can guess what I’m going to say next. No, he’s not three days until retirement. But he and Holly walk into a trap set up by Opal Kaboi. The goblin general is wired. When Root tries to grab the goblin...a special bomb is strapped to him. One that’s messing with the electronics in the room they’re currently stuck in. Foaly, watching everything from Holly’s camera, can’t hear what’s being said, and all he sees is her pointing a gun at her commanding officer, he can’t even see the bomb because the bomb’s made of a special stealth ore.

Root is gonna explode. But Opal says “Hey, if you shoot this ONE SPECIFIC PART of the bomb...MAYBE you’ll stop the countdownn, but you really should go off and save those mud men, because the Fairy Thief painting they’re after has a tracking chip in it. And I’ve sent a bio bomb after them to blow them up.”

Holly is SURE she can make the shot and stop the countdown but...

...well, she doesn’t. Poor Root is violently blown up. It’s a horrifying, terrible scene. And shortly after as Holly BARRELS desperately to try and save them, the bio bomb soars at Artemis and Butler! The good news is Butler leaps out the window with Artemis, using a bed to cushion the fall.

The bad news is they barely survive. Holly manages to save Artemis, carrrying him off, intending to come back to help Butler later, he’s just WAY too heavy to carry, and after healing Artemis, and he awakens, she explains what’s going on.

You might think he doesn’t believe her. But no, he does. He remembers the strange lenses he’d put in his eyes, and her story lines up with them. He found out shortly after discovering those lenses HE ordered them, and he could only have done so to cheat a fairy mesmer. So he belives Holly...but he doesn’t remember her one iota.

Butler, meanwhile, is visited by Mulch Diggum, who’s broken out of prison upon hearing Julius Root is dead and Holly is suspect number one. They’re his friends...and he HAS to help them! So he’s gone to Fowl Manor...with the memory trigger disc. He plays it for Butler...and Butler remembers everything. Good thing too...

Because Opal Kaboi has just found Artemis and Holly and intends to PERSONALLY have them killed as NASTILY as possible cuz they avoided being killed by her little bombs earlier. She’s gonna have trolls tear them apart. And she rubs salt in the wound by telling Holly that hey, funny story...that sweet spot I told you about? On the bomb on Root? That I said if you shot, it’d stop the countdown? Well, there wasn’t one. I lied just to frame you. The good news is, Artemis had his phone on and was leaving a message at Fowl Manor, and Butler and Mulch heard the whole thing, so they know where Opal is gonna be sending them. And they hurry over as Artemis begins to get more of his memories back, and they try to escape from being torn apart by trolls.

Soon Artemis has his whole memory back...and he’s torn by guilt over what he did to Holly when he first met her. He feels scummy. And he also swears to stop Opal Kaboi. And he knows exactly how.

They know where Opal is going to be because she’s bragged so much. Mulch is able to sneak onto her ship...steal the bombs she intended to trigger that would be part of her plan to damage the home of the fairies and make them even MORE vulnerable to the drilling plan her “adopted human father” was planning...and put them in her ship. In fact, right where she was keeping her chocolate truffles. Just to add insult to injury. Opal had been all “You’re so dumb if you thought stealing the bombs would stop me, I’ll just detonate them and your whole ship will blow up”. Well, Opal, they did steal them from your ship...but they just moved it to another part of the ship you didn’t think to check...

Until it’s too late. Opal’s ship blows up, she BARELY escapes to the surface...and just as her magic has run out, leaving her stranded in Italy and forced to work in a vineyard, digging holes for grapes and the like. Artemis and the gang reunite with Foaly and explain to him and the fairy authorities what happened, and after an investigation and Commander Julius Root’s funeral, Holly is cleared. She and Mulch decide to work together as private detectives, the Fairy Folk now consider Artemis and Butler a true friend of the people, Mulch has his criminal record expunged completely, and Artemis, in a show of generosity, decides to secretly donate “The Fairy Thief” painting he stole (which,t to be fair, was taken from ANOTHER thief...) to the Louvre.

The fourth story is definitely the height of the series. Some dramatic changes, Artemis at his very best, the interplay with the gang, the high stakes...so I can recommend the series. Well, to a point. THIS point. After this, the books begin to go downhill. It just comes across as spinning it’s wheels, and then for the last book, well...

Well, uh...see, there’s this plan Opal has to cause chaos and because a TON of her technology is now being used up on the surface world, all the technology she had friggin blows up. We’re talking stuff like dialysis machines and other medical equipment made useless. Pacemakers? BOOM! Right in your chest! Submarines no longer functioning! People on boats? Stranded! People begin looting. PLANES FALL FROM THE SKY.

Oh but hey, at least they’re not distracted by TV anymore. No really, that’s...like, nobody really dwells on what’s clearly a horrific, apocalyptic scenario and god knows how many people died...

Look, I love the series. But I think I can best recommend it...in the graphic novel format it came in. So check those out. They go all the way, at least currently, up to the fourth book. So just read those if you can. They’re a ton of fun and super creative. :)

#artemis fowl #fiction #action #Adventure #comic #recommndation

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mountain-ash-and-rusted-iron · 4 years

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this is an oc masterpost of all my haf-formed ocs languishing on pinterest with their messy aesthetics and unedited blurbs, in roughly chronological order of their creation, plus sorted by fandom. this post is only asoiaf, harry potter, hunger games, and riverdale, cos i have tooooooo many original characters otherwise and the post was getting incredibly long. (note that i love my ocs but these one’s are not polished or even the final versions of their characters, i just wanted to post them lol)

under a read more, if you’re on mobile start scrolling i guess, sorry,,,

Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire:

Laeya Targeryen: (child of Rhaella and Aerys Targaryen, born 280 AC - three years older than Danaerys)

Fearful of her impending marriage, Laeya is eleven when she takes her younger sister and flees across the sea to Dorne, hiding herself and Dany with dyed hair and badly controlled magic. As Leia and Dani Sand they learn to live normally. At 15 Leia joins the Royal Guard and secures Dany work as a tailor's apprentice. When she is 17, an assassin tries to kill her in front of the Dornish court and everything changes...

- so laeya straight up has magic, which im considering an extension of the dragon thing dany has - she can control flame and for the disguise uses her ‘inner fire’ to make her eyes white-blue like super hot flames, cos the purple eyes are super distinctive. and then she’s discovered and suddenly politics are happening. honestly she’s entirely a way for me to remove the child marriage bits of the targaryen storyline (stop marrying off your twelve-year-old baby sister viserys u asshole) - in terms of meta/basics, laeya doesn’t have a fc cos most of my early ocs don’t, and bcs i picture her as emilia clarke with faked dark hair and blue eyes lol

and a quick aesthetic below:

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Kyrra Snow: (child of Robert Baratheon and Maery Snow, birthdate ???)

Kyrra Snow is the eldest natural-born child of Robert Baratheon, current King of Westeros, and daughter of Maery Snow, a Southron (but Northern-born) merchant woman. After her mother realises Kyrra was growing up a little too much like her father in looks and needed to leave the far South before she caught the wrong sort of attention, Kyrra was sent off to travel with her aunt and cousins. She is 17 and heading further north, to Winter Town, when Jon Arryn dies.

- kyrra’s another child of everyone’s favourite asshole king, and she’s got a lot of people after her head, but she just wants to travel and continue her work as a simple peddler. (riiip poor girl) honestly she’s not that developed but yolo -

aes:

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Brynn Stark: (child of Catelyn and Eddard Stark, Robb’s twin sister)

Brynn believes in honour and family, and she is loyal to Winterfell and the North above all else. Likes - archery, embroidery and weaving. Betrothed to [some young Northern lord] to keep the bonds between the Norther families strong.

-i basically made brynn as a contrast to sansa’s pro-southnness and excessive femininity and arya’s anger and desire for swords (relatable mood tho lmao). so brynn is here to mediate, extoll the virtues of both needlework and weapons, make a decent marriage to someone she likes, if not loves, and hold down the fort in the North while shit gets increasingly messier in the South. and a possible faceclaim is Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey -

aes:

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Rosienne Lannister: (child of Joanna and Tywin Lannister, born 273 AC)

Rose is looked at by the realm with dismissal, a consolation prize for her father, a spare daughter only useful for matchmaking, but at least able-bodied and pretty, unlike her brother. After a long betrothal, Rose is married to Willas Tyrell at the age of eighteen, cementing her role as the next Lady of High Garden...

- Rosie/Rose is a bonus Lannister, bcs why not. likes cyvasse and the harp, soft and kind and maternal, powerful in her own way. originally she was from a minor divergence where joanna survives tyrion’s birth and goes on to have another kid, but not sure if i’ll keep that aspect, so for now she’s tyrion’s twin -

and her aes (yes that quote is cropped, no i don’t care rn):

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honourable mentions to my other got underdeveloped got/asoiaf ocs who need more effort before i post properly about them:

Tamlen Storm, a rookery apprentice (working for the Maester of House Tully, managing the ravens) who may or may not be a reincarnated si-oc trying to save westeros,

and an unnamed northern huntress who stumbled into the plot somehow and wants her normal life back (entirely inspired by Keira Knightley as Gwyn in Princess of Thieves, when she’s doing archery stuff and looking v butch).

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Harry Potter:

Taurus ‘Ara’ Lestrange: (child of Bellatrix and Roldolphous Lestrange, born 1978)

Raised by the Goblins after a legal mix-up following her parents' imprisonment in Azkaban, Taurus is good with a sword and aiming to be the next Minister of Magic. She attends Hogwarts with the other magical kids her age, under the fake identity Ara Burke, unknown cousin of a minor half-blood family. When the Potter brat’s drama starts destroying her change at an education just as her fourth year, her OWL prep year, begins, Ara intervenes.

- im tangentially aware that as bellatrix’s kid she’s almost occupying the place of whats-her-name from the cursed child, but considering that i know nothing about the cursed child and don’t care about it anyway, i have elected to ignore this. her actual parent might turn out to be some smitten half-blood from a minor branch of the Greengrass family, or it might actually be Rodolphous, who knows. slightly inspired by the fic ‘Harry Crow’ (by robst on ff.net) where harry is raised by the goblins -

messy aes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valerian Potter: (child of Lily and James Potter, born 1980)

After the Potter twins’ parents are murdered by Voldemort, they’re dumped on the doorstep of Number 4, Privet Drive. Dealing with two traumatised magical orphans, Petunia and Vernon Dursley turn to violence and neglect to stay in control, acting far more harshly than expected. With the arrival of two Hogwarts letters, life gets complicated incredibly quickly. (Self-sufficient and scarred from abuse, Val and Harry are immediately Sorted into Slytherin).

- val’s fic is basically an angst fest, okay,,, -

aes:

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and shout-outs to: holly addison potter, a half-baked reincarnation si-oc (i love that concept a lot, can u tell) and my fav girl thea dursley, who already has her own fic and so isn’t getting a proper spot in this post

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The Hunger Games:

Asher: (District Two, age 18)

[rip no blurb for asher]

-asher is a career from two, who wins the 70th games. mostly im focusing on her recovery and how the games function in two, with training volunteers and mentoring and collecting sponsors, plus eventually the rebellion. lots of the D2 headcanon i have is inspired by @/lorata but i defintely made a distinct effort to have my own stuff, cos where’s the fun in plagiarism -

aes for Asher’s Games:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rowan Everdeen: (District Twelve, age 19)

Rowan will do anything to protect her family. This extends to going to Head Peacekeeper Cray on a cold winters night, charging the most she can get for her virginity. It extends to Reaping Day, when she steps out in front of the crowd and says “I volunteer as tribute” in the steadiest voice she can muster. It extends to clawing her way out of the Arena, bloody and exhausted, with blades in her hands and violence kept tucked behind her teeth. It extends further, to a simple ‘Yes, President Snow’ when he coldly, carefully implies her family might meet with an accident if she doesn’t play the good little Victor (and fuck the people who pay the Capitol for her company). It extends to joining the Rebellion, to looking President Coin directly in the eye and agreeing to be a Mockingjay, a symbol for the people to rally around.

- another everdeen kiddo! as the big sister, rowan volunteers for prim, and goes through the Games - she’s a healer and a hunter, and a decent enough actor that she can manage interviews and a camera presence, unlike katniss. rowan also pairs well with a minor au i have, where the reapings are spaced out over a week and official training is a longer, giving the capitol a nice, long buildup to get excited and place bets, etc., and giving the poor, underfed tributes from the outer districts a better chance, which makes for more interesting television and better Games -

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Adrasteia Crane: (The Capitol, age 28) Unlike her big brother, Adrasteia doesn’t want to be a Gamemaker. Instead, she wants to create clothes, artwork, to enrapture the Capitol. She wants to be a Games stylist. After years of design school, of working her way up the ranks, first a PA’s assistant, and then fetching and carrying for Twelve’s prep team, and then eventually on a prep team for the dull tributes from Six, Adrasteia Crane finally has what she wants - the position of stylist for District Three’s male tribute in 74th Hunger Games.

- tbh adrasteia is only seneca crane’s sister because i couldn’t think of a suitable last name for her lmao. i think i’d actually prefer her to be unattached to any major canon players. however, his death is a good motivation for her to join the rebellion, so we’ll see. she’s got a bit of the capitol fashion thing going too, with soft pink hair and diamond-effect skin on her face and shoulders -

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also bonus hunger games content: another oc, Sarsaparilla Verran, from District Eleven, fifteen and alone when she goes into the Games. An orphan, her siblings lost to the Community Home system years ago, her relatives dead or uncaring. So, Rilla is a wee lonely bab tbh. she did not want this, unlike most of my other hg ocs, and she’s not excited for weeks of murder. she just wants her family back, but since that isn’t possible, she’ll build a new family instead. and uuhhhhh, spoiler alert, she dies before she can have this ://///

and my hunger games aus - a canon divergence where katniss joins the careers instead of peeta, her desire to go home to her family outweighing her reactive hate for the concept of training/volunteering to kill other teens, and a fem!Haymitch au where she’s a little wiser to the dark side of the capitol before she commits acts of rebellion (she still rebels anyway tho, just smarter).

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Riverdale:

Cat Cooper: (middle child of Alice and Hal Cooper) Cat Cooper (17) is the black sheep of the Cooper family. Her piercings, brightly dyed hair and connections to the Southside Serpents make her the odd one out among her sisters and constantly at odds with Alice Cooper. Cat’s life is occupied with her Serpent friends, work at a local coffee shop, and training - martial arts, supplemented with cross country, gymnastics and swimming. Until her older sister is shipped off to places unknown and her baby sister starts getting caught up in murder investigation with the absent Serpent heir...

- haven’t decided between Catelyn or Catherine for Cat’s full name lmao. she used to be Kit, actually, but I changed it cos i prefer Kit to solely be my divergent oc (kit serafim). Cat is an ADHD disaster who loves her sisters and her friends and wants to get the hell out of Riverdale on a sports scholarship (she does either boxing or karate mainly, need to figure that bit out) -

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Georgie Andrews: (child of Mary and Fred Andrews)

Georgie likes soft drinks, cheerleading, and hanging out with the Blossom twins and Polly Cooper, their closest friends and a welcome distraction from their own problems. After Polly and Jason vanish, Georgie’s support system is almost gone, and they has to deal with everything they’ve been bottling up, just in time for Fred Andrews to get shot.

- also just angst ngl. so georgie’s gender is basically ???, they enjoy cheerleading and not much else. they spend half their time dealing with depression, by trying to ignore stressful/hard topics and focus on the good side of everything. this isn’t a great long-term coping mechanism and has the fun side effect of pissing of the people around him when she seems unable to be serious or empathetic to someone else's pain (bcs she’s too busy deflecting for the sake of her own fragile mental health), so it gets fun when fred is shot and archie starts getting in too deep with the lodges -

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Sera Thornstone: (parents ???) Southside Serpent. Going to the Riverdale Community College and running errands for FP Jones. And secretly meeting up with her Ghoulie lover down by the Sweetwater where nobody goes.

- everything about sera is vague and undecided lmao. but she has a ghoulie gf/bf/nbf? and they’re hiding that they were down by the river on the 4th of july, cos a serpent is an immediate suspect. going to community college to work on getting general credits before saving up for fancy school for law or journalism. the aes isn’t entirely accurate cos sera’s built from the remains of another serpent oc who i scrapped (she does have a baseball bat tho) -

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and honourable mentions to jen johnson and octavia blossom-murphy, my other riverdale ocs who actually have content, plus an in-development unnamed oc who gets adopted from the soqm by the Muggs family and growsup with Ethel. and my riverdale role reversal au, which i will never write but have some nice aesthetics for under the tag wip: bughead role reversal au.

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all my mini-aesthetics here are unsourced images/from pinterest. any similarities to other people or characters, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

alrighty that’s it. now i have to tag this behemoth argh

#ocapp #ashandrustediron ocs #ashandrustediron edits #i say edits #i mean neatly cropped screenshots #lmao #fandom: harry potter #fandom: the hunger games #fandom: a song of ice and fire #fandom: game of thrones #fandom: riverdale #ashandrustrediron writes #time to tag the ocs who will actually get content later #oc: rosienne lannister #oc: tamlen storm #tam actually has a fic outline unlike most of these other westerosi ocs lol #oc: ara lestrange #oc: asher #no last name bcs volunteers from two don't have last names #they belong to the capitol and their district #<- fun fact about that fic i guess #oc: rowan everdeen #oc: adrasteia crane #none of the riverdale ocs will get a tag bcs i already have riverdale oc fic im working on #long post #long post cw #oh and some warnings for the stuff brushed upon in the blurbs i guess #gender dysphoria #violence #child marriage

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highqueenjude · 5 years

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Taryn and the Crowning

Cardan's crowning from Taryn's POV. (All rights go to Holly Black)

"I'll only be gone a moment, my love," Locke whispers to me. He brings my hand up to his and presses his lips against my knuckles with a mischievous smile.

"Okay," I respond, weary. I see him moving to Jude, and can't help the nervous flutter of my stomach. Why would he leave me to go to her? Will he tell her how he doesn't feel anything for her, that their flirting was all a lie? I know we are to be wed, but there will always be a part of him that belongs to my sister, and I still try in vain to deny it.

But when my fiancé gently touches Jude's shoulder, she flinches, and her eyes burn with a fiery spark of anger. She looks like she might stab him if they weren't surrounded by the Folk.

As I continue to observe, I think she might, even then.

Maybe she is done with Locke, I think selfishly. That makes him all mine, and I will have no need to cry over a lost sister any longer.

He says something to her and she takes a step back, annoyance and anger contorting her features. He continues to goad her into a reaction, but she doesn't comply, instead, electing to move and take a seat next to Prince Cardan. I silently applaud her self-control, since she has rarely exhibited it before.

Locke smiles and comes to sit next to me.

"What did you inquire?" I ask, trying to be subtle. Unfortunately, he sees through my facade as if it were crystal and smirks.

"There is no need to fret, my love," he parries with ease.

I nod because I will not push him. I drop the subject because there is no need to question the person who has devoted himself to me. In a relationship, there must be trust. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for the peace of both our minds.

Locke begins to speak with Queen Orlagh about Nicasia. I should care since he and the queen's daughter were once together, but I remind myself that I must trust him. So I leave them to their conversation, and my gaze wanders.

My eyes land back on Jude. My twin. The one person I should never have withheld secrets from. Who also kept secrets of her own from me. It is fair, in a way, but I still do not like it. I do not like how she has hidden away the biggest secret of all from under my nose.

When was she going to tell me that she held Faerie's most-wanted prince in the palm of her hand?

Cardan winds a piece of Jude's hair around his finger lazily, but it is not that--well, not entirely--that catches my attention.

Jude lets him. She gazes at him without the hatred and defiance I have seen in her eyes for him since we came to Faerie. She converses with him in an almost natural way that has me reeling and confused.

What did I miss?

Because now there is a tendril of jealousy curled in my belly, one I quickly try to dismiss. I have Locke, a boy of the Gentry who could love me, but she has a prince. And there is no comparison.

But once the thought enters my head, I am left ashamed. Locke played his games with Jude, but now he is all mine. No one can take him from me. Especially not Jude, who, at one time, was my biggest rival.

The jealousy does not go away, no matter how much I push it aside.

The feast begins, and we are served. Locke sits to my right and idly draws circles on my palm under the table. He conversation with Queen Orlagh has not yet ended, so I must make my own chatter.

I turn to my left, where a pink-skinned pixie sips daintily at a goblet twice the size of her hand. Her hair is ornamented with pins of gold, and fireflies dance around her head in a halo of flickering light.

"Find something you like?" The pixie smirks when she catches me staring.

My cheeks grow hot and I wince.

"Hi. I really like your pins." I gesture to her hair.

"Oh, thank you!" She grins, displaying a mouth of pointy teeth. Then, she leans in conspiratorially and says, "I stole them from him." She points a long pink finger toward Cardan.

"How did you manage that?" I wonder aloud.

"It was simple, really," she starts excitedly. "There are many ways to get inside a prince's palace. The easiest is through his heart."

And at that moment, it is like an explosion goes off in my mind. Because now it all makes sense why Jude would placate Cardan, even be amicable toward him. It makes sense why she kept him instead of just turning him over to Madoc the first chance she had.

The only reason for her to do any of this would be because she is playing for something much bigger than her knighthood.

My sister wants the crown, and the only way for her to get it is through Cardan.

It is then that my mind wakes up, and I realize that an actual explosion has gone off. Locke helps me to my feet, and I am standing when the first arrow flies right at Prince Cardan. It lands inches away from his chest and lodges in the table, splintering the wood.

Balekin shouts something to his knights, and then there is a flurry of movement. A second arrow lands next to Cardan, and in the next moment, he is on the floor, covered from sight by Balekin.

Locke attempts to lead me away, but I hold firm, too shocked to move. There is a quick movement at my feet, and I glance down, only to find the Blood Crown of Faerie rattling on the floor.

I am moving before I can process what has just happened. The crown is in my hands, and I hear Jude shout "Give it to Vivi." She is looking at me, but I see the glances she throws the corner of the room, and I follow them there.

I feel my eyes widen and pulse quicken--a goblin of sorts aims a crossbow at my chest. A thousand images go through my head, mostly strings of curses, but one thought blares the loudest.

Jude, my sister, who has been by my side since we were born, thinks of me as an obstacle. She thinks that if I am no help to her, I am better off dead. I see this reflected in the goblin's beady eyes.

Balekin is off the floor by now and pushing his way through the crowd. "Child, if you do not give that to me, I will cut you in half," he commands. It does not scare me as it should. "I will be the High King, and when I am, I will punish any who inconvenienced me."

My heartbeat jumps to an alarming rate. I do not know what to do, what to think. What I am convinced on, however, is that I should definitely get rid of the crown quickly.

I extend my arms, the crown in my grasp, but the direction to which I point it wavers. I do not know who to give it to.

I stare at Balekin, a cruel and harsh leader. My eyes find their way to Vivi, who is a part of Jude's wild plan.

Jude, my twin, who has cut me out of her life.

I see the Folk around me, waiting with bated breath.

"Give me my crown," Balekin says again. His steps toward me are loud and echoing in this new silence.

Lord Roiben intercepts him and orders him to wait. Jude comes to oppose me, only a few feet away.

Queen Orlagh says something about letting me choose whom I will give to.

Jude's hands are on the crown now, but I do not let her have it.

"Please," she whispers, and I think I might cry out of anger. I do not know what she has become.

"What are you doing?" I shoot back.

"The best I can."

And this is what breaks me, because if Jude, who I used to know the best, is still somewhere in there, then maybe things will turn out alright. Everything might not be okay, but I trust that she will do whatever it takes to keep Faerie together.

I let go of the crown.

"Prince Cardan," Jude turns toward the boy she was at odds with for most of her life, "this is for you."

I hold my breath as Cardan goes to stand by her side. Vivi brings Oak in close, and by now I can hear my heartbeat.

What is Jude thinking, bringing Oak here? That is our little brother and he is in grave danger as the center of attention.

"Stop! Stop them immediately." Balekin orders, drawing his sword. It is not five seconds later, that his hand is stuck to the dining table with an iron arrow.

There is a collective intake of breath from the Folk, broken only by Balekin's pleading.

"Cardan, I know you. I know that you'd prefer I did the difficult work of ruling while you enjoyed the power. I know that you despise mortals and ruffians and fools. Come, I have not always danced to your piping, but you haven't the stomach to truly cross me. Bring me the crown."

I see Jude pass the Blood Crown into Oak's hands.

Balekin repeats himself. "Bring me the crown, Cardan."

Cardan speaks with arrogance. "No, brother. I do not think that I will. I think that if I did not have another reason to cross you, I would do it for spite."

Jude whispers something to Cardan, and he kneels reluctantly.

I am rooted to the spot.

Oak moves toward Cardan with the crown in his tiny hands and recites words I never expected to hear from his mouth.

"I crown you. King. High King of Faerie." Some of the syllables merge together, but everyone watching understands clear enough.

Oak is a part of the Greenbriar line.

Cardan's eyes burn with fury directed at Jude, but I cannot tell why.

The Folk sink to their knees before their new king, and Locke and I follow. I grip his hand tight, an infinite amount of questions springing to life inside my head.

Jude has just made her first move. In time, she will reach checkmate.

But the one thing I have learned from watching her and Madoc play chess is that the price of winning is high. To win, she must lose all of her allies, and he his.

So when Jude wins, what will she be the queen of? The answer rings inside my mind.

Nothing.

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littlehollyleaf · 7 years

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Questions for the Blogger!

tagged by @lankybrunettepartdeux (my apologies for being half-hearted about this, I’m a lazy ass!)

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

1. Nicknames: I tried very very hard at Uni to give myself the nickname ‘Leaf’ but it never worked out :p 2. Gender: Female 3. Star sign: Scorpio (but I never seem to fit ANY of the descriptions) 4. Height: don’t remember, can’t be bothered to check... something like 5′1 5. Time: 11.45am (BST) 6. Birthday: 7th Nov 1984 7 & 8. Favorite Bands & Favorite solo artists: I’ve combined these because my answer covers both - see truth is I don’t really ‘do’ music, so... never really sure who is solo and who is a band (is Pink the person? is Bon Jovi the band? idek!) and... I have SONGS I enjoy, but don’t really pay attention to the artists most of the time... kinda like Meatloaf, listen to Swift sometimes, recently grabbed a bunch of songs by Halsey... have also listened to Kansas and AC/CD... but I like cheesy shit too like ABBA... um, Bonnie Tyler... Annie Lennox... Dolly Parton... basically I have no musical taste is what I’m saying, and generally whatever fandom I’m in dictates what music I like at the time 9. Song stuck in my head: “Purple Rain” (oh gee I wonder how THAT happened :p) 10. Last movie I watched: Kingsman The Golden Circle :) 11. Last show I watched: Justice League Action (well one episode :p) 12. When did I create my blog: don’t remember... 13. What do I Post/Reblog: geeky stuff 14. Last Thing I Googled: literally just now “who is in control lyrics” - because I couldn’t remember the artist of the song for the Q above (that’s how bad I am at music) 15. Other Blogs: got an LJ still kicking about somewhere 16. Do I get asks: it has been known :p 17. Why I Chose My URL: my name’s holly, I’m small... also when I first needed to create an online username for LJ back in the day my first choice of ‘hollyleaf’ was already taken 18. Following: too many :p (tumblr has been running slow for me for a while and I suspect it’s cos of the amount of blogs I follow... I try and prune now and then but... eh) 19. Followers: too many! seriously guys, what are you all here for? I’m so ridiculous! (I suspect a lot are actually porn blogs/bots though - I only discovered this year how to check who is following you and that you can block them... I so can’t be bothered to wade through my existing followers and try and figure out which are and aren’t real though) 20. Average Hours of Sleep: 6-8 21. Lucky number: 7 I guess 22. Instruments: See above about me and music - playing is worse because... I can’t always tell when something is out of tune (my dad is legit tone deaf and I’ve long suspected I may take after him). I did play the flute to Grade 2 when I was younger though. I enjoyed it but never really... got INTO it, you know? I was always, like, ‘playing by numbers’ I suppose? 23. What am I wearing: PJs. It’s my day off leave me alone. 24. Dream job: No job. I have ZERO ambition. If I could just chill and fandom and snuggle with my cats every day I would. My job gets me money to live, that’s all (although I do like my job okay!) 25. Dream Trip: SDCC! Although atm I am also really kinda interested in visiting Japan 26. Favorite Food: Pork, probably. Unless you count drinks, in which case Coke and/or Mountain Dew. 27. Nationality: Brit. 28. Favorite Song RIGHT NOW: Ah no single one, just dumb stuff that gives me nygmobbelpot feelings mostly - “All of Me” by John Legend, “Loving You is a Dirty Job (But Someone’s Gotta Do It)” by Bonnie Tyler, “Strange Love” by Halsey... (I REALLY NEED some foxma songs though, so if anyone has any ideas??) 29. Last Book Read: Last one I finished was “A Skinful of Shadows” by Frances Hardinge (who is AMAZING and it was AMAZING everyone read her if you like slightly spooky stuff that, thank goodness, LACKS ROMANCE). Currently reading “Lockwood and Co. The Empty Grave” by Jonathan Stroud :)

30. Top Three Fictional Universes You’d Want to Join:

Doctor Who (because it’s basically ours but with the chance you might stumble into the TARDIS one day, so I could theoretically keep my life largely as is :p)

Labyrinth (again, basically ours, but if you played your cards right you might get whisked off for a magical adventure with the Goblin King for a night, which is a win!)

The Librarians (this has the same element of ‘our world but magic is real’ but in a twist on the above I’d actually be happy to be part of the action in this world, because the characters’ magic adventures seem fun and with the least amount of trauma involved, lol! I don’t think I’d be smart enough to be a Librarian though alas)

Oh sorry, did you think I’d say Gotham or spn? Fuck that, you know if ~I lived in those universes I’d be Extra #3 in the cold open who gets violently slaughtered by the monster/villain of the week, so no thanks! (and even if not - I could not handle the stress of living in Gotham, have you SEEN what happens there??)

#meme #about me #:p #I actually thought too much about that last one...

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thesffcorner · 5 years

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January Wrap Up

January was a great reading month for me; I read 12 books and 2 comics. Weirdly it was also a month of me reading out of my usual zone: I read 3 fantasy books, 1 sci-fi book, 3 urban fantasies, 1 poetry book, 1 contemporary romance, 1 mystery, 1 thriller, and 1 erotic thriller. So without further ado, let’s go from lowest rated to highest:

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas (2 stars):

Corrupt was a book I started in 2018 and finished in 2019. It’s not a book I liked, but I was committed to finishing it (even though it’s 500 pages) for 2 reasons: 1, I wanted to get to the ‘scene’, and 2, I had read 200 pages already and I was too stubborn to quit.

This book is a dual perspective: it follows Erica, a college student who has been in love with her best friend/boyfriend Travis’ older brother her whole life, and Michael, said brother who is a professional basketball player. When Erica was 16 something happened, which sent Michael’s 3 best friends to jail for 3 years; now they are out and plan on exacting their revenge on her, and destroying her life.

Do NOT let the synopsis fool you; this book is not nearly as suspenseful or interesting as it sounds. I have a long-ass rant review on this book, if you want more of my thoughts, but essentially it boils down to this: the characters aren’t actually developed or morally corrupt enough, for the thriller parts to work, and the sex scenes are badly paced and start too far into the book for those who are into this just for the erotica. Throw is some casual homophobia, alpha-male, casually sexist behavior, a passive main character and a basketball player who never plays basketball, and this was the definition of a wasted premise.

You by Caroline Kepnes (2 stars):

I read You as part of the Biannual bibliothon, but also because I saw that the Netflix show had come out. The first 50 or so pages of this book were very interesting; I really liked the premise and enjoyed Joe’s misanthropic grumpiness. But soon afterwards I found myself mostly bored, and annoyed by all the characters, and like Corrupt before, I thought it was too long, and not thrilling enough for a thriller.

We follow Jo, a man with some trouble with social interaction, who works at a bookstore. When Beck, a pretty young masters student, walks into the bookstore and flirts with him, he begins stalking her in an attempt to become her boyfriend, and we follow his increasingly delusional and even life-threatening attempts to win Beck over.

The main issue I has with this book were the characters; I didn’t like Jo, I didn’t like Peach and I just wanted all of them to choke. I also didn’t find the second person narrative the book dipped into particularly compelling, because I didn’t like or relate to Beck at all; the only thing I enjoyed was NYC, and that one scene on the subway.

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean (2 stars):

Empress of All Seasons was the first proper fantasy I read this year, and it was a disappointment. I really wanted to love it, and like many of the books in this group it started well enough; it was just too short and unfocused to deliver on its premise.

We follow three characters: Mari, a yokai animal wife, whose only goal in life is to go to the royal palace, defeat the four seasonal rooms and marry the prince, then steal his fortune and escape; Akira, the son of nightmares, Mari’s best friend and a half-human, half-yokai boy who gets involved in a yokai rebellion; and Taro, the prince, who has a strained relationship with his father the emperor, and prefers inventing metal companions, rather than spending time with people.

I think even just saying this synopsis, you will probably realize what the main issue with this book is; there is just too much going on and not enough time for any of it. In comparison with the other fantasy I read this month, this book tried to do too much and failed to deliver on most things, with underdeveloped characters, and a plot that felt like you were sitting on the fast forward button.

Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (2 stars):

Binti: Home is the second of the novellas in this series, and it also got 2 stars. It suffers from all the same issues as Empress; too many plot threads, not enough time to develop any of it, with the additional issues of having plot threads left from the previous novella that are left hanging, and a much more confused main character.

We follow Binti as she travels back to Earth, so she can complete a pilgrimage that would make her a full Himba woman, as she’s having visions and experiencing bursts of unfounded rage after the events of her arrival at the university. She takes Okwu with her, as an emissary for the Meduse, but very quickly things start going wrong, when she comes into conflict with both the Khoush, her own family and the Desert people and their most sacred god.

My criticism stands; there is just not enough time to properly develop this plot, so things feel rushed and unmotivated. Binti is a character who doesn’t seem to progress; she’s constantly caught in a loop of self-doubt and self-loathing, which isn’t congruent with both her abilities as master harmonizer and her rebellious streak. Okwu gets no development, and the cliffhanger at the end is the only thing keeping me invested in this series.

Emergency Contact by Mary H K Choi (3 stars):

Emergency Contact was a book that I expected I probably won’t like, and I ended up liking, but only parts of. All the issues I had a feeling I would have I did have, and it was only really the humor and the sheer curiosity to see how the book would end was what kept me reading.

We follow a dual perspective between Penelope, a freshman in college who wants to be a writer, and Sam, a boy who wants to be a documentarian. The two meet in the coffee shop where Sam works, and after Sam has a panic attack which he confuses for a heart attack, Penelope helps him and they become each other's emergency contacts.

The parts I liked from this book were mostly to do with the side characters, Penny’s writing class and story, some of the jokes and writing, but what I ended up disliking were the weird passes Penny gets for her horrible behavior, the fact that Sam doesn’t get a conclusion, his entire subplot with his film and his ex, just… a lot of things. I have a more detailed review of this book, which you can read if you want more of my specific thoughts.

Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill (3 stars):

This is a poetry collection, that also includes some shorts stories, most if not all based around re-imaginings of fairy tales. There were some poems I liked, some I didn’t care for and some which I disliked. There was one poem and one short story I really loved too. For the most part, a rather average collection.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (3 stars):

This is the first book is a series, which I originally wasn’t going to read, but I kept hearing about how good these books are, and with the fourth coming out and having to do with the Goblin Market, I figured I’d give it a try.

We follow Nancy, a girl who has just returned from a portal word, and arrives at Eleanor West’s home for Wayward Children, to learn how to cope with being back in the real world. In this school she meets others like her, but when her roommate gets killed and her hands stolen, things start going really wrong at this supposed sanctuary.

This got 3 stars, purely because of the characters. I loved most, if not all of them, and I wanted to learn more about the different worlds, though not necessarily go to the worlds. The mystery of the murderer mostly reminded me of the plot with the basilisk in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and as such I had a lot of issues with the decisions the adults in this book made. Can’t say I liked this book too much, but I am curious to see if maybe I’ll like the series when it focuses on the portal worlds a bit more.

Red Glove by Holly Black (4 stars):

Breaking in form a bit, so I can talk about this series in order. Red Glove is the second in the Curse Workers trilogy, and I really enjoyed it. I’m weird in that I tend to like middle books in a lot of series, and this was no exception.

In this book we follow Cassel trying to cope with the events from the previous book, when the FBI approaches him, after his older brother Phillip has been killed, to tell him that Phillip had become an informant. This leads Cassel into making a complex web of deceit and cons so he can protect himself and the rest of his family from the feds and the Zacharovs, while also trying not to fail school.

I enjoyed this book more than the first in some aspects, mostly in how much it expands the world and the politics. I continued to love Cassel as a character, and I even cared about his romance with Lila. Solid second book, and probably my favorite in the series.

Black Heart by Holly Black (3 stars):

This was the third and final book, and unfortunately it wasn't as good as the rest. The ending itself was fine, and there were some very interesting plot points and twists I didn’t see coming. But the middle of the book dragged a lot, and what was up until that point a nuanced view of morality, personal responsibility and adulthood, felt a lot more simplified and black or white in this book.

We follow Cassel, who while stalking Lila with Baron, encounters a death worker who performs a hit for Lila, and pulls Cassel in a complicated plot to transform the Governor of New Jersey. There are a lot of threads in this final book, and Cassel has to pull the biggest con of his life if he wants to survive.

The issue, was mostly with the pacing; there is a whole section in the middle where absolutely nothing happens, and we spend so much time on a B plot that serves only to distract Cassel from the Governor Patton business and to get Sam and Daneca out of the ending. This part dragged the book down for me, even though the ending parts were great. I still recommend the series as a whole, and I’m sad there hasn’t been some kind of spin-off with Gage or even Baron’s FBI adventures.

This is Our Story by Ashley Elston (4 stars):

This was the first proper book I read in 2019 and I loved it. It’s a solid mystery with a great atmosphere and a pretty cool twist and a main character I really enjoyed.

We follow Kate, a senior in high school who interns for the DA in a small town in Louisiana. After a rich, private school student named Grant dies in what appears to be a hunting accident, Kate gets sucked into a mystery of who’d done it, because the DA doesn’t seem to think it was an accident.

I really liked this book; apart from the ending which was a bit over-dramatic, everything was well paced, well written and believable. Kate as a protagonist was great, I liked the love interest, the twists that happen and in general I am excited to see what else this author comes out with.

Check, please! Year 1 and Check, please! Year 2 by Ngozi Ukazu (4 stars):

I have read Check, Please! Before, while it was still coming out as a web-comic; I got to the winter break of year 4 and then stopped. I decided to reread the series and catch up, when I saw that the collected volumes of year 1 and 2 were on goodreads. And it was great decision.

This is just such a heartwarming and entertaining series. It follows Bittie, who at the start is a freshman in Samwell College, a Canadian university which is famous for its hockey team. Despite being more of a figure skater, Bittie gets an athletic scholarship to play hockey, and the the comic follows his 4 years on the team, as well as the many adventures of school, competition, love and adulthood.

Year 1 focuses mostly on the team, and Bittie’s struggle with checking; he has a tendency to freeze and even faint as a response to contact. We also see him develop friendships with other teammates, most notably the captain Jack, who has his own host of issues and baggage, being the son of an incredibly famous and well respected hockey player who won the Stanley cup twice.

Year 2 follows Bittie’s love life, as he develops a crush on someone from the team, and all the heartbreak and joy that come from it. It also sees Shitty and Jack graduate and play their very last college hockey season.

If I have to pick, I’d say I like year 2 a bit more than year 1, mostly because it seems both me and Ukazu got a better grasp on the characters and the style of the comic. The art likewise improved immensely, especially in the facial expression department. It’s a great series and I recommend you read it; even if you don’t want to/can’t support the e-book/physical bindup of this series, it’s all available for free on the website.

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden (4 stars):

I had no intention of reading this book, but I saw it was available, and read it. It was a great decision, because this is a fast paced, entertaining horror middle-grade, with some great characters and an excellent atmosphere.

Olivia, or Olie is a 6th grader, who used to be a great student, well loved on the softball and chess team, and well liked by her classmates, but after a traumatic event, she locks in on herself, and spends most of her time alone, reading books. When she sees a woman, trying to throw a book into a creek, she steals the book, and strange and creepy things start happening as she reads; and they all seem to be connected to the book.

This was just a lot of fun. I loved the characters, I really liked the atmosphere and the horror elements; there were some genuinely creepy scenes involving scarecrows, ghosts, haunted houses and corn mazes. The main villain, the Smiling Man was also creepy and clever, even though it was pretty predictable as to who it was, and I enjoyed the way Olie beat him. I’m so glad this will be a series because I can’t wait to read the rest.

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke (5 stars):

The last book I read in January, and it was my favorite and the only 5 star read.

The Boneless Mercies follows Frey, the leader of a group of 4 girls and one boy who roam the land and perform mercy killings in exchange for money. After being hired to kill a sick child, Frey decides that she can’t go on with the job, and suggests that her group go and kill the Blue Vee Beast; a mysterious monster terrorizing that part of the land. On their journey, the girls encounter witches, magic and death, and Frey comes to realize that a quest for glory may cost more than she’s willing to pay.

I absolutely loved this book. It ticks all of my boxes; a group of competent and interesting female characters; a melancholic tone; a beautiful, gloomy atmosphere; a sense of a land lost to time, a world after the age of heroes has passed; explorations of death, grief, womanhood; romantic subplots. It’s a book told like an epic tale which makes sense since it’s based on Beowulf, and it doesn’t hold any punches; it’s relentless in the tone and the things the girls have to do to survive, things that haunt them even after the end. If you love these types of books, I highly, highly recommend it.

#january wrap up #moni talks #reading wrap up

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