#i chose it because i actually was really interested in the premise and worldbuilding and then it just took an ABRUPT turn

[pocketwish]

i tried to read one (1) fantasy novel written by a man and had to return it early

#i'd lulled myself into a false sense of security on my female author kick #forgot this is actually the norm #i chose it because i actually was really interested in the premise and worldbuilding and then it just took an ABRUPT turn #now that i look at them all the reviews are either men gushing about how amazing it is and then a few women being like 'uh...' #and like. i understand depictions of misogyny in books. especially when it leads to challenging a character's worldview #i am all for depictions of uncomfortable topics or points of view in fiction if it serves the story #but it's just so face-value and slap-in-the-face-unnecessary. the reviews that mention it at all say it only gets worse from here so #ran screaming back to one of my favorite authors that i TRUST #bea's thoughts

[penultimate-step]

@greatwyrmgold

continued from previous reblog, replying to you in a new post rather than reblogging bc I don't want to derail the OP with my rant about shield hero, haha.

Would you believe I actually didn't mind that part as much? If only because I have a high tolerance for bs, especially if introduced as part of the premise. However, if you did get squicked out by the slavery nonsense and dropped it immediately, I'm happy for you, because it means you dropped it before it could get to the royal execution/punishment arc, which is straight up one of the most embarrassing scenes I've ever seen in fiction.

Protagonist dude gets the villain's own mother to legally rename her to "slut," while all the characters around him can't stop talking about how much of a kind and generous man he is for not killing, torturing, or raping her instead. The newly named "slut" is then forced to bow down and thank him for making her a "slut" and "whore", while all the audience cheers.

Just. Come the fuck on. Beyond the completely juvenile middle school level of revenge nonsense, beyond the fact that this is just the series doing a PG-13 version of revenge rape fantasy, beyond all the dozen reasons I can't stand this scene - it's just the most pathetically obvious "we'll have our protagonist fulfil his most base desires, but then somehow turn that around and make that be praiseworthy and have the narrative validate and morally justify him" crap that makes it impossible for me to regard the story with any amount of respect.

That was the final straw getting me to drop the series, but honestly it's more emblematic of the flaws of the series as a whole, and the terrible writing of the protagonist that undermines the whole thing.

I think the concept of the series - the basic premise - is actually quite interesting. An isekai'd hero where the focus is on how by being transported, he no longer has the social connections and safety net of the world he knows, who is immediately othered, ostracized, and betrayed by the new world around him, until his sense of trust in others is shattered. this pushes him to moral rock bottom, engaging in slavery and mistreating even his closest companions out of lingering trauma. To succeed, he must confront his own issues and grow as a person, building a place in this new world and making up for his mistakes.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that if this concept was executed even half competently, I probably would have greatly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, a concept like that inherently requires mature handling of moral wrongs done both by and towards the protagonist - and do you really think a writer who would make the capstone moment of a character arc be "you suck so badly that even your mother chose me over you, and also everybody around you says that you're sexually promiscuous and morally bankrupt" has the maturity to write anything close to what would be required?

Whatever promise the initial premise had doesn't even last ten chapters. After the introductory arcs, the writing loses all sense of ambition - it becomes too afraid to actually have the protagonist be in the wrong, and therefore has to frame everything he does as unambiguously sympathetic, that he is a nice guy, and also say he is somehow "deserving" of the power fantasy that the series becomes. This directly contradicts the character arc he's set up to have - It's difficult to simultaneously have a character be an edgy antihero making poor choices, and also have them be always in the right, and so the series bends over backwards to say all his decisions must actually be morally correct, regardless if they actually are. Which was the type of character writing that OP of the original post was complaining about, and also why I can't stand this series.

I don't know. I have friends who tell me the worldbuilding and plot gets really interesting later on. but I don't have any interest in trying again. I think I gave the series a fair shot and it just made me both angry and uncomfortable. If I wanted a progression fantasy with cool worldbuilding, and sometimes I do, there are plenty of those online to choose from.

(Again, I don't have anything against people who like this series, everybody has different tolerances for certain writing flaws and I don't think it makes one evil or dumb or actually accepting of slavery to like the series.)

#not going to tag this as shield hero bc i don't want to put a long rant about the series in a tag for fans #step.animanga

[felikatze]

woooo i beat memories of celceta!! it is still. the plot is. the plot sure is.

like okay. open ending because you have to discover knowledge on your own to grow as a person. whatever

but the game leaves SO MANY things just kinda hanging? like the epilogue itself points out that Griselda's whole thing never comes up. Griselda herself seems like she SHOULD be more important when she's really just the map progress npc

and i just could not get into the lategame plot cuz of how skeevy the worldbuilding is. like. so. selray, comodo, the highlanders, and danaan village all DIDNT KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER? Selray and Comodo should've just been friendly neighbours. Literally what would that have changed except Make More Sense. you can even just go "the villages fell out of touch recently because of the crises they had going on" and. there u go.

like. there's FOUR SEPARATE VILLAGES inside this great forest and NONE OF THEM KNOW EACH OTHER... why. what. hwuh.

also like. the open ending tries to make A Point but tooooo muuuch is unresolved.

for example. in one memory. Dogi is Here. dogi came to celceta with Adol. WHERE WAS DOGI DURING ALL OF THIS? Was he lost in the woods searching for Adol? Did he just fucking vacation somewhere else without his buddy? Did he and Adol pass by each other like Yzma and Kuczo in the diner scene of Emperor's New Groove?

Also, the ending scene shows Adol heading out into the unknown alone - without Dogi. Who he came to Celceta with. God. There is a story all on its own of Dogi trying to figure out what the fuck happened. "I look away for FIVE MINUTES and you SAVED ALL OF WESTERN EUROPA?? AGAIN??" if I were Dogi i would hit Adol with rocks for this

Another thing is I think the resolution to Karna's and Ozma's whole things are really lame... It really did feel like Ozma was being set up to discover some mindblowing secret truth but then it was just like "the sacred beasts are from the primeval lands ig" and then that's that! And Karna's whole thing with Remnos being "yeah Remnos IS actually just naturally better than Karna at anything. But it's fine because he found out he does actually just like playing the harp more." It is Kinda Shit. And the whole reason Remnos chose to stay with Gruda's gang is a bit nebulous to me but that may be because I did not play the game for several months.

Another thing... It really is just the lategame character dynamics that made me dislike the story... I could talk forever about how much I think Calilica should explode. Like yes she is A Kid so she's a brat but the game doesn't have to portray her as being right? Especially after Frieda joins, Calilica and Frieda enable each other to be such dickheads to Duren I hate it.

Like can we pick up on that interesting character bit of how Duren actually lied about being Adol's friend and how guilty he feels over it now that he's actually Adol's friend? Instead of going "haha Duren is so stupid"

Both Karna and Ozma are so much more grounded and mature by comparison that I like them much more... How many fuckin scenes in endgame are Duren saying something, Calilica and Frieda calling him a moron for it, and Ozma going "No Duren's right actually. We should get going maybe." Like multiple. Multiple.

it is also NOT lost on me that the less technologically and magically inclined forest people who are just fishing and hunting and Living Here Regularly, are all dressed to invoke indigenous people, whereas the Super Secret Magic Super Cool Lorekeepers who are Friends With God Allmighty are all dressed European. It is NOT lost on me I fucking see it. And that is Bad. For example, Ozma being the only dark skinned person. And Ozma being the only main character running around abs out. It is racist yes <3 I do love Ozma though he's my favorite of the main gang so I'm especially Meh at how lame his arc turned out.

It really is a shame bcuz Adol having amnesia is SUCHHH a cool premise!! It was really fun to recover his memories and dig into his past to see what inspired him to become an adventurer! But that whole thing... really isn't relevant to the plot, either.

Like okay yes. It was plot relevant insofar the earlygame is retracing Adol's steps and trying to discover what he was doing in Celceta, why everybody is mad at him, and what sort of conspiratorial nonsense he dove headfirst into. And that was ALSO FUN!! I think "everybody thinks Adol poisoned their crops and kidnapped their people" is a fucking hilarious running joke as Adol goes "well I dunno if i did it but it doesnt feel like something i'd do" capped off with one town just thinking that ADOL IS DEAD and freaking the fuck out when he returns because they already BUILT HIM A GRAVESTONE. funniest shit ever.

but thematicallyyyy it did not have all that much to do with anything. Discovering Adol's past before his adventures, learning a bit about his family and his father, had fuckall to do with the plot. Why introduce Adol's disappeared dad only to not do anything with it?

And the way Adol's memories are segmented - only the Far Past of his childhood, and the Recent Past of what he did in Celceta are ever touched on. I understand that it'd be confusing to have random flashes of other games, but... you could just pick pivotal moments from past adventures to define to us who Adol is. And then cap it off with "Adol regained the memory of adventure X" or whatever.

Like. anything man. Gimme something. I love amnesia stories and it started strong but then dropped the ball.

tldr: it leaves too much open to have a satisfying conclusion, earlygame character srcs are not resolved in a way that actually feels significant for the endgame, and the lategame party dynamic just takes the absolute piss

i REALLY LIKED IT for the first half bcuz exploring the forest and the mystery of What Happened to Adol were SO FUN but then it kinda took a nosedive in midgame and stayed middling till the end.

whatever/10 i still like monstrum nox's cast best i think

#feli speaks #feli plays

[autisticcassandracain]

Just finished Far Sector and GOD jesus FUCK is it good. Holy fucking shit. I truly hate how good this is. It’s not flawless and I do have issues with it (I felt like the plot was a bit too predictable and could be hard to follow sometimes, Jo’s military and cop backgrounds are not something that I’m fond of, and the fact that it came so close to making a true ACAB statement only to pussyfoot around it is INFURIATING), but god. The worldbuilding is the best I’ve encountered in DC comics, hands down. 

Far Sector takes great care to build the Enduring City as a believable place in a natural way. I really like the keh-Topli and @At; both of those felt like genuine alien species, with alien origins and practices, even if the keh-Topli were the species the series examined the least. The visit to Atville was a definite highlight for me, as well.

But where I think the worldbuilding really shone was the way it examined how a world would react to artificially having its emotions lock down. Emotionless species are something of a staple in sci-fi, and I think this is a great example of what you could do with it. Because the people in the Enduring City are not naturally emotionless; this is a state that was forced on them, and this had consequences.

It would’ve been really easy to make this a murder mystery with the gimmick being that people involved don’t have emotions and that murder is extremely uncommon on this planet, but Far Sector went further in exploring the possibilities inherent in its premise. As you’d expect, there’s a drug that lets you turn on your emotions called Switchoff, and for a lot of mediocre sci-fi, that’s where it’d stop. 

Far Sector doesn’t. It examines where the drug came from, how it’s used, and what its effects are on society. It expands on the concept of a black market for emotional goods, and dives into why the city would feel the need to have such a market in the first place. The detail that the @At are dependent on emotional stimuli to survive, because they ‘eat’ things like humor, was a genuine stroke of genius. Not only is it an interesting concept to have the AI race be the most dependent on emotion, it also realizes that such a dependency would but the species at a severe disadvantage in a society in which emotion is banned, resulting in systemic poverty and crime. It delves into this both in casual dialogue, and, more extensively, in its visit to Atville and the ‘meltdown’ during the referendum at the end of the series. This single detail is responsible for making so much of this world feel real and interesting, and I love it.

Also it’s the only comic I’ve ever read that managed to incorporate memes into its plot in a way that didn’t feel horribly awful. It’s a bit cheesy and sometimes it gets a bit too much but I actually like it and think it’s impressive they managed to make it anything less than a dumpster fire lmao. The fact that they chose memes that are heavily outdated even by current standards prevents the problem of this comic being dated on release, and also helps play up the comedy aspect because it’s inherently cringy to see those old memes, so I thought that was a smart move. Though I do think the inclusion of memes will limit how well it holds up in the future, so overall I think it would’ve been better not to include them, but DC Comics are as a whole not that concerned with timelessness, so I don’t think it’s a big issue.

This isn’t like, an in-depth analysis or anything, this is all first impression, I’m just ranting because it’s been a while since I enjoyed a comic this much.

#infodumping #my posts #far sector #i think this is the first time i've been more invested in a comic's worldbuilding than its characters #it's a strange experience #i do like jo a lot don't get me wrong she's a great protagonist but like. the WORLDBUILDING #also everyone in this comic is stupid hot. i hate that mr. morally grey crime counsellor marth is so aggressively my type i hate it #not just in looks but in personality too. manipulative morally grey ppl tend to be super hit or miss for me and this was a hard hit #hate it. hate it so much. fuck that man

[sineala]

The Old Guard

This post comes to you courtesy of the generous support of one of my Patreon patrons, who wanted to know what I thought of The Old Guard. This post contains some spoilers for both the movie and the comics.

So, a few days after it came out, my wife and I watched The Old Guard on Netflix. Tumblr had said a bunch of good things about it, and both of us basically cut our fannish teeth on Highlander fandom so we already had an automatic buy-in for a story about immortals. I knew it was based on a comic by Greg Rucka, but I had not, at the time, read the comic, although I am now reading it in order to write this post.

The premise of the film is as follows: a four-person team of immortals (Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker) makes a living hiring themselves out as mercenaries, fighting for causes that they believe are right. They are successful at this basically because their grasp of tactics appears to be (1) die, followed by (2) come back to life and (3) murder your attackers who are no longer paying attention to you because they think you're dead. Honestly, at this point, you wouldn't really need to be very good at the actual fighting part, I would think, but the film establishes that all of them are -- especially Charlize Theron as Andy -- because presumably it wants you to watch action sequences of everyone being badass, which they are. So, yeah. They take all the good-guy mercenary jobs that no one else can do because it would kill them, which is not a problem for them!

Anyway! The group's routine is interrupted by two major events: the discovery of Nile Freeman, a new immortal, who is a Marine serving in Afghanistan who survives getting murdered; and also the fact that one of their employers, Copley (played by Chiwetel Eijofor, whom you may remember as Mordo in Doctor Strange) has sold them out to the movie's Actual Villain, a Big Pharma CEO named Merrick (played by the guy who played Dudley in the Harry Potter series), who has (as far as I can tell) been given instructions to play this role just like he's Martin Shkreli, who is interested in finding the secret of their immortality, and whom you can tell is evil because he has his name in giant letters on the side of his building.

ME: Look, it's the villain! I've found the villain! MY WIFE: Other than Tony Stark, who actually puts their names on buildings like that except villains? It's just villains, right? ME: Uh. The president? The president definitely does that. (We make horrified faces at each other.)

Because we are Extremely Pedantic, we also spent a lot of time picking at how the characters' names and language abilities match up to their stated background. They all know a lot of languages, as you might expect, and the movie was determined to get through them without subtitles, which is an interesting choice but also kind of left some linguistic plot holes.

For example, Joe and Nicky claim to have met each other in the Crusades, with Nicky as (presumably) a Crusader and Joe as (presumably) a Muslim occupant of the area, although the movie doesn't specify this; Wikipedia gives Joe's name as Yusuf Al-Kaysani, which would at least fit that. Nicky is clearly Italian (as is Luca Marinelli, the actor who portrays him) and when he speaks Italian to the rest of the group we see that he definitely speaks modern Italian as spoken in Rome... which is absolutely, definitely not the language he grew up speaking, given that, among other things, Wiki lists the character's full name as Nicolò di Genova. I don't know if the writer of the screenplay (who I see now is also Greg Rucka) didn't know how much Italian dialects had changed in the last thousand years, if he thought that was good enough to be a nod to the character, or if there's some kind of backstory that didn't make it in where every so often Nicky decides to learn a modern dialect and keep his hand in, and also decides that that's the language he wants to use among his friends who would presumably understand several different dialects.

Also, the reveal that Andy's real name was in fact "Andromache of Scythia" was indeed badass but was slightly undercut by my wife yelling BUT THE SCYTHIANS DIDN'T SPEAK GREEK at the television.

Additionally, I feel like the movie could perhaps have been aware of the ways it chose to label on-screen locations, in which the countries were spelled out in large fonts with the cities above them. Places like LONDON, ENGLAND got their entire names spelled out, as did small French villages whose names I can no longer remember, but I guess AFGHANISTAN and MOROCCO and SOUTH SUDAN have zero cities, huh? However, the end of the movie did take place in PARIS which I guess unlike London is its own country now.

So the actual plot features the group of immortals trying to explain this whole immortality thing to Nile while being on the run from the people who are trying to turn them into Big Pharma, who wants to capture them and exploit the secret of their immortality. This is where it falls down a little for me, because the worldbuilding... gets a little shaky. They dream about each other when they're apart. Okay. Why? Sometimes they just stop being immortal and lose the capacity to heal and are dead in their next battle. Why? Why do they even exist? I just... wanted more answers than the movie gave me, and the pacing where I kept expecting there to be explanations wasn't there. There were a couple of scenes where Nile sat there in silence contemplating the fact that she would outlive her loved ones and my brain kept trying to insert Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever?" Granted, the Highlander canon explanation for immortality is deeply, deeply weird, but at least it tried. No, I can't believe I'm defending Highlander II either.

The characters, too, could have been more fleshed out. The bulk of the character development is given to Andy and Nile, and I'm not complaining about that -- they were great -- but Joe and Nicky and Booker only got maybe a few lines each. They would have felt so much more real if they'd just had a little bit more to them. Also I didn't understand Copley's arc at all, but saying more about that would be spoilery. I do like that they have definitely set themselves up for a sequel.

But even with what we got, there's a lot to love about the characters. If you're here for canonically queer characters, you will enjoy Nicky and Joe, who have been in a relationship for probably about a thousand years. They are minor characters as far as the overall plot goes, but what they do have is lovely, and there is a romantic declaration between them at one point that is absolutely beautiful and possibly the most fervent love declaration I can remember seeing in a movie since maybe... ever. If you also like your queerness more subtextual, though Andy is never portrayed as explicitly queer, her past friendship with a fellow immortal Quynh was shown as very intense, as is the role she takes here mentoring Nile into the world of immortality. Also she has a double-bladed axe (yes, we kept yelling BRING ME MY MAN-KILLING AXE at the television) and as we all know, the double-bladed labrys has in modern times become a symbol for lesbians. So there's that.

In addition to the characters of color who play important roles here -- Nile was my personal favorite, but there's also Joe and Copley and (in flashback) Quynh -- there's a lot of diversity behind the cameras as well, or so the internet informs me. The director (Gina Prince-Bythewood) is the first Black woman to direct a superhero movie, and the same is true of her editor (Terilyn Shropshire). And, furthermore, apparently 85% of the post-production crew were women. They didn't have to do that, and yet they did. It was nice.

I don't watch a whole lot of action movies these days because I usually find R-rated violence too... violent, but I found myself really liking almost all of the action sequences here. None of them felt gratuitous, and a lot of them really focused on the physicality of the immortals fighting in a way I liked, because I feel like people are probably going to fight differently if they know they can survive every single hit, and I think the movie portrayed that in a way that a lot of superhero comics and movies don't. My favorite fight scene is definitely the one between Nile and Andy at the beginning, when Andy has trapped her on a plane and it's extremely close-quarters fighting and also extremely brutal. They don't stop basically until Nile breaks enough bones that she can't get up anymore, because until then she's going to keep trying, which is both kind of horrifying and a great character note. And they didn't film it like it was a Sexy Catfight! It was so good.

Also, the soundtrack is really good, and I've found myself streaming it on Spotify all week. I didn't know any of the songs in the movie, but there's a lot of hip-hop and -- okay, I don't even know if this is a genre? -- specifically a lot of hip-hop with an electronic/industrial sort of beat, which I thought was really great and livened up the fight scenes even more; "Going Down Fighting" did a really good job getting me in the mood for the final confrontation with the villain, and... yeah, it's all good. Someone made a playlist on Spotify that will come up if you search for it.

So, yeah. It's on Netflix. It's not without flaws (mostly, explaining how the hell immortality works, and a couple of pacing issues), but it's a really satisfying superhero movie.

That's the movie. Onto the comic, which I am just now starting to read as I write these words. Whee!

So The Old Guard: Opening Fire is a 2017 five-issue Image Comics series written by Greg Rucka, with art by Leandro Fernández, and there's also a 2019 sequel, The Old Guard: Force Multiplied, by the same creative team, also with five issues. I have not actually read any of Rucka's work before now because he is mostly famous for his DC work, but I have heard good things about it, especially his Wonder Woman run.

Anyway. The art is very stylized, with a minimal color palette, and it's very pretty but I honestly found it hard to parse sometimes. Many of the characters have very weird noses. Yes, noses. It's basically mostly in Andy's and Nile's POVs, like the movie, and as far I can tell Andy is explicitly queer, because unless I am entirely misreading this panel in issue #1, here she is in bed with a woman in one panel. Whee. Also there are some nice epigraphs at the beginning of each issue.

Okay, so, the plot here is basically the plot of the movie. There is still no explanation of why immortality exists. But even so, there are some fun character moments that didn't make it into the movie -- for example, Andy saying smartphones are too hard to use and she liked the old ones better, only for the rest of her team to say that she couldn't use those either. I think you get a better sense of Andy's world-weariness in the comic. There are also other, now-dead Immortals mentioned, like Noriko, who "went overboard off the Horn." Quynh is not one of them; Quynh basically is Noriko, which is because they cast a Vietnamese actress who asked if her character could be Vietnamese too, which seems perfectly reasonable to me. But anyway, in the comics, she's Noriko. Weirdly, Andy's full name, as she tells Nile when they meet, is Andronika ("man-victory") rather than Andromache ("man-battle," in case you were wondering); I think the movie made a better choice because Ἀνδρονίκα has exactly two attestations in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, whereas Ἀνδρομάχη has all that shiny name recognition of being shared by the wife of Hector and also the queen of the Amazons and will ping viewers as a Greek name, and therefore ancient, even if it can't be the name she was born with. (There are five for "Andronike" and four more for "Andromacha" so they actually have about the same number of total attestations, as far as I can tell, when you consider the alpha/eta alternation in how various Greek dialects mark feminine nouns.)

(Yes, you totally wanted a review by someone who looks up character names in the LGPN. Don't lie.)

Plotwise, Andy gets all of the initial exposition in for Nile before they get to the safehouse, which Copley has already gotten to before they get back, so Booker is bleeding on the floor and Nile doesn't get to meet Joe or Nicky at this time, and I am also glad they changed that for the movie. But, don't worry, Joe and Nicky's romantic declaration is still in here. We also get Andy pondering the last time she was in love, with a human who grew old.

Oh, and we get Andy's age: 6,732. And by issue #5 her name has changed to Andromache, because what even is continuity? I guess Andromache is her name now.

So Nile finally meets Joe and Nicky when she rescues them and also, uh, that plot point where Andy might die? Totally not a thing here. Nope. And no "surprise! even more immortals!" end-credits moments either.

Basically, I feel like every change they made to the script for the movie really strengthened the story, and even though I thought the movie could have used more character moments, it's way better than how the characters are separated for even longer in the comic. Nile rescuing the team means a lot more when she has met them before, you know?

So Force Multiplied starts us off with Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Nile, because Booker is still on time-out. They are in the middle of a car chase, and Booker's off getting himself kidnapped by someone who wants to know where the others are. The villain of the piece turns out to be Noriko, who is still alive, whom Booker had never had a chance to meet and apparently had never heard of. So, basically, a lot like the Quynh plot that the movie is teasing.

Overall it's a little less action-filled than the first one, which had multiple splash pages of nothing but violence; this one is a little more character-driven and explores the relationship, such as it is, between Andy and Noriko, as well as Nile coming to terms with her immortality, as well as with what everyone else has done over the years. It does have a bunch of violence at the end, though.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but I definitely wasn't expecting where that was heading. There's apparently going to be a third volume, and I am looking forward to it, whenever it exists.

(Although, now that I think about it, the ending is a lot like a fan-favorite moment of Highlander: The Series, but I think if I said which episode you would know exactly what the ending was.)

So, yeah! The Old Guard! I can't say as I feel particularly fannish about it -- there's nothing that makes me yearn to fill in the gaps in canon -- but the movie was really good and you should see it. And you should read the comics if you're into that.

#posts i actually wrote

[jojiship]

Studio Ghibli Films: Ranking & Thoughts

I have been binging Studio Ghibli (and other anime films) since May. I saw a lot of people in Youtube rank them and I decided to do it as well. While I don’t have a camera to record myself, I decided to post my ranking of its films. First of all, I want to say that this is quite a subjective ranking and it’s personal. These are my opinions and of course, everyone can have opinions of their own. Second of all, I think all of these films have their good sides, but there are ones that I enjoyed and there are ones I didn’t enjoy. Either way, I recommend people to watch all of these films. You won’t regret watching most of them.

This post ranks the films from the 22nd to 16th. Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead, so you’ve been warned.

22. My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999) - I watched it a few hours ago and I found myself getting bored with it (which is rare because I don’t get bored with films. I can’t count how many times I’ve sat through Titanic). While I found some parts funny, I just wanted it to end. I’m not a big fan of its animation and while the family is charming, it didn’t pull me in like some family dynamics do. However, the last scene with the umbrellas and Japanese version Que Sera playing was quite enjoyable. Definitely the best part of the film was that.

21. Tales From Earthsea (2006) – When you watch fantasy films, you expect a lot from them. You expect magic, awesome fight scenes, worldbuilding and many other things. You expect to be entranced by the world, but I didn’t get entranced at all. I found the film lackluster and boring. None of the characters appealed to me. I truly didn’t get the dark side Arren plot to be honest. I was waiting it to be explained, but nah. The other characters weren’t that interesting as well. You would expect the climax of this film to be fantastic and mind-blowing, but it was disappointing to say the least. A lot of things were left unexplained and I wished they had dug deeper to the magic system etc. Lord Cob was a villain that I have seen too many times and frankly, I found him to be a snooze fest. Sparrowhawk mentioned the Balance being restored, but it never seemed like the balance was lost. Nothing seemed to be in the line and I didn’t find the loss of balance to be threatening. The best thing in the film was the animation. It was truly captivating and sometimes, I forgot all about what was going on because I was admiring it. The animation is a reason why it’s higher than My Neighbors The Yamadas. While reading the Wikipedia page, I learned that the film adaption included four books of the series and I guess that was the big mistake Studio Ghibli made.

20. Pom Poko (1994) – I hate to rank another Takahata film this low because I truly love him as a director, but Pom Poko wasn’t it for me. I did enjoy the premise of it and there were moments I found endearing and interesting, but I just found it to drag a bit as it progressed. I didn’t really care about raccoons as characters as much as I wanted to. Seeing them learn how to transform and carry out their plans was interesting. However, it started to become a bit too much. I thought that the pacing was a bit off sometimes. There were moments when I was truly shocked like when the raccoons caused the death of three people and injured two others. I didn’t expect them to show that, but Studio Ghibli has the tendency to show that the world isn’t black and white. While the raccoons had a reason to fight, I liked that they showed they could go too far as well. I liked the end scene and the message of the film overall. It truly showed what the film was all about.

19. Ocean Waves (1993) - I was surprised when I saw that this film was only one hour and twelve minutes as Studio Ghibli can be over two hours long. This film needed to be longer because it was quite flat. While I do appreciate the realistic take of it, it didn’t sit right with me. There were too many things missing in this film like character development, chemistry, even the plot wasn’t that good. Taku wasn’t that good of a lead in my opinion, but there were moments when I enjoyed him. Rikako was truly annoying and underdeveloped. I usually come to a female character’s defense because they tend to be hated way too much, but I didn’t like Rikako at all. I understand that she was going through a hard time, but her behaviour was truly horrible at times. While some might get annoyed with her actions toward the boys (I was too), her attitude with the class was the one that annoyed me the most. I personally love collectiveness and teamwork in our society, her self-centeredness and individualism didn’t sit right with me. She was unapologetic of her behavior and I get why no one was really friends with her. Yutaka wasn’t that interesting as well, but he was alright. I have to say the most developed relationship was between Yutaka and Taku (no wonder some call this film accidental gay), but even their relationship fell flat. Also, when I saw some people calling Taku slapping Rikako as equality, I screamed internally. Why do some people only care about equality when it comes to violence?

18. From Up On Poppy Hill (2011) - As soon as this film started, I started to enjoy it. Umi was a good character, she was interesting to see. She was running a boarding house at such a young age. I love her relationship with her family, especially with her parents. She was your average high school student and I liked that. The romance started good too, I like the scene where he jumps in the water and she helps him. The scenes in the club house are amazing as well and so are the other scenes between the couple. I loved how they all came together for a common goal and they succeeded in that goal. Seeing people work together as a collective is what I live for. Now, you might wonder why this film is ranked this low since I loved a big chunk of it. Well, it’s the twist that never actually is a twist. Like I get romantic films having conflicts, but incest, really? Of all the things, you chose incest. While at the end, they weren’t related, it did leave a sour taste. I couldn’t get over it, especially when the two of them said that they didn’t care that they might be siblings and they still had feelings for each other. It reminded me too much of Game of Thrones. That’s the reason why it’s ranked so low.

17. The Cat Returns (2002) - I remember this film to be one of the first Studio Ghibli films I’ve watched. I’m pretty sure that it was the second one I’ve ever watched. As a kid, I thought this film was amazing. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. When I rewatched it, I was let down. It’s not a bad film, I just had raised standards of it and it didn’t even touch those standards. I didn’t hate Haru, but I didn’t like her that much either. There were moments where she got on my nerves. Sometimes, she made the situation worse for herself. Her crush on Baron was weird and it will always be. Baron was alright. He was enjoyable, but I didn’t fan over him as much as I expected to. Somehow, I would have liked if they did some sort of prequel to the Whisper of the Heart. Showing how Baron and his wife were made, but also showing the love story of Shiro’s (Seiji’s grandfather) and Louise. Muta, however, was the true MVP of this movie. I enjoyed every minute that Muta was on the screen. He was truly the most enjoyable character. The scene in the labyrinth has to be one of my favourite scenes. It was funny and enjoyable. The only reason this is ranked higher than From Up on Poppy Hill is because of nostalgia.

16. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984) –This film isn’t technically a Studio Ghibli film, but I decided to do it because it was made by Miyazaki who wrote the manga of it. Plus, I think it fits the Studio Ghibli film. Before watching this film, I expected it to be on my top ten. To my surprise and disappointment, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Maybe it’s because I’m still getting used with dystopian fiction works, but I don’t think I enjoy them as much as I want to. I liked that it was all about how people ruined our planet and how future generations had to suffer through it. For a film created in 1984, it speaks a lot to present day. This just proves that the talk about environment has always been there even though so many people say it had become popular nowadays. When it came to the film, I enjoyed the premise and the story. I just didn’t care about the characters, the only character I enjoyed watching was Nausicaä herself, the others didn’t really get my attention. I guess I was just too focused on Nausicaä who was such a good protagonist. When she ends up being the savior, I was smiling like an idiot. I definitely predicted it, but I loved every second of that scene. The last scene of the film restored hope in me as it meant to do.

#studio ghibli #my neighbors the yamadas #tales from earthsea #pom poko #ocean waves #from up on poppy hill #the cat returns #nausicaä of the valley wind #hayao miyazaki #isao takahata #films #rankings

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @jessicafish​

The most excellent @jessicafish​ (also DiminishingReturns on AO3) has claimed Wristcutters: A Love Story to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About Wristcutters: A Love Story: Despondent after breaking up with his girlfriend, Zia (Patrick Fugit) kills himself and wakes up in a bland purgatory populated by other suicides. He takes a job at Kamikaze Pizza and befriends a Russian rocker named Eugene (Shea Whigham) while trying to make the best of a very dull afterlife. Learning that his ex-girlfriend has also killed herself, Zia embarks on a road trip with Eugene to find her, picking up a feisty hitchhiker (Shannyn Sossamon) along the way.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @jessicafish​ a little better!

* * *

goromcom: To begin, You know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "about #crowley and #ineffable husbands". So...is Crowley secretly your favorite?

jessicafish: OH BOY, Tumblr is calling me out, huh? So, here's the thing! I am actually very new to Tumblr. I created my account here after watching Good Omens specifically to interact with the fandom when I started writing fic, and most of my blog is probably Good Omens for that reason. As for Crowley, I think I gravitated towards him at first because my first few stories were in his POV, but he's not necessarily my favorite! I'm one of those people who is almost a 50/50 split when it comes to how I project onto Aziraphale and Crowley, so I'd say I love them pretty equally.

goromcom: You chose to adapt Wristcutters: A Love Story as your rom com. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

jessicafish: It IS actually a longtime favorite! There's a small handful of movies that I found at the absolute perfect time in my life and they resonated really deeply with me as a result. Wristcutters is definitely one of them. Like most dark comedies, it takes a very bleak premise and works to find the beauty and joy and laughter in it, ultimately offering a message of hope. But there's something just left-of-center enough about this movie that hits my heart in a unique way-- I don't know if it's the trainwreck characters or the subtle magical realism or even just the weird soundtrack, but the whole thing feels like such a comforting hug to me. Also, Tom Waits has been my ride or die since I was a teenager and seeing him play a oddball guardian angel type character was a dream come true.

goromcom: What's your favorite moment of the movie, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

jessicafish: The landscape of the movie is, at a glance, depressing. "Everything's the same here, it's just a little worse" is what's on the tin for this version of purgatory. But there's a point in the story when the characters start leaning into the bizarre and the whimsical and the almost-invisible magic of the world and they begin to find beauty and love in unexpected places. One of my favorite moments in the movie is just past this embracing of the mundane miracles, when the two love interest characters find their way to a beach at night, and have their first open and honest conversation while viewing the world in this new light. It's one of the first scenes I started daydreaming about when I was working out ways to adapt this story for Good Omens, and I'm very excited for where I'm going with it!

goromcom: Do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

jessicafish: I do plan to stick to some of the largest story beats, but I'm definitely making a fair share of changes in the nitty gritty. Probably the biggest change will be taking the theme of suicide out of the main spotlight. I don't think it fits with any Good Omens characters and I really don't want to romanticize it. Purgatory and the structure of the afterlife are the bits I'm interested in exploring, and I've been doing a lot of worldbuilding around them in order to fit it into the GO universe a little better. The myriad reasons someone might end up in limbo is going to be an important element of the plot.

goromcom: What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

jessicafish: There are three main characters in Wristcutters-- Zia and Eugene (the two buds that the story opens on and follows as they set out on their road trip), and Mikal (the hitchhiker they pick up along the way). The relationships in the movie didn't quite line up with what I had in mind, so I'm absolutely bending the script to fit my needs, turning Mikal into the wingwoman instead of the love interest. I've got Aziraphale as Zia, Crowley as Eugene, and Anathema as Mikal. I'm already having so much fun with the three of them and their ridiculous bickering and banter while trapped in a car together.

goromcom: I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

jessicafish: Winter is a pretty doldrummy time for me, so I really look forward to this time of year when spring is starting to fight its way through all the cracks. The house I live in right now has kind of a wild backyard, and currently it's a complete explosion of crocuses, snowbells, daisies, daphne, and one extremely early rhododendron. This morning, I left my phone inside and took my coffee outside and sipped it while sitting in the flowers. I know it's a small thing, but it was just the most calming and peaceful balm for the tired-of-winter heart. A reminder that doldrums don't last forever.

goromcom: So there you have it! As we careen out of winter and toward spring, please remember to watch for the GO adaptation of Wristcutters: A Love Story, coming soon.

#goromcom #goromcom spotlight #good omens #jessicafish #wristcutters: a love story #tw: suicide

[whetstonefires]

hey for the 40 questions thing, 9, 10 and 28??

Okay first of all, massive props to you for sending a signed ask, that’s so rare, I did the hugest double take at your not being a Nonny. 😂💗 Anonymous asks are fine and all when people are being pleasant, but it’s always a little weird because my brain flips back and forth between treating all anon asks as being from the same faceless entity and being perfectly aware that the sender is a person, may or may not be the same person as any previous ask, and may even have a name I recognize. Internet gothic.

9) Which fic has been the hardest to write?

Oof. Quantifying that is...tricky, especially if I consider all my Cirque segments as separate fics. Disqualifying those, and everything that never made it to post-ready because it defeated me in the borning....

But A Walking Shadow is sort of Earth-3 adjacent but my battle with it is the battle with the compulsion to try to hew close to canon even after very deliberately tossing it out the window in chapter 1 on the grounds of ‘too goshdarn depressing, everyone is alive at all times.’ Stg the Titans death rate is so wild, after they got the go-ahead to start just making characters up they were allowed to kill people basically whenever, because nobody else needed them for anything.

And special mention should go to the 10k ‘chapter’ of my 5+1 AU collection fic that I finally posted just recently, after several years ago it decided that it wanted to be a full-length novel. But Self (I said) I Don’t Want To Develop An Entire Economy And Political History For The FFVII Setting So Cloud Can Make His Adopted Big Brother Be In Charge Of It! So that has kicked my ass pretty thoroughly. For about four years. 😂 I finally forced the opening (where Shinra collapses and small Sephiroth is abandoned in Nibelheim and Mrs. Strife finds him) to be done, and posted that.

But the thing is, neither of these would have expanded in the way they have and managed to destroy me so thoroughly were they not, in certain ways, extremely easy to write. So they seem like they can’t be the real correct responses.

So I guess the winner is that Red Hood And The Outlaws 10K fic I still owe to an anon whom I can’t consult about specs or anything because they made the request anonymously. Because I had to read Lobdell’s vol 2 run to fulfill the request and as some of you will recall, this process slaughtered me. I cannot with Lobdell. After great suffering I ran aground repeatedly on the shoals of Brainzarro.

NONNY IF YOU’RE STILL OUT THERE PLEASE CONTACT ME I’M VERY SORRY FOR BEING OVER A YEAR LATE, WE NEED TO TALK.

10) Which fic has been the easiest to write?

 Ooh, this is hard to assess for similar reasons. Sometimes stuff that took less effort wasn’t actually easier as-such, as a task, I just chose not to do it as well or as thoroughly; does that count?

Chaptered stories are inherently harder, of course, but generally the reason my chapter fics got so long in the first place was they were extraordinarily easy to write, and a great deal of them happened without too much suffering on my part. Either because the premise posed no significant complexities, or because I found it perennially inspiring.

Eventually that sort of progress always hits a wall, though, at least if you’re me. And you have to do the Work part. (This is pretty universal afaik.) I have several one-shot AUs to which continuations have been requested and in many cases sketched or begun, but not finished or posted because in addition to fleshing out the worldbuilding I have to grapple with questions like how much further I can take this concept without abandoning the particular tone in which I told the first part, and whether the tone or perspective I used is in fact the chief draw and so there’s no point.

This I eventually determined to be the case for ‘the tune without the words,’ the one where Jim Gordon runs into post-Under The Hood Jason at a bar, thinks he’s a traumatized veteran, and tries to recruit him to the GCPD.

There’s a plot there about Police Officer Jason, and the batfam reactions and interpersonal drama and whether and when and how Jason would fuck it up, and the identity porn of Batman knowing that Officer Todd Peters is the Red Hood and finding that telling Jim and not telling Jim seem equally unconscionable...but it’s not the same story as that scene in the bar. It’s the story that happens next, because of it. So I cut the bar scene loose from its hypothetical plot and posted it and it’s been quite well-liked.

But it’s certainly not the easiest, even though most of what’s in the posted fic went together fairly readily iirc, because giving up on making the subsequent story happen was such a fight.

...

What is ‘easy?’ What is ‘a fic?’ Watch me perish yet again at the intersection of epistemology and ontology. There are no simple questions there is only doom.

28) Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

OKAY THIS IS A DIFFERENT DIFFICULT. At least I’m not being asked to pick my Most Favorite, I’m so bad at favorites, I have to deduce my own favorite tea from behavioral cues.

I’m in the for-me bizarre position that more than three people whose fic I really enjoy are like, friends of mine and might see this. I cannot say any of them, the ones excluded would be Excluded, which I cannot do. So strangers only! Semi-randomly selected from my catalogue of faves!

Okay, let’s see. First one...AO3 user elanor_pam. We technically share no fandoms but I read their stuff for some reason (someone’s AO3 bookmarks I’m sure) and they just. They have really good sentences. I wind up caring intensely about whatever the story is about even if I have literally no idea what it is. And dialogue that’s just that really sweet balance of stylized and naturalistic. 

I’m following their fantasy webcomic The Path To Timbala, which is really good so far and also I’m doing the art historian/birdwatcher thing I do with like astolat where it’s like ‘hmm, yes, I recognize that theme/story element/aesthetic preference/pacing trick from [fanwork], how interesting to see it unfiltered through anyone else’s worldbuilding!’

Second. Mm. Slightly arbitrarily and on almost opposite grounds, Persephone_Kore, who hasn’t updated in like four years but contributed to a majority of my favorite fics in the Girl Genius fandom, which is not a crowded one, and wrote a couple others solo. Good combination of humor with pretty faithful characterization. Good rhythm in sentence composition, which allows for humorous asides without breaking narrative flow.

Third...hm, I’m gonna pick metisket for the distressing ability to drag my guts clear out on almost any topic. But especially fullmetal alchemist. Mostly I like that one AU where Al is dead and Ed is homicidally insane. But like, constructively.

None of these people are still writing fic and the webcomic just went on hiatus for six weeks, I am useless as a source of recs, have a nice day. 😂💞

#ask #ask meme #qu-ucks #fanfic #fanfic writing #webcomic #hoc est meum

[serenewrites]

hey!! just wondering what drew you to sci-fi as a genre?? it's really interesting to read but i'll admit i've always been intimidated by the thought of writing it. was the devolved your first foray into it??

Hm.. well. So, I love scifi just in general. I’m a bit of a space nerd. Space is so cool and neat, and I’ve always loved anything space related. Futuristic too. I’ve just always been more drawn to scifi than I have been to fantasy/high fantasy. (which isn’t to say I don’t like fantasy, but I prefer scifi).

So, The Devolved is my first real foray into writing original content outside of creating dnd campaigns (so, I have the worldbuilding experience, but not real writing experience).

The entire story revolves around the idea that a genetic mutation came about after an unethical doc tried to create a universal cure. Which is watering it down a bit, but that’s the point of it. I did come up with a pretty loose scientific explanation on the process, if you’d be interested in hearing it haha.

Anyways, so, I did a bunch of research on clinical trials and testing and I was pretty liberal with how I sliced it down, making this miracle cure. The only real reason why The Devolved is set in the early 2100′s is because of the timeline I ended up with that incorporated clinical trials for this miracle cure and the fallout.

The actual “cure” was mass produced for the US populace in... [checks my actual timeline]... 2045. After having wild success, it was produced globally several years later.

The unknown side effects of the “cure” showed up later. The DNATech (name pending, bc it sounds cliche asf) mutates as it is passed down. So, while, yes, it worked as a cure for that first generation, those who were inoculated, their children, were given a mutated form of the DNATech which altered their genetics.

They were modified. This created all kindsa problems with those who chose not to get cured. Long story short, the nonModified folks believed the genetic mutations were a “de-evolution of man”. Bad shit happens for a long time, including marking the devolved, rounding them up, putting them in labor camps. Some tried to fight back– there was a sort of revolutionary war.

I did a shit ton of math on figuring out the effects this had on the US population lmao. (Like, an entire 4 pages of spreadsheets based on each “era”, which, thankfully I’m a slut for Excel, because it took me like 3 weeks).

Anyways, tons died, tons were captured and put into labor camps, some fled.

And so, that’s where The Devolved begins– after all of that!

So, to answer your question in a very lengthy way, the nature of the story, dictated scifi. I had to incorporate a lot to create a believable universe for the series, and it’s all condensed in the prologue in a non-infodump format (or at least I hope) and continues to be fleshed out through the story for the reader.

I love scifi and honestly, like, now that I hear myself saying, “I didn’t intend for The Devolved to be a scifi story,” and then realizing the entire premise is based on mutants, for lack of a better term. Who am I kidding? Hahaha, but I don’t know. To me, it doesn’t seem like, super science fiction thing as I’m writing it, if that makes sense?

Hope that answers your question (which thanks btw!! i love talking about it and currently working on the WIP and character intros that I’ve been putting off for so long). I went on a wild tangent there, sorry, lmaooo

[discountalien-pancake]

on sj/m’s Pinterest on her CC board she posted a picture of a white blonde girl with a big ass crown on her head looking off into the distance and I just fucking know she’s gonna have a new Super Special Powerful and Tough main character who is Not Like Other Girls and Everybody Loves Her even thought she is Deeply Damaged and goes through Peril And Hardship only to Fight Through It with the help of her Super Diverse Teammates and 1 Extremely Hot Male who Loves Only Her Unconditionally Babe :)

IM SORRY IM BACK BUT LIKE IN CC SHES GONNA BE STEALING FROM THE FUCKING BIBLE AND MAKING EVERYONE A FUCKING ANGEL/ASSASSIN/QUEEN/SHAPESHIFTER/FUCKINGALLPOWERFULGODDESS OR SMTHN AS A CHRISTIAN IM LITERALLY SICKENED WHY CANT SHE JUST MAKE HER OWN GODDAMN CHARACTERS FOR ONCE WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO STEAL AND COPY AND PASTE EVERYONE IM ENRAGED

“I can’t wait to introduce readers to Bryce, its heroine, who I think would be very good friends with Aelin and Feyre. The world of Crescent City is more modern than those in my previous series (basically, if the Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass worlds had modern-day technology), but it’s still chock full of magic, brooding warrior-types, and mysterious and deadly creatures.” SHE WILLINGLY CHOSE TO DESCRIBE IT AS THIS KMS IT’S EXACTLY LIKE EVERY SINGLE OTHER BOOK SHE’S WRITTEN

Heyo! So I went and scrolled back through the CCity board and I think this is the pic you’re talking about:

Which is weird and ironic because this looks like it should be Alien. Like it fits into T0G’s aesthetic perfectly because SJ/M has no concept of cohesive worldbuilding or originality. But yes, you’re so right about SJ/M writing Bruce into yet another Perfect And Beloved Female ProtagonistTM. I’m already predicting that Ron and Fury are going to be her sidekicks, possibly Juniper as well (but I think there’s a very good chance Juniper will either be her rival or the fridged best-friend). I also see Potluck being a potential point in a love-triangle, which is absolutely pointless because SJ/M has no grasp of how to create convincing romantic tension. Also I hate love triangles on principle. 

As for stealing from the Bible, I kind of have mixed opinions on this. Mess is apparently Jewish, which means she has a claim to Biblical mythology and it can’t really be considered appropriation. Add to that the fact that modern Christianity is built on a foundation of imperialism, and you end up with this huge body of mythology that in a way demands that people make references to or base stories on it. Lots of good stories have Christian mythology worked into them, in the same way that a lot of stories reference Greek and Roman mythology. SJ/M’s problem is that she does it badly. She’s using the fact that angel/demon stories have a built-in body of common knowledge and lots of rich imagery associated with them to avoid having to do the work of building the aesthetics and the mythos herself. That’s why her fae fall so flat--for fae to be interesting, they need to be inhuman, whimsical, sinister, haunting--and SJ/M fails in every regard. It’s not that she isn’t capable. There’s a few bits where she describes the lesser fae and they are convincingly otherworldly. But the high fae aren’t even elves. They’re literally just immortal humans with pointy ears and raging perma-boners.

And yes, I think SJ/M is running out of ideas, not that she had that many to begin with. You can see how quickly her work deteriorates as a series progresses. Also “still chock full of magic” my ass. The magic in her books is so forced and nonsensical that they’d be far better off if she just removed it completely, especially T0G. There’s not a single instance of magic that I can think of that is actually important or necessary. Even the wyrdkeys, which are in theory central to the plot, are kind of pointless. Like, orphaned princess raised as an assassin who finds her goal shifting from securing her personal freedom to liberating her people and others suffering beneath imperial rule--that’s a perfectly decent premise all on its own, if a bit generic. The addition of the magical superplot doesn’t make it any less generic. I kind of went off on a tangent there, but basically SJ/M is a lazy and unoriginal writer who likes to paint herself as some kind of virtuoso.

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #anti tog #pancake answers #jessicagoddamnjones

[audreyprovostya]

For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about the style of my reviews. Book reviews, especially those on certain sites, can be cartoonishly nasty. So in contrast, I’d like to approach my pieces positively by providing suggestions rather than critics. I’d like to analyze and point out where a book can improve and how to go about doing so. Of course, I understand that a finished book is just that; finished, and can no longer be edited. However, It’s my hope that this method will help me build up my literature analyzing muscles, and maybe yours too. 

Alright, I’ve talked long enough. Now to the actual review. This time, I chose Cage of Deceit by Jennifer Anne Davis. Here’s the synopsis: 

By day, Alyssa is the perfect princess - poised and refined. But by night, she takes to the streets as a vigilante. Her nightly escapades are her only escape from her stifling life in the castle. But it may all come to an end when war comes to her doorstep. In order to protect her people, Alyssa must enter into marriage with the prince of a neighboring kingdom. What’s worse, the prince has brought along his infuriating squire, Jarvik, to watch her every move. But the two may be forced to work together to put a stop to a dark plot threatening her family and her entire kingdom. 

What drew me in was the potential character dynamics between Jarvik and Alyssa. Many YA books have a similar premise; the heroine knows that a boy is unkind and mean, but she “just can’t help but be drawn to him.” So basically he’s a jackass but it’s okay because he’s hot. Aside from excusing bad behavior, the heroine doesn’t take the time to get to know the guy as a person, completely forgoing both character and relationship development. I prefer characters that are not immediately attracted to each other but come to appreciate one another through the course of the plot; it makes for a much more interesting story. Unfortunately, this trope is a staple of YA. But luckily for me, Cage of Deceit not only forgoes this trope but does so to the extreme. 

When we first meet Jarvik, the squire, it’s after we meet the prince. In any other story, the prince would be the love interest. It’s clear he’s incredibly handsome, but Alyssa doesn’t buy into it. She interacts with him out of obligation and offhandedly remarks on a squire being nearby in a few scenes. We actually don’t realize it’s Jarvik (our hero) until a bit of time has passed when he becomes relevant to the plot not because of his looks, but because of his character and motivations. Oh, that is such a breath of fresh air. He’s not super-model gorgeous either. His plain looks are only mentioned once in passing. Instead, Jarvik gains Alyssa’s respect not through his looks, but his actions. 

Where the prince is courtly and suave, Jarvik is shrewd and stern. When Alyssa first meets Jarvik, they immediately despise each other. Jarvik thinks she’s a typical spoiled princess and Alyssa believes he’s a pushy brownnoser. But where he shines is when he works with her to uncover an assassination plot. He respects her input, considers her ideas, and (somewhat) trusts her judgment. Alyssa’s skills both as a ruler and vigilante make her a capable partner. (Though he’s not sure why a princess can shoulder throw a man twice her size. He’ll find out soon enough). 

But we should really be getting to our main character, Alyssa. She’s likable, I just have a few issues with her character; things that can easily be remedied. For starters, Alyssa’s motivation and inner conflict could be clearer. She mentions feeling trapped in her life as a princess, yet there’s really nothing terrible about her life; she has supportive parents, close friends, and the love of her people. She seems to enjoy being a princess and takes her responsibilities very seriously. These traits make for a morally sound character, but not a good story. To remedy this, there would be instant drama if she hated being a princess and loved being a vigilante. The added conflict would draw out the story as she struggled to choose between her passion and her duty. In which position could she best help her people? In addition, it would make her complaints about the marriage less out of character. 

As for pacing, the story takes a little too long to get off the ground. There are times when a reader can close the book in the first few chapters and be content because there is no conflict for the characters to face. Conflict creates interest; we wonder if and how the characters will deal with their problems, and thus we read on to find out. It does eventually arrive at Alyssa’s doorstep to shake up her world, but it comes a bit too late into the narrative. 

In addition, the pacing of the writing itself is super fast. Every scene seems more like the skeleton of what’s happening; only the essential actions are kept in. There’s a lot of room to add more conversations, inner thoughts, and small details that would enrich the story. For example; Alyssa mentions that she works at orphanages and shelters from time to time, yet there are no scenes to prove it. It’s a classic “show vs. tell” moment. Slowing down, taking the time for your characters to live and breathe in their world, can increase a reader’s immersion tremendously. 

That leads me to my next suggestion; more worldbuilding! Many popular YA fantasies are set in very distinct worlds. I think of the macabre glamour of the Cruel Prince, or the Russian charm of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. An intricate, interesting setting with rules and histories of its own is what makes many fantasy books stand out. There’s so much opportunity to go deeper! What is the popular religion? What languages are there? What are the different cultures of each kingdom? What does the capital city look like? How many continents are there? How large is the world? How much of it is known? What is the climate like? What are some holidays? How do people celebrate? There are a million questions like these, each with an opportunity to enrich the story. 

Aside from these larger issues, there are smaller hiccups here and there. Some chapters end very abruptly. The aim is to leave every chapter on some sort of cliffhanger to entice the reader to turn the page. There is a scene at the beginning of the story where she gets a nasty bruise from being punched by a criminal. When she wakes up, she doesn’t remember being hit until she sees the mark; but I imagine a hit like that would throb like hell the morning after. These are just some very topical inconsistencies that can pull a reader out of the story. 

All in all, though, I loved this book. It’s been a while since I’ve really enjoyed something I’ve reviewed (I’m so picky, it’s ridiculous). It’s nice to know that there are books out there that cater to my really specific niche. Luckly, YA seems to be moving away from the love-at-first-sight trope. There are plenty of great books out there that risk going against the norm, and this is one of them. 

Author Website: here! 

#cage of deciet #ya lit #young adult literature #book review

[avisalaencantadia]

If you’ve followed me from the very start, you guys would notice that I’ve never published my own reviews or opinions over the show (except for some asks). This is because I prefer giving my opinions when a show is over. This gives my review some sense of finality.

But yeah... Anyway, just in case you want to read my rambles and opinions, feel free to click the “Keep reading” link below :) and yes the comic sans is intended

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I’ll be dividing my feedback on certain aspects and then I’ll say what the Enca team did good and bad there. Brace yourselves, this is a very long post :))

Story/Plot

The Good

Modernizing the existing Encantadia plot - If you’ve watched Encantadia since 2005, you would know most of the 2016′s version plot derives from the original. But what I really liked with Encantadia 2016′s plot is how it was adjusted to reflect current day sensibilities and moralities like with how Amihan still loved and treated Mira as her own daughter after learning the truth, not making Mila/Lira into an archetypal abused maid, Lira and Mira being best friends and literally #cousin goals instead of love rivals, Ybramihan with their realistic and slow burn romance, Alena breaking out of the “first love never dies” trope, and so much more.

Book 1 - Book 1 (Episode 1 - 148) is the best part of Encantadia 2016. To be very honest, I really wished that the requel just ended with Book 1. Book 1 is, for the most part, well written. I like how little backstories were added from the start, the story was pretty much cohesive, most of the plot deviations from the original were logical (the fall of Amihan and the banishment of Pirena were superb), and the mortal world was less shown than from the original. Speaking of the mortal world, please see below :)

Involvement of the mortal world - Perhaps one of the best things I really liked from the plot of the requel is how the setting of the mortal world was used more logically. What I really didn’t like about the original is how around 50% of the scenes (until Lira returns to Encantadia) was divided into Encantadia scenes and then mortal world scenes and I was like, “this is a show about Encantadia right??” In this version, Mila/Lira’s growth in the mortal realm was not extended (they really did great in doing away with the maid-and-master-romance plot for Lira), Danaya and Alena’s exiles to the human world are sensible, Encantados - like Enuo, Mira, Lilasari and Hitano - choosing to live in the mortal realm was interesting, and the concept of “taong ligaw” as well. Seriously, if you know your migration and trade theories well, it’s very very logical that some Encantados would choose to live away from their motherland because y’know, it ain’t exactly peaceful in Encantadia. Or like the Bandidos who choose to go to the mortal realm to dabble in some trade... although of course human slave trade is definitely not right.

The Bad

The plot being obviously dragged out - All popular Philippine dramas are victims of extension due to public demand and it isn’t a secret that Encantadia was extended until Mulawin vs Ravena was ready. While I totally understand that GMA wanted to capitalize on the ratings success of Encantadia, unfortunately, the plot really suffered and Book 2 (together with the “Finding Lira” arc) looked like it wasn’t thought of very well. 

Plot handling - *ehem* You mean Book 2? *ehem* Ok, on paper, the premise of Encantadia is great. The problem is, most of the plot devices they introduced became too big for them to handle and the prime example was how they handled Book 2. Actually, Book 2 started well in showing what happened after Amihan’s death: 3 kingdoms flourishing, the threat of Etheria, the introduction of the 6 guardians-in-training, etc. But unfortunately, it fell apart: Lireo is great but why did it look that Ybrahim and Pirena were spending more time meddling with Lirean affairs than with Sapiro and Hathoria respectively? We all know that Etheria was a great kingdom but why didn’t they explore its history well and why did they make it fall again just to give way to Hagorn’s return? Oh and the 6 guardians in training? You know what? I really really loved it at first because it showed that not only royalty can become guardians but also normal Encantados (or a mortal like Pao Pao) as well. But after the massacre at Cassiopea’s island, all the remaining guardians-in-training became useless character scene fillers. Marami silang sinayang tbh...

Amihan-centric plot - For a show that used to highlight the four sisters, Book 1 revolved and highlighted mainly Amihan. From episode 1 until her death, we were made aware of Amihan’s significance due to Cassiopea’s prophecy and Hagorn’s obsession to kill her. If you watched the original series, you will see each Sang’gre was given enough air time and importance in the story. But since Amihan was given so much importance in the requel, this led to major plot issues when Kylie left the show. This was partially fixed in Book 2 where we see the three remaining Sang’gres united against Avria, Hagorn and Ether. However, it makes me wish they had an opportunity to do this with Amihan still alive. Which leads to...

Plot handling for actors who leave the show - For the requel we saw 2 major plot changes due to actors leaving the show: Kylie’s and Sunshine’s. Naturally, Kylie’s departure left a bigger hole in the plot and in our hearts than Sunshine’s. Of course I understand that the actors’ departures come from valid reasons (Kylie’s pregnancy and Sunshine’s schedule due to Ika-Anim na Utos) but I wish their character’s deaths and aftermaths were handled better, especially for Adhara. I had huge hopes for Adhara’s character only for her to die a very meh second death. No huge build up whatsoever nor any major revelations about her character. I’d really love to know the story they originally intended for Adhara. Was it taken over by Lilasari’s character? As for Amihan’s death, yes, it was handled very beautifully and logically but it’s the aftermath I had huge issues with. You can obviously see it in Book 2 :)

Worldbuilding and Lore

The good

Expansion of the existing Encantadia world and lore - In this requel, we were given a more solid Encantadia in terms geography: there’s a nice map and cultural distinctions between the different kingdoms were more apparent (I love the sigils and the aesthetic differences between the kingdoms). What I really love as well was the Nchan and Hathorka writing developed and explained to us. It gave us an excuse to write our names and words using these wonderful fictional but working scripts.

Limitations of the Sang’gres’ powers - Ok, some fans had issues with this but I really liked it when it was shown that the four Sang’gres only obtained special elemental powers when they have the gems in their possession. It was also a nice touch when they showed the Sang’gres not wearing their trademark warrior gears when the gems are not in their possession. This shows the Sang’gres do have weaknesses unlike their previous counterparts who can still manipulate their elements (albeit weaker) even without the gems. Because of this, it further emphasizes the gems’ importance: whoever obtains can become extremely powerful.

The deities backstories - In this requel, we get to find out there are actually 5 deities (bathala/bathaluman) instead of 3. It also showed that these deities are not all powerful and have weaknesses almost just like an average encantado. Instead of acting all-omnipotent (except Emre during Book 1), these deities acted a lot like the fickle and full-of-human-emotions Greek/Roman gods.

The bad

The fifth gem - I know a lot of people were asking about adding a new element but I did not like how they handled it. I mean, seriously, how can Cassiopea not know about its existence until the fall of Amihan? Was it because the one who obtained it was not an encantado but a batang ligaw? Speaking of batang ligaw, I did find it cute that the one who will first wield this gem is not an encantado but a little human boy. Paopao’s innocence highlights the fifth gem’s power, quintessence. However, what I highly disliked about the fifth gem is how it just became an accessory after Hagorn forced Paopao to give it to him. An extra gem to grab with no major significance unlike the four elemental gems and an alternative to the Earth gem for healing, that’s what it became. If only they let the grownup Paopao wield it again, then perhaps this gem could’ve become as significant as the others.

The deity involvement - While I first raved about adding the expansion of the deities and their backstories, I will rant about their incessant meddling (or the lack of it). For the first parts of Book 1, I liked how they maintained Emre is the Christian God-like deity, Arde is the guardian of Balaak (or hell) and Ether is the all-around mischievous meddler. I also found it cool at first that Arde and Ether both chose their champions (Adhara and Hagorn respectively) in their bid to regain power over Encantadia. However, I found it really annoying when their meddling became too much or when the encantados (*ehem* Avria *cough* Hagorn and to some extent, Lira) cannot do anything anymore except rely on their godly powers. Deus ex machina much? On the other hand, I generally thought the addition of Keros and Haliya was ok. I liked how Keros’ treachery brought about Emre’s downfall. Too bad he was killed even before he could have a total change of heart. I think it could’ve been cool if he aided Emre and gained followers after that. While Haliya was pretty useless, at least she still had some involvement in Emre and Cassiopea’s sidequest and to explain the origin of the double moon and Lilasari’s curse. It would’ve been cool if she did more. Anyway, long story short: I wish the deities meddled less and just maintained a certain distance from the encantados. Let the encantados do the work with some very occasional sprinkling of their divine blessings.

Adamya - Ok, so why was Adamya demoted from a kingdom to a protectorate territory of Lireo in the requel? I don’t get it why they made Adamya weaker than it is. Adamya had more relevance in the original series where the Diwatas usually seek refuge and get really sound advice from Imaw and his staff. However, in the requel, Imaw and the humanoid Adamyans (except the Gunikars and Nymfas) just stay with the Diwatas all the time. Is there really no desire in Imaw to return to his own homeland, see it flourish on its own and without the Sang’gres’ (especially Alena’s) help? It seems not because this is the vision of Memfes, the leader of the Gunikar tribe. While I had huge problems with him pursuing Alena, I just wished that his vision of a strong Adamya was shared by Imaw and its traditional denizens. I also wished that it was made clearer that the Gunikars and the Nymfas are technically Adamyans.

Characters and Relationships

Since Encantadia had a lot of characters, I will not be commenting on them all.

The good

Lira and Mira - Without any doubt, the Lira-Mira tandem proved to be one of the best things that happened to this requel. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m so glad they did away the love rivalry between the two cousins from the original series. It was utterly refreshing to see these two being close and doing their own adventures and shenanigans. One minor critique though, I just wished they had more character growth especially in Book 2 where they were promoted to Sang’gres.

Ybramihan - Ah, the pairing that launched a thousand ships in the requel. While I wasn’t a huge shipper myself, I really appreciated the slow burn romance between Amihan and Ybrahim. These are two leaders who are dealing with their own political and emotional issues yet still found themselves falling for each other. This mature and bittersweet kind of romance is a breath of fresh air in the sea of “pabebe” romances. I wonder if the Ybramihan endgame would still push through if Kylie did not leave the show.

Alena - Alena’s character started out as being really problematic. Lovestruck, pabebe, immature, shallow, weak - these are words I read from frustrated viewers on how they described Alena. I will also admit that I was really frustrated with Alena’s character because they made her so much weaker than her counterpart from the original series. However, thank Emre, the Encantadia crew seemed to our heard our prayers and wrote a strong and beautiful Alena in Book 2. Alena shows that despite all the hardships she suffered and endured, she learned from them and emerged a woman with the voice of reason and wisdom. I also think it was awesome that she didn’t rekindle her relationship with Ybrahim despite still having feelings for him. We really need to show less of this “first love as true love” trope and more of this “never wanted the crown but ended up as a deserving and independent queen” narrative. Alena’s character growth was one of the few things right in Book 2.

Hagorn -  Hagorn is proof you can write multi-dimensional villains. Coupled with John Arcilla’s excellent acting, I think Hagorn was beautifully portrayed. Here, we saw a king who became consumed by his rage over the injustices he experienced: Mine-a breaking his heart, his father whom he idolized being killed and falsely believing Raquim (a friend turned enemy) to have done the deed, the once mighty Hathoria being cursed, Lilasari breaking his heart and Deshna hidden from him. While yes, all of his actions can be called evil but in its essence is Hagorn’s desire to be respected and loved. Pirena is indeed very similar to her father but the difference is Hagorn let anger harden his heart completely. Although one major critique I can give of him is... why must he be so damn overpowered?? I get it that antagonists need to be more powerful than the protagonists at first but as the series progress, why must Hagorn be always gaining powers all the time??

The bad

The Etherians - I was first excited about the news they were going to bring back the Etherians in the requel since I loved the Etheria arc from the original series. However, this excitement turned into frustration when we saw flat villains on our screen again. So we know Avria and the gang are power-thirsty encantados whom Ether revived because Hagorn was presumed to be dead. However, what was their story? What really happened in the Great Etherian War? Unlike in the original series’ Etheria, we find out the reason they antagonized the Diwatas was because of a prophecy that predicts their downfall. However, for the requel, nothing was explained except their desire for vengeance against the races that brought their first downfall. And that’s it. Added to the fact our beloved Sang’gres know nothing about their history which added to my eye-rolling moments.

Aquil - You may know me as an avid Danquil shipper but I highly disliked how they handled Aquil’s character for the requel. Gone was the Lirean mashna whose loyalty and dedication was at par with Danaya’s but was replaced by a lovestruck man whose character was mainly hinged on the stubborn Sang’gre. While we did see glimpses of Aquil’s loyalty to the Lirean crown but it was really lacking compared to the original. If Muros and the soldiers did not call Aquil “mashna”, I would think of him as a normal soldier who happens to be in love with Danaya. While yes, as a Danquil shipper I am satisfied with their scenes, but as a character he fell flat. And sorry Aquil, Muros made a better mashna. PS: I have no issues with Rocco’s acting. He did well. It’s the characterization I have issues with.

Ariana - Oh Ariana... So much has been said about Ariana but I’ll say this. On paper, the sarkosi/reincarnation concept was nice but it was the execution that fell flat. I will not touch upon Arra’s acting but there were so many plot holes that came along with Amihan’s reincarnation as Ariana. So when Ariana died and Amihan’s ivtre came in, why were Ariana’s memories retained? Where did Ariana’s ivtre go? It was answered in the finale since Ariana’s ivtre came along in the Devas bunch. But I thought the memories and consciousness of an encantado lie in their ivtre/spirit? I guess not. Also, the Ariana we saw is already the Sarkosi!Amihan version. Who is the real Ariana? Would the real Ariana still be chosen by the Air Gem as its next guardian? Will she still have feelings for Ybrahim without Amihan’s ivtre in her? So many questions about this tbh. I would’ve really preferred if they went with the typical reincarnation route where a newborn encantada will grow up discovering she was Amihan in her past life.

Production

The good

Special effects - While it still has room for improvement, I must say it has HUGELY improved since the original series! The transformation sequence, ivictus scenes and even the gem wielding scenes were very smooth. Just a bit more refinement especially in the rendering of creatures (ex. Arde’s dragon form, Ether’s snake form, etc.) and I truly believe we can be at par with other fantasy series. 

Fight scenes - This is what I really loved in this requel. The fight scenes are quicker and smoother compared to the original. Kylie’s martial arts skills were in full display and were duly appreciated by the fans in return. Even Sanya’s arnis skills did not go unnoticed. I also appreciated the fact that even the actors who didn’t necessarily have martial arts skills refrained from using stunt doubles (for most part I guess). At least you can see their dedication in really embodying their characters.

Costumes for Book 1 - I may be one of the few people who’ll say this but I loved the warrior gear for this version. Yes, it may looked less detailed or bongga than the original but I think it suited this requel’s modern fantasy feel. It also enabled the actors to move more freely (thus better fight scenes). I also appreciated the fact the Sang’gres were not shown in highly sexualized scenes despite their costumes being revealing (thank you Direk Mark for not doing what male Western fantasy directors usually do). As for the gowns, I was in love with the Francis Libiran gowns. I just wish that kind of costume aesthetic was maintained throughout the whole series... (more on that later). 

Kingdom throne room set design - I liked how unique each kingdom’s throne rooms looked like. From the airy Lirean throne room to the dark and ominous Hathorian throne room, it added to the emphasis of culture differences between each kingdoms. 

Soundtrack - Who here is getting goosebumps when you hear the remixed Tadhana at the start of each episode? Or the ethnic chanting during burial scenes? I think the Encantadia crew did a good job in composing unique music to use for the requel. I’m also glad they didn’t seem to reuse music from existing teleseryes. 

The bad

Too much studio filming - While I understand logistical constraints in shooting outside the studio but it contributed to the “fake” feel of the scenes. There were many scenes that could’ve been better if they were shot outdoors. There are times when the studio sets looked obviously fake. 

Costumes for Book 2 - In Book 2, we saw a time skip and naturally, we saw costume changes. However, a lot of them looked awkwardly stitched or ill-fitting to the actors. The general aesthetic also changed and sometimes out of place. I understand not all costumes can be “Francis Libiran level” but I wish the costume aesthetic was given more attention by the production crew. We also saw costume recycling within the actors especially with Sanya wearing Marian’s Mine-a gown (not a new occurrence though since Diana also wore Dawn’s Mine-a gown).

Overall

While there are many things to left to be said, overall, the Encantadia requel still proved to be a general success. Not only did it manage to rekindle childhood fantasy emotions from the fans of the original series but had also brought in a new generation of fans. 

Encantadia reinforced the notion of girl power and has once again showed us kickass and multi-dimensional women on TV. Encantadia also proved we can produce a successful fantasy series of our own aside from the ones Americans, Europeans or Koreans produce.

Do I want a Season 2? Of course but only if it can be better than the previous season with better commitment to the plot, character and actor handling :)

Avisala eshma to the whole Encantadia crew and to fellow fans who made the watching experience more colorful. If you managed to read the whole review, thank you as well. Feel free to leave comments or messages if you wish. I’ll be open to discussion :)

#encantadia #encantadia review #AE posts

[unicorns-bookshelf]

Disclaimer: I have voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy from NetGalley.

Warning: This review may contain minor spoilers!

When I first started reading The Stars Now Unclaimed I was actually rather skeptical. I was just done with another ARC that I didn’t really like that much and the first person’s POV reminded me of a bad romance YA novel. However, as it turned out, I was about to get pleasantly surprised.

The Stars Now Unclaimed is exactly what comes to your mind when seeing the words “space opera”. The story is about an agent from an organization that gathers children with special powers from around the galaxy. Such children started appearing after a phenomenon known as the Pulse swept through space, taking many planets back to the time before spaceflight or even electricity though disabling their technology. Moreover, most planets are surrounded by radiation even a century after the Pulse, making it hard to get close to them on space ships or use advanced weapons.

The plot is very simple and there aren’t many plot twists or surprises. The main character, Jane, must find a girl with powers and get her out of the planet safely and then transport her back to her organization’s hideout, Sanctum, while not getting them killed by an evil sect called the Pax that destroys everything on its way to take control of the Galaxy. On the way, we meet some new characters, learn about their secrets and past and watch the relationships between them develop, all decorated by epic space battles.

And I mean A LOT of space battles.

It’s all kind of a big space road trip and I really enjoyed reading it. That to be said, I feel like the final battle was dragged on far too much for my liking. The preparations and the battle itself took almost three acts out of five in the book and at some point in the middle of the fourth one I grew really bored because seriously, how much space chases and shooting can you read? Thankfully the action became more interesting at the beginning of the fifth act and kept me glued to the book until the end.

I was positively surprised by the characters in this book. The main character, Jane, is a strong woman, focused on her job. She used to be a soldier and she thinks like one, trying to strategically approach every situation, even those that require a more emotional response. That often influences her personal relationships. She believes that what she’s doing is right and doesn’t hesitate to use violence to reach her goals but all in all she’s not a bad person who would hurt people for no reason. I found it to be quite refreshing compared to other meek and indecisive main characters I had an opportunity to read about.

Besides Jane, there’s also Esa - the girl whom she’s transporting, Schaz - the AI on her ship, Preacher - a member of an old, robotic race with very developed AI who is Esa’s guardian. In the second act, we also meet Marus - an informant from the same organization Jane belongs too and Javier - her ex-lover who was banished from the organization for treason. They are all likable and their relationships with each other feel natural and pleasant to read about. My favorites were Esa with Jane - an energetic, curious teenager basically adopting herself and Jane with Javier - I really liked how an appearance of a love interest didn’t suddenly make Jane incapable of doing things she’s been doing for years and just to show how cool of a guy Javier is. Moreover, she didn’t start putting her relationship over the literal lives of millions.

The worldbuilding was a little flat at times. There were many species of aliens mentioned but only two played an actual role as characters. The world was mostly described in reference to the Pulse, not as a world on its own. There was a mention of an ancient alien race that created the Barious but the topic was never explored. I don’t actually mind that, as I believe it can be a topic for another book and I’d love to learn more about that. The Pax wasn’t exactly a villain, the fight with them felt like fighting a natural disaster more than a collective of people. I understand that the most common soldiers were slaves but there must have been some leadership that created the Pax and was giving them orders but in the end. The Pax messenger had two lines in the whole book. I felt like destroying the Pax fleet was a little inconclusive if there was no mention if the leadership was also destroyed and wasn’t going to attack again after gathering some more soldiers.

One more small thing that bothered me was how despite the Barious being canonically monogendered, the author chose to use female pronouns to describe the members of the species while they could easily be referred to as “they”.

All in all, The Stars Now Unclaimed is a solid space opera with a likable cast of characters and a good premise. The Pulse and the characters’ opinions on it make a good base for conflict but in the end, the group always works together when it's necessary. I would recommend this book to everyone who likes a good space opera, Star Trek and Star Wars style. I’m also eager to read another part of Jane’s adventures and learn more about the universe created by the Pulse.

Rating: 4,5/5

Get it on Amazon here! My other reviews: Goodreads / tumblr

#books #space opera #sci-fi #book review #book reviews #sci-fi review #booklr #My Reviews

[gffa]

@writegowrite mentioned that she would be interested in reading Avengers fic and I pretty much shot my hand up and went, “Ooh!  Pick me!  Pick me!” at the barest reference to maybe wanting some recs of the Gen or Stucky or Thorki variety.  I am here for that, okay, this is my time! I chose the fics I thought would work best as a starter pack, for those who weren’t deep into the fandom, who were mostly familiar with canon only (rather than a lot of fandom trends), and who leaned towards more serious fics.  I think Thor/Loki especially will hit some of the same Obi-Wan/Anakin buttons, if you’re potentially into that pairing (if not, you’re going to want to pass this post by!) and I’m putting here, rather than my MCU blog because this is all stuff they’ll have seen before.  This is aimed at “So you want to get into this fandom but don’t know where to start, huh?  Let me try to help with that!” I will also include some fanart illustrations because a) I fuckin’ love fanart and b) there’s some gorgeous stuff and c) I think it helps to understand the appeal of “wait wtf where did Jotunn!Loki come from all of a sudden??” UNDER THE CUT:  Gen, Thor/Loki, Steve/Bucky - fic + art recs Mostly serious fic, a mix of serious/humor art, a good amount of NSFW fic/art I’ll write brief teaser recs but links will be provided for more full recs, when I can.

There will be a lot of recs here (and even more on this recs pages! but if you scroll through those pages (you’ll need to use Ctrl+F to find these specific ones if you want the full recs), keep in mind that they were a work in progress over a span of years, as well as aimed at people who regularly read in the fandom, and that I think these fics are best suited for drawing new readers in), but I chose ones that I felt could all be one of the first you pick up!  Still, I have a suggested starting place with three fics: START HERE: Bargaining by proantagonist, thor & loki + odin & loki + frigga & loki + other marvel characters, background refereneces to canon pairings, time travel, post-the dark world, some jotunn!loki, 110.4k      A genfic and it's really more about Loki and his issues with all his family but THIS FIC HOLY HELL, it made me cry at least three times and it's gorgeously written.  Post-TDW, Thor is dead and Loki absolutely loses his shit and all his issues with his family come tumbling out to slowly get fixed through time travel and worldbuilding and dealing with Jotunheim issues and magical deals with witches.  Novel-length and one of the best in the fandom. Bedding the Wolf by leonidaslion, thor/loki + implied background thor/sif, NSFW, dub-con edging on non-con, 13.4k      This is one of the earliest fics I read in the fandom and I've reread it a couple of times and it still hits me dead on EVERY TIME.  Post-first movie, this is ALL ABOUT Thor being smarter than Loki realizes and coming down on a vicious, bratty sub!Loki with a strong, iron hard dom hand.  It's fairly strongly dub-con and it's basically pwp, but it's one of my all time favorites. No Such Liberty by Xparrot, thor & loki + other asgardians + avengers + thanos, action fic, redemption fic, 147k     This one is primarily a Thor fic and was written pre-The Dark World and so takes a different path, but it's my favorite fic in that fandom.  It's got gorgeous worldbuilding, made me cry like three times over the Loki redemption stuff, and was just an incredible plot/action story when the Avengers all teamed up to fight Thanos. *After this point, you can pretty much throw a rock and whatever fic you hit, you can pick it up! SERIOUS FIC - GEN VERSION: God in the Machine: The Marachek Protocol by Mythtaken Identity (VR2LBast), natasha + avengers + loki, mild background pairings, egyptian mythology, action scenes, 99.6k      This fic is SO GOOD, it's primarily Natasha-centric, but it's got all the Avengers going up against Egyptian gods in an incredible plot fic.  It's novel length and it's just one of those that's incredibly SOLID. Ask Me No Questions by Alex51324, thor & loki + bruce & loki + tony + other avengers, depression, 55k      Loki is stripped of his magic and hit with a truth spell so he can't lie and has to stay with the Avengers and I remember it being a really satisfying Loki redemption fic.  He primarily interacts with Thor, Tony, and Bruce, all of which are really well done. Freefall + Landing by galaxysoup, thor & loki & avengers, 28k      It's been a long time since I read these, so I don't know how well they hold up, but they're more Loki + Avengers fic and I remember crying over them, because I had such strong feelings about the long, slow crawl towards redemption.  They're fairly famous in the fandom for good reason, imo! Rise From Ash by Mikkeneko, avengers + loki + other asgardians + thanos, some tony/loki, mildly nsfw for violence, some pyshical + psychological torture, angst, avengers!loki, 98k      An epic Loki + Avengers fic that's got a lot of horror elements and descent into madness that the fic does justice to.  It's a lot of plot and worldbuilding, a bit physical torture, a bit psychological torture, and very angsty.  it's an emotional wringer of a fic but so worth it. Road to Nowhere by Lise, thor & loki + frigga + other thor characters, thor 2 spoilers, action fic, quest fic, 27.2k      Genfic, but Thor and Loki on a roadtrip to save Frigga after TDW and it's lots of mythological worldbuilding and two brothers forced to rely on each other through magical trials, and maybe deal with their issues in an incredibly grudgingly way.  I'm biased because I beta'd for it, but it really is super good! SERIOUS FIC - THOR/LOKI VERSION: I actually have a “starter pack” recs list, but it’s like 30-40 fics long and that’s way too much to dump at once! dream state by bomb, thor/loki + thor/jane breakup + other marvel characters, NSFW, post-thor 2, prostitution, amnesia, 25.3k      The premise of this fic is kind of off the wall for something I take so seriously--a year after Loki's death, Thor sees someone who looks just like him on Earth and starts a relationship with him, but it is EXQUISITELY characterized, it's an incredible gem for being one of the best Thor characterizations in the fandom (IT SPOILED ME), for the weight of his character against the sharpness of Loki's, and it is beautifully written.  One of my all time faves. Make Me by Arkada, thor/loki, NSFW, dub-con, rough sex, bondage, bdsm, loki in chains, 4k      This is a darker fic, it's really rough sex with BDSM and consent issues.  Basically, Loki won't accept anything nice from Thor, so it has to be hard and rough and hurt before he'll take it.  So Thor gives him what he needs. Shorter but scorchingly hot. Postbellum by Shiny_n_new, thor/loki (pre-slash?) + odin & frigga + other thor characters, 22k      Written pre-TDW and is probably more gen than pairing, but the author ships it and so you can read undercurrents there.  Loki sits in his prison cell and seethes while Thor tries to make repairs--to Loki, to Jotunheim, to everyone.  It's really good Thor characterization in the background, but it's a fic that centers on Loki's fury and jealousy and trying to unknot it as best the author can. Wild Ambition Fortune's Ice Prefers by amberfox17, thor/loki & asgardians & frost giants, NSFW, jotunn!loki, arranged marriage, 199.7k      EVERYTHING by Amber is super worth reading, she writes amazing porn, but this is also her epic fic, where Loki was never taken to Asgard as a baby (this is a common theme in Thorki fandom, to get Jotunn!Loki, I'll dig up some fanart links to show you later) and when Thor has to make amends for starting trouble in Jotunheim, it kicks off a long, plotful, epic worldbuilding fic about the icy planet and these two learning to get along with each other and fall in love. Had we but world enough, and time by amberfox17, thor/loki, 14.6k      Hate and love are two sides of the same coin, and only require time for one to turn to the other. And what do gods have, if not time?Or, a story in three parts, of the past, present and future: how Lævatein was forged, taken and returned, how a relationship can be cracked, shattered and remade, and how Thor lost and found Loki time and time again. My Love Is Like To Ice, And I To Fire by amberfox17, thor/loki, NSFW, jotunn!loki, intersex!loki, 9k       Where Loki is stripped of his magic and forced into Jotunn form and it brings a lot of issues to a head.  It's only about 9k, but there's porn! Covenant by RobotSquid, thor/loki + odin + frigga + laufey, NSFW, divergent timeline, jotunn!loki (sort of), intersex!loki, secret relationship, 72.9k      I'm biased because this fic was written for me, but it's also gorgeous gorgeous worldbuilding and characterization.  When they're a little bit younger, they have to deal with the reveal of Loki's origins, which leads to them having to spend time there and it's primarily a fic dealing with Loki's issues of feeling unloved and hated, but has stellar Thor characterization in the background, as he's learning to be a future king, and so much incredible worldbuilding.  SO GOOD, I devoured it like you wouldn't believe. Shadow Plays by dreamlittleyo, thor/loki, NSFW, time loop, dub con, 24.4k      Another of the earliest fics I read in this fandom, so I'm not sure how well it'll hold up, because it might have been one that SET the mold rather than expanded it, but I remember really, really enjoying it.  Time loop fic where Thor's stuck and trying to figure his way out, trying to figure out how to save them all and deal with his anger towards Loki, and it's a really good use of the concept and satisfying porny resolution! Shatter by Aria, thor/loki + other thor characters, NSFW, 32k      Instead of Thor being banished to Earth, it's Loki... and then Thor comes along anyway and suddenly they have the breathing room and lack of tragedy to figure their shit out and eventually finally bang, it's a delight. Let slip the dogs of war by amberfox17, thor/loki, NSFW, dub con, rough sex, loki in chains, 5.3k      "In a world where mages must be kept chained and their magic bound: Loki is Thor’s dog of war, unleashed only in the most terrible of battles, and now Thor must deal with the aftermath of setting Loki’s seidr loose" -- aka, Thor's going to fuck the magical noise right out of feral!Loki's head and it's scorchingly hot. Caged by rainfall, thor/loki & asgard, NSFW, rough sex, pregnant!loki, 40k wip     This is one of those fics that may seem strange at the outset, but is fairly common in Thorki fandom--because Loki's a Frost Giant and we don't really know what that means, because comics!Loki is canon genderfluid (we have a lot of Lady Loki panels), because fandom Likes It, he's often written as intersex or just straight up able to get pregnant because Frost Giants Are Like That In Fandom.So, Loki's brought back post-first movie and he's furious and kept in a locked ivory tower and Thor goes to visit him and it's vicious but also they love each other and so eventually there's sex and it's a WIP that hasn't been updated in a long time but what's there is SO GOOD. Spoils of War by Fickle_Obsessions, thor/loki, NSFW, jotunn!loki, war prize!loki, dub con, rough sex, 9.8k      Fandom loves War Prize Jotunn!Loki with rough sex and, look, we all have our needs and this is one I really, really love a lot. Good Inside by glayish, thor/loki + thor/loki/mjolnir, NSFW, object insertion, mild bondage, dub-con, 7.4k      More rough sex that's kinda dub-con but in the way that it would be with them, also Mjolnir as a sex toy.  Scorchingly hot, too. feel my bones ignite by Lise, thor/loki, NSFW, rough sex, mild bdsm elements, 6.6k      More angry prison sex with some dom/sub elements and ridiculously hot sex. Covenant by Xero_Sky, thor/loki + other asgardians, NSFW, arranged marriage, post-avengers, 32.7k wip      "After Loki is brought back to Asgard for justice, he's somewhat appalled to find that his family still cares for him and worries about his well-being. Even worse, they have a cunning plan to keep him safe from Thanos and sort out the havoc he's been wreaking everywhere.  It works. And for one brief shining moment, Loki Is Happy. Naturally, it all goes downhill from there."  Arranged marriage fic that isn't at all fluffy or easy, it's difficult and unhappy and this is a WIP, but there's some good stuff already here that's worth reading for it, imo. Absolution by ladylapislazuli, thor/loki, arranged marriage, post-avengers, 54.2k      Another "Loki is forced to marry Thor to try to keep him contained and in Asgard" that should be silly and ridiculous but instead is heartwrenching and so, so good about digging into their issues and all the anger and hurt there.  It's a middle of the road kind of piece, not fluffy, but not tragic, and I respect it all the more for that.         STEVE/BUCKY: Out of the Dead Land by emilyenrose, steve/bucky, 62.7k      Oh, if you only read one Steve/Bucky fic, MAKE IT THIS ONE.  Post-TWS fic (not CW-compliant), Bucky tries to be Bucky again and it's a very difficult road and it was angsty and hard and so worth it and SO GOOD. The man on the bridge by boopboop, steve/bucky + tony + background pairings + avengers + other marvel characters, the winter soldier spoilers, 107.5k      This can be pretty controversial and I admit that I faded from Stucky fandom before it was finished, but I liked what was there.  Written in the aftermath of The Winter Soldier (so not CW-compliant) it's very angsty and a novel-length look at Steve/Bucky trying to come back to each other. This You Protect by Owlet, steve/bucky & avegers & ocs, 64.3k      While I wandered off for the follow-ups, they didn't feel the same as the first fic, this one is perfect exactly as it is--Bucky doesn't fully remember who he is, but his instincts to protect Steve cannot be overriden.  It's half parody, half serious, where Bucky Makes Friends With His Old People Neighbors and despairs every time Steve does something stupid and avoids him like the plague because he can't deal with his feelings, but still watches from afar.  It's GREAT. there's trees in the desert since you moved out by irnan, steve/bucky/natasha, 37k      I haven't read this one myself, but I've always liked irnan's fics and this one looks fantastic, a road trip where Steve/Bucky/Natasha work out their feelings.  (Bucky/Natasha is canon in the comics at many points, so a lot of people wanted it in the MCU, to go along with Steve/Bucky and Steve/Natasha.) sam deserves better than these assholes by lazulisong, steve/bucky + sam + natasha + other marvel characters, 10.7k      A series of fics where Sam Wilson really does deserve better than these two assholes.  I love lazulisong's writing, she really has a gift for comedic timing! Memory by emilyenrose, steve/bucky, 25.2k      Bucky working to try to remember who he is, it doesn't really go so well. your favorite ghost by augustbird, steve/bucky, 21k      I LOVE augustbird's writing, so another angsty post-TWS fic that's about the entire scope of Steve and Bucky's lives, the hard journey to bring Bucky home, is A+ for me. All The Leaves Are Brown (And the sky is gray) by AvocadoLove, bucky & tony + background steve/bucky, 17.4k      I don't remember there being much actual Stucky in this fic (though, the feelings are there) but Bucky's mission to kill Howard and Maria goes a little differently and instead he winds up with kidlet Tony on the run and it's SO GOOD.  Angsty plus cute kidlets, I DEVOURED IT.  (Everything I've ever read by AvocadoLove has been amazing, though.) HUMOR FIC: Majority Rule by Xparrot, thor & loki & avengers, humor, 2.4k     Also by Xparrot (I love everything by her!) it's short and hilarious and a great bit of funny cultural difference stuff with Thor and Loki and the Avengers. Big in Japan by gunboots     Avengers + Thorki, Tony brings back some dakimakura and it’s H I L A R I O U S. Teenage Dream by TheOtherOdinson     “Loki’s plan to invade Midgard is going perfectly - until his parents show up.” Aka, the one where Dad Odin and Mom Frigga show up and ruin their son’s takeover of Midgard, it’s HILARIOUS. Five Times the Villain's Weapon Didn't Work On Thor and the One Time It Did by TheOtherOdinson, thor + avengers + loki, humor, 3.9k     What it says on the tin and it’s delightful! I’m biased because I helped encourage it, but, no, it’s really great Thor FUN fic! Life of the Party by TheOtherOdinson, thor & loki + other asgardians, 2k     Loki tries to be a chaos shit stirrer at a party, and other people KEEP RUINING HIS FUN, it’s sharp and clever and delightful! You Shouldn't Have by TheOtherOdinson, thor & tony + thor & steve + thor & clint + thor & natasha + thor & bruce, humor, 2.1k     OKAY, LET ME EXPLAIN. One of the things I frequently talked about on Tumblr is how Asgard had the greatest decorative taste ever–everything is incredibly gold and tacky and they have water features everywhere. I LOVE IT. Also, Thor is 100% a troll that people never realize he’s doing it. These things combine into one of the most perfect fics I have ever read. Unforseen Side Effects by Fickle_Obsessions      Tony accidentally doses Thor and Loki with a drug that turns out to be an aphrodesiac. He sees more than he wants to. FANART: While the fandom is quieter today, the Thor fandom has a tremendous back archive of art, so much of it absolutely stunning and creative and wonderful! While I cannot possibly go through it all, I will at least get you started! wantstobelieve [thorki tag] does some of the most stunning artwork in the fandom, to the point that I honestly have trouble picking out favorites.  But this one is is ridiculously hot, this one is stunning  This one always hits me right in the dom/bratty sub kink, this one is a beautiful Loki piece, this one gives me all the feelings, this one is a gorgeous Jotunn!Loki, this one is is just lovely, this one is also right in the dom/sub kink, this one is a pretty Loki, this one is lovely and this one with Frigga and the kidlets is gorgeous. lohkaydraws [thorki tag] also does gorgeous work, this piece is a particular fave, but also this NSFW art is amazing. lousysharkbutt [art tag] does hilarity in Avengers fandom like no one else, this one is a favorite and this one makes me laugh every time.  Also, the best response to Civil War.  ALSO FAVE. yanagoya [loki tag] draws some of my favorite porn in the fandom, like, ever. Here and here and here and here.  All are NSFW.  Colors and smooth lines! bunnyxian [thorki tag] also does some great NSFW art--which all of these links are.  Here and here and here.  (Though, the layout makes them seem smaller than they are.  --in comparison, for example.) 10000ta [blog link] has drawn a bunch of gorgeou art for Thorki!  I’m not sure if everything of theirs is still up on their tumblr, but it’s probably floating around elsewhere, too.  A couple of faves are Egyptian Loki and Ragnarok Thorki. These two are also very nice!  --okay, yeah, I think their NSFW has moved but there’s this one and this one. horns-of-sin [blog link] is SUPER SUPER NSFW, beyond even the others! There’s a lot of Jotunn!Loki, some intersex!Loki, it’s split between solo!Loki and most of the popular Loki pairings.  It’s very pretty art (and such pretty colors!), but it’s very, very graphic and is striving to stick as many dicks into Loki as it possibly can, so be careful if you click it open! virushoney [art tag] does a lot of really beautifully colored, clean lined, super fucking cute art!  This one is a cool Jotunn!Loki, this one is a cute peacock!Loki, this one is a cute animal ears set, this one is more lovely Jotunn!Loki art, this one is godless-night [art tag] does some really pretty stuff, too.  This one is a nice Ragnarok-inspired one and this one is is lovely, but haunting. mokonosuke7 [art tag] can do some really beautiful stuff!  This one is a gorgeous Jotunn!Loki, this one is another stunning one, this one is is simple but lovely, this one is a stunning belly dancer Loki, this one has super pretty details! robinhess [blog link] has some lovely ones as well!  Here, here, here, here, and here are ones I remember from them! jiuge [blog link] does incredible pieces, too.  This one is a Mr. and Mrs. Smith parody, this one is is an incredible Jotunn!Loki, this one is the single most beautiful piece of Frigga art with kidlets that I have ever seen, this one is a lovely Thor/Loki piece, and this one is is another stunning Thor/Loki piece. derlaine [loki tag] does some of the funniest and/or most heartwarming art! This one is part one of Loki’s Childhood (a collection of all their Asgardian kidlet art and this one is part two! florbe-triz [art tag] also does really amazing art!  This one is gorgeous, this one is a great use of color, this one is possibly the best they’ve ever done, this one is a great kiss in the snow, this one is beautiful NSFW art, this one is gorgeous in this details, and this one is another stunning use of color.  If you want to go through and see everything for yourself, you’ll have to go about 12 pages back on their art tag to get to the Thor fandom stuff. Okay, honestly, just go through my Jotunn!Loki tag and you’ll see there’s far more amazing art than I could possibly all link to!  My Thorki tag is probably about 50% fanart (and the other half is fanedits and fic reblogs and such) if you want more!  This was meant to get a person started

#marvel #fic recs