#review blurbs

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Movie Review Blurbs: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Highlights

-The brothers were the most endearing part for me, they had a wonderful dynamic that not only made me like them as a duo, but as individuals (from the Mario media I know, there wasn't much focus on their personality so it was nice watching something that gave them more character)

-Jack Black got to sing his silly songs and honestly that's all that matters

-The movie making fun of the egregious Italian accents in the beginning was a good gag, especially considering the two are still Italian in the movie and are given more accurate accents (also I love that they're canonically from Brooklyn lmao)

-Mario was a fucking crack head before the isekai and I enjoy that fact very much

-Yoshi avengers end credit scene

-Surprisingly decent voice acting, they all delivered (especially Charlie Day and Jack Black)

-The penguins, the Dry Bones, SHY GUYS

-Toad is a fucking criminal apparently who helps outsiders break into the castle and goes outside the Mushroom Kingdom to do god knows what

-Off the top of my head, my favorite part of the movie was Luigi running from the Dry Bones and ending up in Luigi's Mansion; great horror scene for a very PG movie

-Whatever the fuck was going on between Kamek and Bowser

-SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS-

-Mario and DK's frienenemy relationship was great, especially with how they butt heads but also understand (daddy issues) and respect each other (they're a good ship ngl)

-I liked Cranky Kong as a character, I feel like he was a character made to appeal more to an older crowd now that I think about it

-The implications? Of Bowser's entire fucking ship coming to the human realm? And totaling the city? Magic is real? What's gonna happen there is the U.S. government gonna try and harness the power of the magic realm and capitalize on it like there is so much left unanswered

-simp bowser lmao (many dudebros were mad about this one which automatically makes it the best plotline in my book)

-Mario and Peach weren't shown to have romantic feelings for each other, giving them time to actually get to know each other first

Criticisms

-Ok so let's address the main issue; the pacing. The movie severely lacked transition, bridging and buildup, and it felt less like a movie and more like a bunch of individual scenes thrown together (cause it kinda was). It was frustrating cause the movie was genuinely very engaging, and there was some real lost potential with how rushed it was. It definitely needed to be longer; I think the people working on it were on a time constraint, and it showed

-Pigging-backing off the previous note, a lack of build up to big moments made those moments feel like they came out of nowhere. it also lacked an after math period for those big moments, which makes them feel unsubstantial

-Ok rant time: I saw people having this concern for Peach being a dull #girlboss character that lacked substance, and... yeah, it happened. I think the issue of female characters being sidelined and not given any character depth is being acknowledged, but in a way that still doesn't give them depth. Basically, male creators have realized they've been making female characters useless love interests in the background, so they're fixing this by making said characters hyper-competent, and in the forefront of the fight. However, its had this adverse effect where these hyper-competent characters are now just serving as plot devices to push the narrative rather than being given their own character narrative. They are at the forefront, and fight, but are still lacking in depth and development (what's worse is they still just serve as aides to male leads most of the time, just now in a repackaged way that usually would be held by a side male character). The Mario movie was rushed so none of the characters got much development, but Peach in particular was not given any character development, only plot development (she got isekai'd and is wondering where she's from, but we don't see how this idea effects her emotionally or drives her because... it really doesn't. She's just kinda like "oh hey I'm from another universe... ok cool! Anyway-"). So yeah, that needs work. Male creators need to humanize their female characters like they do the male ones, and actually give them flaws and struggles (Peach literally has a gag about being so perfect she mastered the super hard parkour course they practice on in one go, while we see Mario work on it and improve over time; its lazy ass writing cmon now). Hence why I like consuming media that's actually by female creators, and I encourage all of you to do the same

-Mario and DK were great but again needed more fleshing out, they had this whole bonding moment about their daddy issue but it happened so fast that you couldn't really stew in it much

-Mario/DK's daddy issues were not handled the best, they only got their father's approval when they did something cool and not for actually being themselves; didn't like the messaging there very much

-Though I mentioned Mario x Peach didn't happen, the movie still very intrusively pushes the idea in your face by having side characters comment on it; I imagine this is what homophobes think they're experiencing when queer character exist in media, except this movie didn't even try to be subtle with the push

-Why did Toad just decide to help Mario find Luigi? Why did Peach decide to train Mario so she could take him with her to Donkey Kong Island? Just cause he's a fellow human? And why did she just decide to take Toad along too? Again, pacing

-Rainbow Road being a "secret path" that was literally out in the open and Bowser found it almost immediately lmao (it was also never narratively explained how Bowser found the path if I'm remembering correctly)

-The Luma gag was overdone imo, but the "finally, mercy" part was very funny

-no bowuigi sex scene -∞/10

Final Thoughts

Overall, the movie was very fun, but the time constraint really did bring it down from being a better ranked movie. Its frustrating because the movie had so much to offer, I wanted more from it, and that's why the pacing is something I'm hammering on so much. And for anyone saying "its a kid's movie, who cares?"... sorry I want kid's to have good movies? And not just the kind of drool that comes from Minions-type productions? Movies are art, and art should have the people behind it putting the best into their work that they can, kid's movie or not, so if something is bringing down that art (a time constraint for example) it should be criticized in my opinion. Plus lets face it, a lot of the people going in to see the movie were teens/adults who grew up on Mario.

Despite all this though, I genuinely enjoyed it, and my low expectations for what is an Illumination movie were pleasantly subverted. There was clearly a lot of love put into this film, and I can't wait to see if there will be a sequel. Thanks for reading!

[lightwing-s]

I feel it in the air, second date is coming for biker!jason

a/n: not a full comeback, but i was dying to write for biker!jason so after the first, he is a second date and more to come ♡

Do you wanna learn how to ride? were the last words you expected you’d hear tonight. But there you were now, legs hanging on each side of Jason’s motorcycle, as your feet barely touched the floor. The black dress you had worn for dinner was now rolled up your thighs, and your heels thrown somewhere on the floor of the empty parking lot you were on. 

Your date, standing right beside you, instructed you on how not to fall face first on the ground with his precious bike. Jason’s hand rested on top of yours, his thumb caressing the cold skin as he continued to teach you the mechanisms of the bike.

 “So, here on your left you have the clutch. You’re gonna use it every time you need to change gears, just like a car. And to do that… ” he lowered himself to be levelled with the gear pedal, moving his touch to your bare leg. “You’re going to use your pretty legs to work this pedal, alright?”

Listening attentively, you could only shake your head and hope all that information would get to your head, but it was quite hard to do it, as his hand slowly slid up to rest on your tights as he stood from his former position, taking away all your concentration.

“On your right you have the brakes. Hand is front, feet is back. Be careful with those ones, they’re both important but used wrong can also be dangerous.” he told you sternly, eyes glued to yours. “Why do I feel you’re not listening?” he lowered his voice, almost whispering against your neck.

“I promise, I am” you laughed, confident but still avoiding his eyes, fearing what would happen if you kept staring at it for too long.

“Alright” breathed a laugh, stepping away from you. “Give it a try now, but don’t go crazy on the throttle…”

Before he could finish, you rolled the throttle heavier than you imagined all the while releasing the clutch faster than you should have, the bike jumping forward and immediately being held down by Jason’s strong arms.

“I really can’t do it.” you told him, while awkwardly laughing the embarrassment away.

“Yes, you can.” he assured.

“I can barely keep my balance.” 

Trying to find an excuse to quit was too hard around Jason, who was adamant on having you drive, even if just two metres, on his bike tonight. Head shaking at your attempts to leave, he was definitely amused, as a smile didn’t cease to remain on his face. “Here, let me help you.”

You felt Jason’s leg moving behind you, as he took the back seat. Soon after, his chest met your back as his arms reached over yours, caging you to the bike. His hand now rested on top of yours and guided you on a ride that lasted a few minutes, but longer that you’d expected.

“Here, you did it” he said, as you raised your arms up in celebration. “I told you could, didn’t I?”

“I guess I had a great teacher.” you smile at him over your shoulder, tongue between your teeth, and a quick wink as you feel his hands moving to your waist.

“No, you just have a lot of potential.” he complimented, placing a kiss on your shoulder. Feeling the air grow thicker around you, you move a bit on your seat, accidentally grinding his crotch, feeling a big volume hit against your ass. Biting your lip, you bend forwards, laying your chest on the tank and making sure to lower the space between you both in the back.

You heard a loud sigh and his grip tighten around your waist. One of his arms curled around your middle, pulling you back up to rest your back on his chest again, while his free hand roamed to where your dress rolled up to expose your thigh.

“Stop grinding on me, little dove. Or we won’t make it out of this parking lot.” he whispered in your ear, causing goosebumps to run down your spine and wetness to form between your legs. A side of you really hoping to not make out of that parking lot.

[whilereadingandwalking]

Today I was shopping at B&N and saw something exciting…my VERY FIRST front cover blurb! Thanks for blurbing my Booklist review, Flatiron Books! And shoutout to Elektra by Jennifer Saint.

[roxyandelsewhere]

stuck in thought about the person I saw say on twitter they didn't like challengers because "morally ambiguous characters aren't for me" and "i'm not that bisexual"

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

Reading all these old posts where people are desperately trying to piece v3's plot together through 5 benevolent people in the fandom willing to translate, screenshots, livestreams, and a mad game of telephone makes me feel CRAZY. I so desperately wish I could time travel and explain it all to everyone. And also make them wait for the damn game to come out in a language they can understand before they form opinions on the twists of the game.

[whitestopper]

'queer character' 'queer media' 'queer story' BITCH! Give me specifics, I need one of the letters!

[godzilla-reads]

🌳 Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“It was the middle of an autumn downpour when Tobias first met Henry Silver.”

There is a wild man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads. Until the new owner of Greenhollow Hall shows up, Henry Silver.

To describe how much I enjoyed this book is hard, so I’ll use a quote by Naomi Novik as she described this book: “A true story of the woods, of the fae, and of the heart. Deep and green and wonderful.”

I’ve been in a nasty reading slump for a while and this book picked me up and threw me into the story to the point where I had to read it one sitting. And it was lovely.

[theozilla]

I stayed up late last night finishing the Pluto anime (I watched the English dub; I am planning on rewatching it in Japanese and the German dub eventually) and now I am putting down my thoughts after having slept on them. 

Urasawa’s Pluto is one of my favorite manga (and comics) of all time, so I was very invested at the prospect of it getting an anime adaption (regardless of the fact that I expected I would end up, and still do, preferring the manga as the best way to experience the story). Anyways, overall, the Pluto anime is a great anime and a good adaption. The animation was very good, though I agree with the common criticisms that parts of it could have had better compositing. I do have a few criticisms of it as an adaptation though, critiques that go beyond the standard practice of shortening, slightly modifying, and cutting of (less plot-essential) dialogue and scenes that come when an anime adapts a manga (especially text and plot dense ones). I essentially have three major/not-insignificant criticisms of how the story got adapted (though I am quite aware that the cause of these shortcomings may be more due to the anime production just not having the time and/or resources to do so, than being deliberate creative choices). 

         My first criticism is the fact that in the manga Gesicht and Brau-1589 did end up exchanging memory chips (this happens at the end of volume 2 in the manga, which is roughly analogous to what episodes 2 and/or 3 of the anime adapted). Cutting that plot point from the anime is a significant story loss IMO as it was an essential step in Gesicht’s character arc, specifically him slowly realizing that parts of his memory were erased. It also diminishes the effectiveness of Brau-1589’s character as not only does it further explain and justify why Brau considered himself and Gesicht to be two of a kind (i.e., Brau was able to notice and discern Gesicht’s erased memories) it also removes narrative parallel/“rhyming” of how Atom had previously read Gesicht’s memory chip and is implied to have picked-up on the same erased memories as well. Also not getting to hear Brau-1589 do the haunting line of "500 Zeus a body" voiced-acted is a crying shame. 

         Secondly, the choice to cut out the various scenes Dr. Roosevelt, the immobile super-computer A.I., and the President of the not!USA, from the first half of the story was a mistake. In the manga, by volume 2, the audience is supposed to be explicitly clued-in to the fact that Dr. Roosevelt and the President are directly involved the serial murder conspiracy (with the how and why still being unknown). Not having this context established before the second half of the story in the anime I would imagine makes the later scenes of Dr. Roosevelt and the President that do get adapted much more confusing and random for an anime-only watcher. It also diminishes the greater connective and overarching themes of the narrative, particularly the ones critical of the USA and Neo-imperialism (which I cynically wonder if that was one of the reasons said scenes were cut). Excising the earlier Dr. Roosevelt scenes and references to it, as well as the parallels with Brau-1589 (and the theme of robots feeling hatred and other extreme emotions), brings down the quality of the character and thematic writing in general as well. 

         And finally, a few adaptation choices done in the final eighth episode, I feel brought down the quality of the climax. Beginning with the least significant one, but still important IMO, was the cutting of Doctor Tenma and Professor Hoffman’s scene at Gesicht’s grave. Besides it further elucidating the themes of the narrative, it’s also just a loss in terms of giving a bookend to Hoffman’s role in the narrative and his relationship with Gesicht. Next, is the anime’s decision to make Bora completely non-verbal when Atom and Pluto confront him during the climax. In the manga, the intelligence of Goji/“Abullah” was still present, which not only made the climax more emotionally engaging, but it also specifically made Pluto/Sahad coming to terms with the ghost of his father much more effective as well. Lastly, and my biggest issue with how episode 8 adapted volume 8, was the choice to have Atom remembering Gesicht’s final words and the flashback that reveals how Gesicht found the robot child he and his wife adopted, occur in the middle of the scene where Professor Ochanomizu witnesses Atom picking up a snail and showing how he still has his humanity intact after being revived in the way that he was. In the manga said scenes occurred right before Atom is about to deliver a killing blow to Pluto (and are subsequently intercut with the remainder of the climax). The way the anime rearranges the contents of volume 8 in episode 8 really messes up the flow, particularly the emotional flow, of the story’s climax and makes it less engaging and effective as a concluding experience. 

Anyways, despite those three major areas I took issue with, I still really enjoyed the Pluto anime and consider it to be a great work overall. Though I still recommend the manga as the best and proper way to experience the story. 

[achillessulks]

would you ever make another goodreads? I was literally devastated to find yours had been deleted, I would spend hours scrolling through your book reviews 😭 they were so beautiful and insightful

Thank you for your kind words. As mentioned in my responses to previous asks, some of my reviews had been backed up on Wordpress and Storygraph, so you can still look there... I did think very seriously about just making a new GR account and reposting everything, but the concept of having to rebuild over ten years’ worth of work is just exhausting. I’m grateful for all the good parts obviously, but overall, yikes.

Ultimately, I’m done with GR unless some pretty significant changes are made to the structure of the website. For example:

There needs to be a way to appeal if a review gets flagged. One time a review of mine got deleted for allegedly plagiarising Wikipedia... but I had written the Wikipedia page, and after writing the review.

There needs to be a way to thread comments. This is a very basic function of any decent forum or really any halfway decent website, and it’s honestly embarrassing that GR still doesn’t have this capability. RSS is not that difficult; you guys are just lazy.

There needs to be more support and allowance for people who aren’t just writing an eighth-grade book report. This sounds mean, and is intended as such, but one of the rules GR has is that your review can’t be about the author’s character, actions, or behaviour. Well, those things inform one’s opinion of a book, so this rule is dumb as hell. Furthermore, I like writing about interesting things, not just a basic summary of plot and theme; all the time I would get comments saying I was writing “bad” or “useless” reviews because I didn’t use the structure of a book report. GR stifles creativity and freedom of expression, constantly and internationally. The types of reviews that are officially sanctioned are unhelpful for me personally.

There needs to be support in different languages. This is a website owned by Amazon; they have the money to pay for translation services. There’s no good excuse for not having at least the basic framework of the site available in languages other than English.

There needs to be a way to rate a book zero stars. Some books just suck.

I’m not even thinking of stuff like the constant and intrusive advertisements on the browser site, because I have adblockers so I don’t see any of that shit, but let the record show that the types of adverts being shown demonstrate that most people on GR have terrible taste. Not my friends though, they’re all geniuses and very smart.

[marisramblings]

You Need to Watch Nier: Automata Ver 1.1a

Adaptations get a, deservedly, bad rap, but Nier’s anime is a wonderful change of pace. I’m not going to explain why many adaptions suck, small budget, cashgrab, lifeless, etc, but why this one is great and should be the standard. I played Nier: Automata around the end of 2022 and I liked it. It’s a great game with some issues. My biggest gripe is how a lot of pertinent characterization is separated into different media. There are mangas and stage plays that are canon. This information is not in the game. Due to that, I found many of the characters a little flat, particularly, 2b. The anime is only 8 episodes in, but it has breathed life into everyone. I don’t want to spoil too much, especially if you’ve only seen the anime. Personally, I recommend playing the game, or watch someone play, and then watch the anime. While you’re at it, watch/play Nier Gestalt.

9s’s future actions are foreshadowed from the beginning. His personality has been expanded on and explored. 2b has been given the depth and little shades of personality she needed in the game. I love her now. We get a2’s backstory, reimagined hacking, character building moments, Devola and Papola from the beginning, 6o and 21o, etc.

I’ve never been one of those people who thinks an adaption must be 1:1. Different mediums require different aspects. I don’t need verbosity in a movie but I do need it in a written book. An good adaption needs to expand and explore the story/characters while keeping the spirit of the original media. I’m looking at you Velma. The anime feels like the game even though its deviated so much. Yes, the cgi could be better, but the narrative it’s painting more than makes up for it. When certain story beats occur later on, I know they will destroy the audience because our emotional attachment will be stronger.

I am getting ahead of myself, the anime could totally flop halfway through. If it stays the course, though, it will be a fucking masterpiece.

Edit: it stayed the course!

[sjohnsonwriter-blog]

Sapphic September & Bi Visibility Month Book Recs!

Because you can't just have one more book to read, I'm giving you, like, ten!

Come on now, spread those pages!

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Review Blurbs: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

General Thoughts:

-From what I've seen the animation had like "how are the animators not in a psych ward" insane levels of attention to detail so go look into that cause there's always some new amazing tidbit of info circulating about the movie-making process

-Music score was fantastic, it always did well setting the atmosphere of the scenes and bringing you into the moment (my favorite sequences was Gwen's intro and the Mumbattan segments)

-I'm obsessed with how they choreographed the fight styles, especially for Gwen and Pavitr who had very stylized movements (Gwen's is based off ballet and Pavitr fights using Kalaripayattu)

-I liked how Miles' theme song (What's Up Danger) felt a bit more fitting. In ITSV, Miles was very new to everything and questioning if the hero lifestyle was what he wanted. Now, not only was he so committed to doing things his way that he derailed the entire Spider Society with success, but we also meet Earth-42 Miles who is seemingly very fearsome. To the Spider Society, potentially to the entire multiverse even, they face a danger in the form of Miles Morales.

-This movie was Gwen's movie, full stop. Her and Miles shared the spotlight, she wasn't just a side character this time. I haven't seen people talk about this as much and they should cause Gwen's story was so beautifully crafted and that intro/final scene were some of the best parallel sequences I've ever seen in a movie. Her story and even the storytelling in the music and her "starting a band" were so well done, people have been doing analyses on the music change in the intro vs the final scene and how the music correlates to Gwen's personal growth and just ugh. More Gwen appreciation please (this isn't even getting into the trans allegory literally there was so much to her story so pay tf attention please and thank you)

-Adding on, part of the reason I loved the above point was also cause not only is ITSV's main female character given a big spotlight to shine in, but it served an important narrative purpose of giving the movie a hopeful and satisfying ending, because right now Miles' story is in its sort of Rising/Climax stage. The final act of Miles Morales' story has only just begun, and the movie set it up so damn well cause I know me and everyone alive are dying to know what's gonna happen next with him and Earth-42 Miles. Gwen's arc wrapped up and gave us hope as Miles' story was taking a dark turn, and that hope is what's gonna lead us forward until its his turn to shine in the light once again.

-Loved the new characters, I enjoyed Miguel having layers to his methodology and morals (some people pointed out possible reasons for him acting as aggressive as he did and it makes a lot of sense, but at the time it was just like "why tf is Miguel slamming Miles into a train and screaming at him for not wanting his dad to die papi chill💀")

-Jessica is underrated and I love how they did her character. She's very responsible and definitely has a tough love approach, but she's very human. I laughed out loud when she said she wasn't bothered by being pregnant in this line of work cause the guy she screwed was hot like she is so fucking real omg. Jessica also had a similar attitude to Miguel, but she has a personal connection with Gwen that I think grounds her more. I wish we had more of her mentorship towards Gwen and I hope to see it in the next movie (maybe even a baby reveal👀)

-I don't think anyone mentioned it but Spider-Byte always looked a bit different/off in all her frames and I'm like 99% sure that's cause they used a different animation style to give her that glitched/cyber punk effect which is just so damn cool

-Honestly all the female characters deserve more recognition, fandom still has a huge male bias and it shows cause Gwen, Jessica, Spider-Byte and Lila deserve way more love

-Hobie was without a doubt my favorite character this movie. He's a real punk and I cannot be grateful enough cause I am fucking done with people who ain't actually punk using it as an aesthetic, he's here to show how its done (others have made plenty of observations on him so go check those out cause they're very good)

-Not much to say about Pavitr personally but I adore his character design, definitely my favorite next to Gwen's (he also taught me that chai tea does not exist and is in fact just "tea tea" I'M SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW I'M SOUTH AMERICAN NOT SOUTH ASIAN😭)

-I'm surprised by how engaging Spider-Verse continues to make their villains. Doc Ock was fantastic, and this time around The Spot was a great subversion of expectations. He's silly and from the trailer release to the beginning of the movie, you think he's a joke character to set the mood. Then he starts to become actually sinister and you're sitting there thinking "the movie literally called me out for this and I still managed to fall into expectations". Very good job making a villain character not only feel like a threat, but by doing so in an unexpected way that really rips the rug out from under you. I want to study the story writers' minds like I'm being tested on it

-The return of the OGs was so nice, I wasn't as invested in Into the Spider-Verse admittedly but I felt it when Peni made a reappearance to tell Miles his dad had to die. Shit hit me in the soul (I'm also obsessed with Noir so very happy to see them both back)

-I saw people saying that Spider-Verse was copaganda and I'd like to withhold any definitive stances until Beyond comes out, but it definitely felt like they were holding back when it came to criticisms of Gwen's dad. Remember, it could very well be that the writer's behind Hobie "hate the AM and PM"/wears blue fucking laces Brown were told by higher-ups to cool it or the movie wouldn't get released so don't immediately go after them, learn from the writer's strike to use critical thinking and wait for more info. Hopefully they can address that more after audience reviews come in so we'll see.

-All the scenes where Miles would almost reveal he's Spider-Man to his parents/did reveal it had me stressed lmao, they did a great job making the audience feel the weight and tension of the moment

-The ending was the hypest shit like it was so good I couldn't even be mad about the cliffhanger I was just in awe

-I actually thought towards the end that they might do a two-parter but then I was like "nahhhhh they wouldn't" and then they did that. We very much entered a "final stage" towards the end so I'm wondering how the creators will space it out and what they'll do for the next movie. Either way I am "beyond" hyped

Criticisms:

I only have like two criticisms cause this movie was pretty fucking good, but its never bad to look at what even a masterpiece like Spider-Verse could do better so future projects can take note. Having said that:

-I understand it was for authenticity's sake, but the live-action segments were a bit jarring after being in animation for so long. I would've animated those segments as well or done some form of 3D so it blended in. Every other character was animated so it felt weird when suddenly Andrew Garfield and Donald Glover were on screen (even Tom Holland's spidey was animated). A minor nitpick, but I can respect the boldness in really committing to the meta-mindfuckery of the multiverse

-Gwiles as a ship was never really my thing, so you can understand my surprise when I felt like they actually kinda improved on it since the first movie ("boy has crush on girl because she's pretty and a girl and we're supposed to root for it" is my least favorite trope [*cough cough* cause its what straight dudes like *cough cough*] so its no surprise when Gwiles in ITSV did absolutely nothing for me). Having said that, the movie pushed a tad too hard for it imo. Pavitr was the classic "shipper" character made to push the ship forward and make it super obvious to the audience that its what the movie wants you to root for, and I and many people are not about that. If you need to tell your audience to support a romance then you're not doing it right.

-As sort of an add-on to the above, I think Hobie and Gwen were hinted as having dated during Gwen's time working under Miguel? Which like... why? Literally why. It made no sense and did nothing for the characters or their relationship, they could easily just be friends and nothing would change. This plot point was also never mentioned again after its initial reveal (from Pavitr to cause "drama" for Miles I think) and quite literally nothing came of it. No drama (thank fuck cause that was not what I or anyone went to this movie for), no development, nothing. It was just thrown in and never used. So uh... yeah, don't do that. Thanks.

Final Thoughts:

Across the Spider-Verse was definitely a step-up from the first movie, I was far more engaged and I found very little to criticize from it. Animation, music score, characters, all 10/10, and above all, its action sequences kicked ass and restored the good name of the superhero genre. Watch this movie, and I highly recommend doing so in theaters because it is a perfect example of how movies are not just entertainment, but an experience to remember.

[tdcloud]

A purveyor of all things dark, queer, and tasty, @azarielwrites had a lot of kind things to say about INFAUST. Keep an eye on Azariel--he’s hard at work on his debut A RAVEN AND HIS REVENANT, and I think we'll all want to be there when it drops.

💀 https://amazon.com/dp/B0CRX5M7TX

[jetwhenitsmidnight]

We Could Be Something by Will Kostakis

Release date: 3 September 2024

Genre: young adult contemporary coming of age

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Part coming-out story.

Part falling-in-love story.

Part falling-apart story.

Harvey's dads are splitting up. It's been on the cards for a while, but it's still sudden. Woken-by-his-father-to-catch-a-red-eye sudden. Now he's restarting his life in a new city, living above a cafe with the extended Greek family he barely knows.

Sotiris is a rising star. At seventeen, he's already achieved his dream of publishing a novel. When his career falters, a cute, wise-cracking bookseller named Jem upends his world.

Harvey and Sotiris's stories converge on the same street in Darlinghurst, in this beautifully heartfelt novel about how our dreams shape us, and what they cost us.

Content warnings

Divorce, toxic relationship

Dementia, chronic illness

Implied sexual content

Alcohol

Xenophobia

Homophobia

Grief

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

I did not expect this book to hit me so hard in my feelings.

These characters are so human; they mess up a lot (Sotiris especially), but they are constantly trying their best at the same time, while struggling to figure out their dreams. I love how the author doesn't flinch from making these characters so complicated and messy, but at the same time he manages to keep them sympathetic and real.

I figured out the connection between the characters at about 20% but I think it's not supposed to be a huge plot twist anyway so it's fine. I loved how their stories paralleled each other's right up till the ending—and that ending was devastating.

I feel like Sotiris' story received more focus, which makes sense in the book, but it makes it feel like Harvey's story doesn't get enough precedence, not to mention that Harvey's story also involves Sotiris but not the other way around, which makes their narratives feel unbalanced.

Overall, this is an excellent story with realistic characters, one that will be sticking with me for sure.

[selkielore]

also literally the end of march 2023 but um. like if you want my top books of 2022 list because I never actually did that roundup oops. and I read 72 books!!

[babybatxxx]

So I don’t read books, only occasionally yuri books, but my mom recommended this book to me titled “before she was found” and OMG it was amazing!! It’s based of the slenderman murder incident and stranger danger online. It has all different povs from different characters but the only kid out of the three is Cora and her pov is in diary entries from months before. If you like guessing killers from clues like scream movies have you do you’ll like this book! The ending is shocking.