incantatricedibalene

[incantatricedibalene]

This is a 2 am rantle about my favorite tropes in books/TV series, written half in English and half in Italian, with the help of DeepL and Grammarly because I'm half asleep and I don't actually know what I'm writing.

I swear it will be interesting if you like to look into other people's business.

I have a few tropes that feel like a brick is thrown at me at full speed impacting my face.

The first and most important one is doomed lovers, but also friends, siblings, partners... doomed everything.

I can't really say why I'm so passionate about this topic, but it's something that affects me so deeply that I lose the meaning of life for a while if I see really beautiful ones.

To name a few: Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham from Hannibal (funny enough Mads Mikkelsen is in both), Jesse and Callisto from Apologia di Callisto, Steve and Bucky from Marvel (MCU I hate you, Steve would have never stayed back in time), Jayce and Viktor from Arcane, The Doctor and River Song from Doctor Who...

The way their love for the other person is so strong that it causes them to have physical reactions (not related to arousal) is something I love, the way their relationship sounds like the song Be Nice to Me 90% of the time, the way they would sacrifice EVERYTHING for their ideals, but NOT that specific person. A love so deep that it tears your soul apart.

It's Grindelwald lying to Voldemort that he never had the Elder Wand so that he wouldn't desecrate Dumbledore's tomb, it's Dumbledore who even after a lifetime continues to see you in the mirror of wishes. It's Hannibal who turns himself in to the police so that Will always knows where he is, it's Will who calls Hannibal and tells him that they know. It's the Doctor who sees and speaks to River even though he shouldn't be able to see her, it's River who gives up all her future regenerations to save the Doctor. It's Jesse who forces Callisto to go back to school, it's Callisto who eats hazelnut cake for Jesse. It's Steve who goes to war against the whole world to keep Bucky safe, it's Bucky who even under mind control saves Steve from the river. It's Viktor who "In all timelines, in all possibilities, only you", it's Jayce who promises, despite knowing the consequences.

Those loves are so visceral that make you doubt your own existence, because can a love like that really exist? That surpasses everything?

Linked to this trope there are lovers to enemies, which is very dear to me.

The way two people can love each other with all their souls and still find themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield without ceasing to love or hope, is something that drives me crazy, hope drives me crazy, it is the emotion that I feel most and that I make mine most, together with sacrifice.

And so we come to the third point, the only point that makes me cry rivers of tears. Sacrifice, heroic or not, destroys me, I can't stand it.

I cried when in The Diary of Anne Frank the children go to the showers singing, I cried when watching a random episode of Agents of Shield I cried when someone sacrificed himself for the protagonist (without even knowing who she was), I cried when in Cold Case they showed that a man died because a drunk "friend" of his, dressed as Santa Claus, told him that there were some children who wanted to say hello to Santa Claus and threw him off the balcony (this destroyed me, thinking about it makes me want to cry).

I am a sensitive person and I empathize WAY TOO MUCH with the characters in TV series. Unlike the people I know in real life. And it's something that makes me feel like I'm the one experiencing certain feelings, and they are always devastating, and beautiful.

[incantatricedibalene]

Belladonna's series

First some tecnical information that nobody is really interest in

Title = Belladonna, Foxglove, Wisteria Author = Adalyn Grace Reading period = February 2025 (7 days total)

I won't put anything else because I find this terribly boring

Overral rating

3.5/5 = an enjoyable read, each book made me want to read the next, but nothing that deeply shook/shocked me or made me think about life

Spoiler-free review

Somewhere between fantasy and horror (with a strong romantic streak) in a sort of gothic setting, these three books appear to be easily readable, with a very smooth flowing. They present some nice plot twist, especially in the first book (which is my preferred one, with what I consider the best mystery plot out of the three). In terms of romantic relationships, I preferred the second couple (third book) over the first (first book), because of the couple dynamics. Nevertheless, I did not dislike either of them and I really enjoyed the growth of the characters. Erotic scenes are present despite the fact that they are never 100% explicit (the act itself is never directly described, only implied).

WARNING, THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS FROM NOW ON

In-depth commentary

I read the first two volumes in Italian (my native tongue) and the last one in English (as it has not yet been traslated). I found the English one much easier than expected, so I suppose that the way the book is written might be okay also for younger people, for this reason I would consider it a Young Adult.

The main characters are nice, I wouldn't go out of my way to say that I liked them all, some of them where a bit flat and uninteresting, for exemple paradoxically in the first book I preferred the secondary characters (such as Percy, Sylas and Bhlyte) over the main characters (Signa and Death).

In the second book the situation already changes, because we see a well placed growth in Signa's character, making her more enjoyable.

(FunFact about me: in the first book my favorite character is Percy, from the second Fate, and I appreciate them with immense fervor, especially Fate.)

The relationships between the characters are very varied, I do not deny the presence of some toxic bonds, but they are all shown for what they are and tend to never be romanticized.

I personally enjoyed some immensely and despised others.

Concerning the plot, I think it is very prominent in the first book, but in the second and third it gradually loses importance to give way to the characters, by which I mean that in the first volume story and characters are balanced, there is a plot underneath, a mystery that has to be revealed, in the second volume this aura of mystery disappears a little, to give way to interactions between characters that drive the story forward with their complex relationships, and in the third book this aspect of mystery is lost altogether to give way to the evolution of the two main characters.

I really enjoyed the first and the last volume (expecially the first one), the second left me a bit puzzled, as if the author did not know whether to focus the story on the event or the characters, eventually ending up making both plots a bit disappointing.

The one thing I really didn't like was that there was no answer as far as the very first mystery that is mentioned, the one that happens in the first chapter of the fist book and it's the start of everything, Signa's parents death. I honestly thought it would just be a plot device, but then the topic was brought back in the third book and then... ended up in nothing, there was no explanation as to what happened and how, the author just raised MANY questions and answered none.

Another element (character?) that I didn't appreciate is Solanine(?? sorry I can't remember how to spell her name), she appears, raises doubts and disappears. Sh doesn't do anythig, she is a pure plot device, and of this I am very disappointed because she had a lot of potential since she was connected back to the unsolved mystery I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

On the other hand I really liked and enjoyed the setting, from beginning to end, I cannot say anything negative about it. This haunting presence of plants and flowers (especially toxic/poisonous ones), these gothic/decadent descriptions of the environments, the clothes and the social rules in which the characters of the book are framed, make for somewhat enjoyable reading (I actually loved the settings don't be fooled by my bad english that tryes to stay somewhat formal)

Final ratings

plot = 3.5/5 characters = 4/5 setting = 4.5/5 relationships between characters = 3.5/5

On a personal note, the overral rating should have been 3.8, rounded up at 4, but I think it's too much for those books because they didn't really left me anythig if not the sensation of reading a good book, so I think that saying that I liked 80% of the book would be too much, 70% is more accurate

Would I recommend this book?

For anyone who wants a light, unpretentious read that doesn't go to make you think too much, absolutely yes.

On the other hand, if you are a person who is looking for suffering, despair and all those things, I wouldn't recommend it much: sure, the third book made me cry, but nothing much, I stopped crying as soon as I finished reading that part and thinking about it doesn't make me feel anything.

So I don't think those are books made to feel strong emotions, but are perfect to just pass the time with an enjoyable read.

[incantatricedibalene]

Hello everybody

let me just start with an introductory post.

I plan in addition to yapping a bit to use this profile mainly to review books and tv series that I read/watch.

Let's be clear from the start, you might find those reviw wonderful or really shitty, that's because those are actually more for myself than for a public because if I don't make those I forget what I've read/seen.

So my goal with this post was to propose a general guideline on how I will organize the reviews.

1) general opinions = I will give a very general evaluation of the book, it will be a very summarised sub-sort of review

2) commentary = I will mainly judge the plot, characters and setting

3) concluding evaluation = I will rate various points in the book (general rating, characterisation of characters, setting, relationships between characters...) and say whether I recommend the book or not

As for books, I'm not a squeamish person, the only thing I really can't stand are the NSFW scenes put in randomly, without apparent logical motivation.

So expect great criticism about that.