#Anastasia king

[tlotrgifs]

You shall live to see these days renewed. No more despair.

[silkiemae]

The Sunderlands by Anastasia King

The Sunderlands by Anastasia K. King My rating: 1 of 5 stars The Sunderlands is a perfect example of why it’s essential to ensure your beta-readers and editors are unbiased and not your best friends. This book looks like an editor has never even touched it though the author claims a ‘team of editors’ have gone over it dozens of times. I see no evidence of that. The book is overflowing with fragments; the author doesn’t seem to understand how to use proper punctuation or even an Oxford comma. There are hyphenated words that should not be, and many typos and grammatical errors. There are so many anachronisms that I could probably write my own book about them. The author writes solely in fragments or overly purple prose, making the narrative difficult to follow. Words like ‘Man’, ‘Human’, and ‘Sun’ are turned into proper nouns for no conceivable reason. The Sunderlands is advertised as a ‘villain origin story’, but it doesn’t feel like one. Keres is described as a bad guy from the beginning, yet she doesn’t do anything I would consider villainous. This would have been better suited if she had begun the story when Keres died as a child and was resurrected. But clearly, the author was too excited to write her subpar smut, so she had to ensure Keres was at least 19. One of the biggest struggles this book has is being far too ambitious. The author is trying to create her own pantheon from scratch, apparently based on Greek mythology, while simultaneously merging into a world of her own making that includes elves, humans and monsters. Faeries are considered mythical even though elves are technically a class of faerie. While, in theory, this could work, the execution is very poorly done, leaving a complete mess in its place. This book read like a half-baked cake taken out because the baker was too excited to frost it and show everyone how good of a job she did, but the flavor is TERRIBLE. As far as plot, I’m still not entirely sure what it is. The chapters are mainly from Keres’ perspective, but then there’s a random POV from Liriene thrown in the middle and the epilogue is split between the two love interests in the book. I don’t understand the point of the switching POVs if it’s not going to be consistent. It felt strange and jarring to randomly be thrown into someone else’s head when I’ve grown so used to being in Keres’. Keres’ backstory is incredibly vague. She’s chosen by a death god, resurrected for some reason, but it’s never fully explained why. She’s cursed with bloodlust, but it’s unclear if she wants to drink blood or murder everyone. She’s a vegan elf(with bloodlust?), claws, fangs, fire magic, a death curse, she cries blood and is somehow a wolf? And probably more to come. Listen, I don’t mind your character having these characteristics but like…at least make it make sense as to why!! All the powers are revealed randomly, so each time, I think, ‘my god, ANOTHER power?’ Oh, can’t forget that time she heard a man’s arm hairs raise. She also fights with a scythe and bow and arrow and has never lost a fight before or even dropped her bow before. No one has ever even cut her before ever in her life. Like my god, how Mary Sue can you be? Lmao. Her only physical features are ‘opalescent white skin, white hair and green eyes.’ No other feature is mentioned, but no one can shut up about how hot Keres is. She only ever talks about blood, how she’s Death’s right hand, her obsession with blood, her nipples, blood and NOTHING else. I don’t know if she hears this Death Spirit voice in her head or if she’s just insane. She acts incredibly tough and full of resolve, but it’s a mask. She whines and cries when told to do something but does it two seconds later anyway. Of course, it’s apparently impossible to write a medieval fantasy without copious amounts of misogyny. It’s especially disappointing to see in a female author. All the women in Keres’ elven clan are illiterate for some reason. But not Keres because she’s “special or whatever”. Is she trying to make her elves like… tribal or something? But it’s done so ham-handedly that it’s actually offensive. I’ll explain further. Her elves are all vegan and don’t ‘eat animals of the earth (do they eat animals, not of the earth?) Despite not eating the animals, they still kill them for their pelts…which makes absolutely no sense. What an absolute waste. Do they leave the corpses with the rotting meat in a ditch somewhere? Also, vegetarian elves in medieval settings make zero sense to me. How does that even work? Oh, and another thing. The elves don’t wear shoes. Ever. Yet their feet are still soft as a baby and get cut up, which makes…no…sense. You will have calloused gross feet if you have been walking on the hard ground barefoot from day one. You are going to have hobbit feet. Keres says these are all her core beliefs, yet she wears shoes with little to no convincing and feels no remorse. Keres is dead-set on not cheating on her husband but cheats on him immediately. So strong-willed Keres. The arranged marriage plot was dropped about 70 pages into the book. Keres can’t decide if she’s happy about it or not. She didn’t give a crap until she found out her mom wrote a will that said she HAD to marry him and then, like a child, started to get mad about it. She marries Silas anyway, who wants to trap her with the marriage because he didn’t wish Keres to find out about his secret girlfriend at Court, and then when Keres runs off to Court, he…doesn’t even go after her? Or write or anything. Lmao, like what? All the world-building and background information is given in long rant-like info dumps. The terrain/landscape is a mystery. The dynamics of the elven clan are a mystery. The distance between places is a mystery. The weather is described solely through Keres’ nipples. Elves are all-powerful, have elemental magic, and can bond with gods, but I have no idea how these gods impact the world. Everything is thrown at us in drunken info-dumps instead of shown in an actual cohesive storytelling manner. But that’s unsurprising since the author has admitted that she writes this stuff wine-drunk. The queer rep in this book is pathetic. The book starts immediately with a gay character dying. Two random side characters mentioned approximately three times are gay, so Keres can say she’s not homophobic as she tries to murder one of them. “I wasn’t trying to kill him because he was gay. It’s cuz he was human!” But immediately after, as Keres’ sister explains how she was in love with the woman who died at the beginning of the book, Keres legit says Liriene has a sick claim on Katrielle(the girl who died)….like, great queer rep there. The author claims there’s POC rep in this book, and I’m here to tell you that the first POC is introduced 300 pages into the book and is described as having ‘skin like the earth’….just, wow. As for spice…this book advertises itself like it is the spiciest thing you will ever read in your life. Well…there’s little foreplay, just instant penetration and lots of screaming and ‘you like that’ type of juvenile dirty talk. All the men go straight for choking. Like without warning, suddenly, a man is choking Keres. Like…why?????? Why not write some sex that might actually FEEL good to the woman? No woman is going to get off from a man going down on them for .2 seconds and then slamming their dick in. Like, I don’t know about you, but that hurts. Keres constantly talks about how she’s an untouched virgin, and it’s DISGUSTING. Someone compares her to a ‘sheathed blade, shiny and new’, and I literally gagged. You are writing a book for adult women. Please, for the love of god, write about adults. Most of us of sound mind do not fantasize about being untouched virgins or ‘little girls who need to be broken’. That’s disgusting and, honestly, pedophilic. Most of us don’t have mountain peaks for clits, either. The build-up between relationships is nonexistent. There is no tension. There is no chemistry. Just bland dialogue, and then suddenly, a man is groping Keres and biting her without her consent, and she does nothing to stop them. It just is like…I guess this is fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t understand why she’s interested in either of the love interests. I’m a person who tends always to find villains fascinating if they’re written well, and like if they happen to be attractive and saucy, then that’s cool too. But I don’t find men who don’t know boundaries hot at all. Darius kisses her without consent, threatens to break her back over his knee(????) and throws her into the river she died in as a child, knowing she can’t swim. I’m struggling to find why I should like either of these men. One of them she’s whining about that she doesn’t even want or like through the whole book until she’s told she can’t have him, then she’s terrified of losing him??? You make no sense, gurl. Someone explain to me what’s sexy about a man threatening to paralyze you lmao; I don’t understand. I will end this review by begging the author to get an editor. Stop lying about it because all I have to do is read your book once to know that no editor went over this. Get someone who will be brutally honest with you because then you might be able to make your book into something resembling what you advertise it to be. Also, one last thing. It’s strange to advertise your book as being like ‘The Witcher, Game of Thrones and Outlander’ when you haven’t even read those books. The author has admitted they have never even read The Witcher series, so like…how do you know if your book is like that??? View all my reviews

[disneyfeverdaily]

perfect casting does not exist

[yen-sids-tournament]

Animated Sequel Finals: Cinderella III: A Twist In Time v The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

[tennessoui]

this has been done i know this has been done im sure this has been done but currently obsessed with the brainworm of captain of the king's guard obi-wan kenobi and prince anakin in some fantasy medieval star wars setting of some sort where it's just game of thrones-y enough that when the royal family is overthrown, it's violent and bloody and obi-wan knows that anakin will absolutely be killed in the revolution so he takes him and he runs back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that he left years and years ago, when he was just a boy himself.

and anakin is absolutely furious for multiple reasons--mostly he thinks they should have stayed and fought! that they fled like cowards from his homeland is a shame that he can hardly bear. so he's angry at obi-wan for basically kidnapping him and forcing him away from his kingdom when she needed him, and he's angry at the jedi order for accepting them into their ranks but only if they agree to pretend to be Jedi while they're at the Temple. and he's angry at the jedi council because obi-wan had to beg to be given aid and his proud captain of the guards should never have to beg for anything, and yet here he is, begging for help for anakin's sake!

anakin is probably like. nine, obi-wan is twenty-five, and they stay at the temple basically incognito for ten years with anakin 'training to be a padawan' (because he's so strong in the Force that obi-wan points out that it may be a good idea to give him all the lessons in anger management and force control even though he isn't really a padawan in case any of the material sinks in) and obi-wan as a worker in the temple hangar bay.

then the clone wars break out and obi-wan instinctively wants to join the fight with the jedi because he owes them a great debt. not only did they raise him until he was fifteen, but they took him in---took anakin in when they needed them

but anakin has never had any loyalty to the jedi. he is loyal to his planet, which he will return to one day. and he is loyal to his family and to obi-wan, for saving him. but obi-wan should be loyal to him and him alone. only to the crown. only to anakin.

what im getting at is like. a scene where nineteen year old anakin demands obi-wan swear fealty to him as the king of his planet on the eve of the clone wars because he needs obi-wan to know that he's his. his captain. his guard. kneeling and ring kissing is involved.

obi-wan swearing fealty and then probably fucking anakin and then probably leaving during the night to fight in the clone wars without waking anakin is also involved.

[rars]

photobombing the pink family

[foetp]

alina/anastasia x the 3 types of boyfriend

[oneshortdamnfuse]

The fact that kids can’t regularly see “traditional” animated movies in theaters regularly anymore is kind of sad actually. I’m not against other formats, I just think you could do a lot of creative things with this style and I’m sad to see it basically disappear.

[dollopheadsandclotpoles]

Let's try this again... I didn't include a few of the more iconic songs in the last poll. Yes, it's all on me, I forgot some of the songs from the movies I didn't watch that much growing up. I have since done my research and am back to try this again.

[goryhorroor]

animation in colors

[tlotrgifs]

Since you were robbed of Boromir, I will do what I can in his stead. If I should return, think better of me, Father. That will depend on the manner of your return.

[daisymintt]

Still the River Flows

Inspired by the song Still/Neva Flows Reprise from Anastasia the Broadway play.

Emrys was barely eight years old when Uther and his men had found them hiding in a cellar near the outskirts of Camelot with the few other remaining Druids. When his mother had heard the sound of horses nearing she had shoved him into an empty grain barrel in the corner and told him to be quiet no matter what he heard.

Through a small split in the wood Emrys watched as the cellar doors were smashed open, knights poured in and roughly grabbed his parents. They pulled them out of the cellar into the chilly night air kicking and screaming, herding the rest of the Druids that he had grown to consider family with them.

“Where is the boy? Where is Emrys?” The tyrant king thundered. His mother begged the tyrant king to spare him.

“He’s just a child!” She had pleaded, her cries falling on deaf ears. His father had raged against Uther but with all the dragons dead his rage had little effect on the tyrant king. The cries of the fearful children and the pleading of the parents was cut short leaving only a horrible silence. Emrys knew in his heart that his parents were dead. He felt tears threatening to overwhelm him and a sob clawing its way up his throat.

He bit into his neckerchief to try and muffle any sound he made as the tears flowed down his face. “Search the cellar, he can’t be far.” The tyrant king commanded.

Emrys stiffened and tried to shrink down farther into the barrel as once again the knights stormed the cellar upending baskets and knocking over anything person sized, searching for any sign of him. Emrys whimpered quietly to himself, terrified of being found. After what felt like an eternity the knights gave up and started heading back out, all but one.

A boy who couldn’t be more than a couple years his elder stayed behind. The boy had flaxen hair that gleamed silver in the moonlight and his sword seemed too big for him, he kept having to adjust the belt and the tip of the sword dragged on the ground.

Emrys shifted in the barrel and the wood creaked, the boys head whipped in his direction. Emrys held his breath and prayed to the Triple Goddess that he would walk the other way. The boy gripped the hilt of his sword and neared the barrel. Emrys feared for his life as the boy looked down into the barrel. Their eyes met and for a brief moment Emrys thought, This is it. I’m dead.

“Arthur! Hurry up!” The tyrant king called. The boy gave him a pitying look and stepped away. “Coming, father!” He yelled before quickly departing from the cellar, careful not to look back at the boy hidden in the barrel.

~*~

Ten years later Emrys, who now goes by Merlin, finds himself once again in Camelot and as the prince’s manservant no less! Over the years Merlin and the Prince grew close, closer than any Prince and his servant ever should. Merlin would die for Arthur and Arthur would die for him. Despite their close bond Merlin still kept his magic a secret from him for fear of what would happen if he found out.

Despite his best attempts to undue all that Uther had taught Arthur about magic the damage was already done. Arthur could be so kind but at the smallest hint of magic he turned into father, untrusting and even cruel. One day this all came to a head when Merlin went with Arthur on a quest near the border town Ealdor that had reached out begging for protection from a warlord.

Merlin had found himself cornered and was left with no choice but to use his magic. The look of absolute betrayal on Arthur’s face broke his heart. Once the warlord was dealt with Merlin remained in Ealdor while Arthur returned to Camelot. Little more than a month later Arthur returned to check in on the people of Ealdor, avoiding Merlin to the best of his abilities as he did until on the final day before Arthur was to depart Merlin finally got him alone.

“Arthur…” Merlin reached out for Arthur but Arthur shrugged him off as all the missing pieces started fitting into place. Merlin was that Druid boy he had spared all those years ago in that cellar in Camelot.

“An underhanded boy, an act of desperation, and to my consternation I let you go. Not this time. Ealdor is no place for a good and loyal Camelonian.”

“We are both good and loyal Camelonians.” Merlin insisted.

“I’ve come to take you home.”

“My home is here now.”

“Stop playing this game, Merlin! I beg you.” Arthur’s voice grew desperate as he tried to convey the seriousness of the situation.

Merlin’s voice quieted, “We both know it’s not a game, Arthur.”

“If you really are Emrys do you think history wants you to have lived?”

“Yes! Why don’t you?” Merlin’s voice cracked at the last bit, his hurt breaking through.

“The Druids were given everything and gave back nothing until my father rose up and destroyed them.”

Merlin straightened his back, all traces of subservients gone replaced with cool confidence, and with a steely voice he stepped closer to Arthur and challenged, “All but one. Finish it. I am my fathers progeny.”

“AND I AM MY FATHERS SON!” Arthur roared as he unsheathed his sword with the hiss of metal against leather and pressed the tip against Merlin’s throat, “Finish it I must. My father shook his head and told me not to ask, Gaius said he died of shame.”

“In me you see them, look at their faces in mine, hear their scream, imagine their terror, see their blood!” Merlin cried, his eyes flaring gold and a wind started circulating around them kicking up dust.

“But I believed he did a proud and vital task and in my fathers name!” Arthur pressed the tip of the sword harder against Merlin’s throat, blood beading around the cut and trailing down the pale skin of his throat.

“Do it! And I will be with my parents and my brothers and sisters in that cellar in Camelot all over again!” Merlin’s voice raised, recalling the fateful night they had first met all those years ago.

Arthur shivered at the memory of the Druid children crying out as they where cut down at his fathers word, begging for their mothers. The sword dropped to Merlin’s chest. Arthur pressed on, “The children… their voices… a man makes painful choices. He does what’s necessary, Merlin! For Camelot, my beauty. What choice but simple duty. We have a past to bury, Merlin!”

Arthur tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and pressed the tip against Merlin’s chest where his heart would be, “And soon it will be spring. The leaves unfold, the king lies cold. Be careful what a dream may bring, a revolution is a simple thing!”

Merlin inhaled sharply as Arthur pulled back his sword and swung it down towards his neck. At the last moment Arthur plunged the sword into the earth, collapsing against it as sobs wracked his body. “I can’t do it… I… I can’t…”

[worldoftheromanovs]

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, King Edward VII, Princess Victoria of Wales, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia onboard the Standart, June 1908

[kiwiana-writes]

Six(ish) Sentence Sunday

Thanks @blairwaldcrf and @ssmtskw for the tags! This is technically only five sentences, but there is also some wanton semicolon abuse, so I think it counts.

The thing about Alex is, he’s always ten steps ahead of himself. When faced with a problem, more often than not the solution will come to him fully formed and he has to pick up the thread and walk it backwards through the labyrinthine pathways of his brain’s logic until all the twists and turns fit together; until he understands the steps to take to get himself from point A to point B. He’s always been this way, to the confusion of most people around him and the dismay of more than one high school math teacher begging him to show his working. The point is, he knows that what he’s looking at is how they get June home safely. He just needs to fit all the puzzle pieces together so he understands how.

Forever feeling feral for whatever y'all are up to, so tags below the cut and, as always, anyone who wants to play! (If you take the open tag please tag me so I can see!!)

@affectionatelyrs @anincompletelist @celaestis1 @cha-melodius @clottedcreamfudge @cricketnationrise @cultofsappho @daisymae-12 @dumbpeachjuice @getmehighonmagic @happiness-of-the-pursuit @heybuddy-drabbles @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @hypnostheory @iboatedhere @indestructibleheart @indomitable-love @inexplicablymine @leaves-of-laurelin @lilythesilly @myheartalivewrites @nontoxic-writes @orchidscript @rmd-writes @roseapothecary @sherryvalli @ships-to-sail @smc-27 @sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @suseagull04 @tintagel-or-cockleshells @welcometololaland 

[dreametheworld]

and with every step together / we just keep gettin’ better / so can i have this dance?

fearless, taylor swift // anne with an e (2017-2019) // pride and prejudice (2005) // hadestown original broadway soundtrack (2019) // bridgerton (2020-) // the king of attolia, megan whalen turner // martha graham // enola holmes 2 (2022) // cowboy like me, taylor swift // emma (2020) // anastasia original broadway soundtrack (2017)