#Deepwater Trilogy

[makingofstories]

Tamsyn Muir interview about TLT in Celsius 232 (2022)

This post is a transcribe of an interview/talk made to Tamsyn Muir during the Celsius 232, a multimedia festival about fantasy, scifi and horror genres celebrated in Avilés, a city in the North of Spain. The interview was about her saga The Locked Tomb. In this interview Tamsyn Muir talked about topics such as how the trilogy turned into a tetralogy, fanfiction, her favourite cliche and translations. She also answered fandom questions from the public.

Click on Keep reading to read the whole interview!

Thanks to Comic Astur for recording the interview. They have another interviews during Celsius 232 in their channel, both to Spanish and non-Spanish authors. So check it out!

I want to share this interview and to transcribe it so everybody can enjoy it. Also, although I was in the festival, I couldn't go to this talk. So I'm glad that it was recorded because I found it interesting.

A lot of people came to the event cosplayed as Gideon, Harrow and other characters. Here is a photo with all of them!

This interview was made in July 2022, so the books discussed are mainly Gideon The Ninth and Harrow The Ninth.

In the scenario there were three people, as you can see in the video. Tamsyn Muir (center, author of The Locked Tomb), Gabriella Campbell (left, interviewer (and author of books such as Pequeños restos de magia, El día del dragón...)) and Diego García (right, interpreter). Gabriella did the questions while Diego translated everything to Tamsyn and then to the public.

Now that everything is clear, let's start!

Interviewer: Well, I'm going to start very seriously. I think that I don't need to introduce to you who Tamsyn Muir is. You also now Diego a lot. *laughs* Before anything else, I'm going to be very formal and I'll start by reading a bit of Tamsyn Muir's biography from Wikipedia. *everybody laughs* So I'll need to use my glasses.

*Gabriella, the interviewer, takes some aviator sunglasses that were on the table and she puts them on, the glasses really look like Gideon's so everybody started laughing and clapping. Tamsyn Muir nods and does a thumbs up 👍 After this joke, Gabriella takes the glasses of and puts on her regular glasses to read*

Interviewer: Tamsyn Muir is a New Zealand author of fantasy, science fiction and horror. She's been nominated for a lot of prizes and her first novel was published in 2019. I think that you may know what's its tittle... *everybody laughs* She was born in Australia in 1985 and she moved to New Zealand when she was five years old.* Now she works as a teacher in Oxford.

*in Wikipedia it says that she moved to New Zealand when she was nine months old, but in the same Wikipedia article in Spanish it says five years old. So yeah, someone can confirm which is correct? hahaha

The Deepwater Bride was published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2015, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, the World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction, the Eugie Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. Amazing. Then it came Gideon. It's the first book of The Locked Tomb trilogy. It was pulished in 2019. It won the third place in the Goodreads Choice Awards for best science fiction in 2019. Charles Stross describes it as: "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!" *everybody starts clapping*

What the Wikipedia doesn't say is that this woman is her translators' terror. *everybody laughs* She does a lot of bad jokes and has a lot of memes. She also made me lose a whole week of productivity because I slept several nights at 5AM to finish a book.

My first question, which is something that I think that everybody is interested in a bit, the biggest and most important question of all... is... Who is Gideon Nav's favourite p*rn model?

Tamsyn Muir: There are so many... *everybody laughs* How can she pick?

Interviewer: There must be a favourite.

Tamsyn Muir: No, no, [she has a] special place in the heart for a lot of them. She's ready, she's waiting available.

Interviewer: Now a more serious question. I'm not saying that this wasn't a serious question. Tamsyn has talked before about this, but everybody asks what happened with this trilogy with four books. She has made to us a Douglas Adams? What happened with Nona? Why Nona?

Tamsyn Muir: Why not? It wasn't meant to be this way, I'm sorry. There were going to be three books, and it was going to be over this year. But my editor asked me: "How is Alecto going? Are you nearly finished?" And I said: "I've finished the first act." I could see his face, it was on camera. He was very sad. And he said: "Okay, that's fine. How long is the first act?". And I said that it's not that long, 140,000 words. And he said: "The first act?? How many acts are there going to be?". I said four. He said: "We can't publish that, it would kill people". So we took out the first act and that's where Nona comes from. And it is her story, it is the story of one girl and I think I'm ok with it now. I'm happy with having and extra book. It is it's own thing. Maybe I'm sorry that we don't actually get to have that very very very big book that I intended. But Alecto will be done and will not be small.

Interviewer: One thing that I found while doing an exhaustive investigation on the internet is that Tamsyn Muir has written fanfiction. I think that it can be noticed in Gideon [The Ninth] and Harrow [The Ninth], right? There's a lot of incredible details [that can be related to fanfiction]. A lot of these details are memes and other cultural references. Many have come from Tumblr and other social media, including fanfictions. All these tropes and resources are present in fanfiction, such as the cafeteria. You may recognize that the moment in the cafeteria is a common resource in classic fanfiction. Social roles inversions too. There are a lot of details like these. My question is, which is your favourite cliche?

Tamsyn Muir: I thought it couldn't get any harder after who is Gideon's favourite p*rn actor. There are so many fanfiction cliches that I love. And I think that my favourite ever, and this is very cliche of me, is probably arranged marriage. I have to say that I got to do a little bit of this when I was writing Nona. You won't find it in Nona. This is because my editor got angry at me. I stopped writing [the book] to write an alternative universe so I could prove something could happen. I only got 30,000 words into it. Not that long. And then I had to stop. But I wanted to get it and maybe it will be out there some day. Not that my editor has anything to say about it. But arranged marriage is definitely my favourite ever cliche. It's a good one.

Also, there is only one bed.

Interviewer: Another question, this is a fast one because I'm personally curious. Do you still do fan fiction secretly? And about what show, book or cultural product?

Tamsyn Muir: I don't do it anymore. I've retired. I don't have time! I would love to. Oh, what fanfic would I write? I think I would embarrass my agent-mate Martha Wells and write Murderbot fanfiction.. So that is why is good I have retired.

Interviewer: Another thing that I found in my great and exhaustive investigation is that some people found Gideon and Harrow's relationship and described it as an intimate friendship. You know where I'm going, right? Some people described it even as a relationship between sisters. *everybody laughs* So I wanted to ask Tamsyn. I don't know, but I thought, with my personal bias, that maybe there is something romantic between them.

Tamsyn Muir: I have two sisters. If I behaved the way that Gideon and Harrow do to each other with my sisters I would be arrested.

Interviewer: Talking about this, we don't see in Gideon [The Ninth] and Harrow [The Ninth] any kind of explicit erotic scenes. But I, and some people may too, see that you make repulsive things strangely sensual and sexual. I don't want to do spoilers about Harrow The Ninth, but in one scene happens a reconstruction of an arm. And I found it deeply sexual. I just wanted to know if this was done on purpose.

Tamsyn Muir: I didn't do it on purpose, but after I wrote the scene and read it back to myself I thought: "Huummmmm??". The books aren't very sexual, but for Harrow [this moment] is the closest in some ways that she gets, so you should all worry about the future.

Interviewer: Another thing that we all may be in agreement is that Tamsyn's world is really complex. I think that you need a map just to follow every character. I was really lost in the beggining, when they're in that kind of battle royale for the keys. All those houses, characters and personalities... As a reader you may feel overwhelmed. How do you work with this world? Do you have your own encyclopedia? Is everything in your head? How do you maintain coherence [throughtout the story]?

Tamsyn Muir: [I'm] Very optimistic. Specially with complicated things like in the first book, it's very important to have knowledge of who has certain keys and unlocked certain rooms. I thought that I could keep it on my head. I ended up with a very complicated Excel spreadsheet. In every single book I say to myself: "This will be the one when I write down in detail everything that's happening, everything that goes on. I will write notes for myself". And in every book I hate myself because I never do this. It is luck, it is sometimes little bits of paper all over my house. And it's definitely my copy editor, who I think must be the most exhausted person in the world.

Interviewer: Going back to the memes and the references... I remember reading Gideon [The Ninth] and Harrow [The Ninth] without problems and then starting to search through the internet. I found a lot of memes [that I didn't get on my first read]. Between this and words about anatomy that I had to search on the dictionary, I talked with David Tejera (book translator of The Locked Tomb to Spanish), who's right there on the first row. Come on, give him an applause! *everybody applauses* I looked at how he translated stuff that I didn't know how could be translated. Do you have any kind of connection with your translators? Do they ask you about a lot of stuff? Do they insult you?

Tamsyn Muir: I know I'm going to say this wrong but: Lo siento, David Tejera. I'm so sorry. All of my translators are very patient. Sometimes very confused. And David of all of them has been, I think, the most patient and not the most confused. You know, it's wonderful having close relationship with translators simply to get to see how things that are put in English translate or don't translate into different languages. I'm not a linguist. I don't speak many [languages]. So it is been wonderful getting a little bit of the languages, specially into the romance. And I always really appreciate translators who do talk to me because they don't always. And I think that, for what I heard, specially for the Spanish edition of Gideon [The Ninth], that shows the fantastic book [translation] it is. So that's all David.

Interviewer: *to the public* Do you want me to ask about the translation of a meme or do you want another question? *the public agrees to the meme question* We may be thinking about the same [meme]. I'm sorry for Diego [the translator], but I'm going to read the phrase in English, then David's translation and then I'll explain where's the difficulty. The original says: "so I'm shut in here —wallled in, really— to prevent the Nine Houses becoming none House, with left grief." The translation is: "y por eso me encierro aquí, entre cuatro paredes, para evitar que las Nueve Casas se conviertan en la Ninguna, con todo mi pesar". This has logic. When David read the original he may asked himself what was Tamsyn trying to say. None House, with left grief comes from the meme No pizza with left beef. It's and old meme from Tumblr, if I remember correctly, in which people shared photos of absurd pizza deliveries. There was one pizzeria that let you choose the ingredients that you wanted. One option was none. You could also ask for each half of the pizza with different ingredients, left and right. Somebody shared a photo of their none pizza with left beef. *while Grabriella was explaining this Tamsyn was laughing a lot* Now imagine David in this situation. It's a perfect translation, but the meme is lost. Here in Spain we couldn't get the joke if it remained. This kind of pop culture jokes are compensated with erudited references.

Tamsyn Muir: Even in Spanish it still makes me laugh! I'm sorry, I just have a very childish sense of humor. I'm so glad I can laugh at the none pizza with left beef joke in Spanish! Sorry hahaha (she didn't get that the joke wasn't really there but we'll forgive her because she was just laughing a lot 😭)

Tamsyn Muir: There is no explanation. It's so stupid. And yet, for who was saying it, he knew that nobody would get it. But he wanted to put it in it for himself, and I feel that. But I'm sorry. hahahaha

Interviewer: John does a lot of references. Is John an excuse so you can put in all the jokes that you like?

Tamsyn Muir: I have to think about this because it may be a spoiler. There are many characters who are ways of me slipping in things I like or like to say. Ianthe Tridentarius is one of them. But John has a special place in the story that perhaps you'll understand more of when Nona [The Ninth] comes out. That's a worrying sentence I just said. Perhaps you'll understand a little bit more of the jokes that John is making and why is saying them. I have an actual plot point.

Interviewer: There are just five minutes left, so we have time for one question from the public.

#1 audience question: Do you have any playlists for the characters? If you have one, share it please!

Tamsyn Muir: I can't say anything yet. I mean, I would love to see that, but...

Interviewer: I have to say that there are a lot of fan playlists. This one was quick, so one more.

#2 audience question: If Nona had a birthday cake, which would be its flavour?

Tamsyn Muir: I have to think if it's a spoiler again! Nona has no taste, so it does not matter as long as it is covered in confetti and coloured icing. It would be disgusting! Lots of colours. Icing. It doesn't matter about the cake.

Translator: *after translating* Well, we have time, so one more.

#3 audience question: I imagined God as Taika Waititi. Do you have any actors/actresses that make you think about Harrow, Gideon or Ianthe?

Tamsyn Muir: Oh, that's hard. Sometimes when I think about Harrow... I love the maori actress Erana James. But Erana James is very beautiful and I'm not sure Harrow is that beautiful.

Translator: Ok, 3 more minutes. Any more questions?

#4 audience question: I think that Gideon is a character who is really open about her sexuality. Has somebody said you anything about Gideon's openness when talking about her sexuality?

Tamsyn Muir: I don't think anyone has to thank me, because I want to thank everyone who has responded to Gideon the way I wanted her to be looked, as a butch lesbian. I just wanted to put someone in who my 17-year-old self [would like], and the way that people who responded to her is like going back in time and telling my younger self that it's ok. So thank you!

People in the public: Thank you!!

Interview: Well, one last applause!

*really long applause, everybody loves Tamsyn*

Tamsyn Muir: ¡Muchas gracias!

Although I couldn't assist to this talk, I was able to go to the signing. There was a really big queue, but I had a great time with some friends who wanted their copy signed as well.

A photo with Tamsyn Muir, with my friend @alphathedm as well who's also loving the books! Tamsyn had some of the names to sign to written in her arm. 😂

My Gideon The Ninth copy signed 🥰

This is more of a fandom post and while I like to post stuff with more advice for professionals, I'm in the TLT fandom and I wanted to post something about it.

Thank you for reading!

[chattercap]

Hello! I'm Chattercap!

Hello! I'm Chattercap, a solo female game dev making animated romance visual novels with a twist! All of my games come with at least one plot twist, guaranteed 🫡

⬇️ You can find more info down below! ⬇️

Completed Games

MindMindMind is a supernatural/psychological romance about a ghost (with a nice British accent) who has stalked you ever since you were a child. You don't know who...or what he is, but you call him Geist. When you befriend a new boy at college, Geist will do anything to keep you in his grasp.

The game is complete and takes 1.5-2 hours to play. There are two routes, and both love interests are fully voiced. The protagonist has no set appearance and customizable name/pronouns.

Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux

Karamu is a mystery/horror romance where you have an unexpected encounter with your ex-boyfriend. He really wants to discuss the break-up. He probably won't take no for an answer.

The game is complete and takes about an hour to play. It's fully voiced and animated in a comic book style.

Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Android

Karamu also has a Steam page, if you're interested!

Kanau is a horror/thriller romance that's a direct follow-up and prequel to Karamu. It's about the love interest's childhood and details the start of his obsessions with the main character. (Note: It details heavily with the topic of child abuse.)

The game is complete and takes about an hour to play. It's fully voiced and animated in a comic book style.

Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux

Games with a Demo

The Deepwater Witch is a post-apocalyptic/supernatural romance retelling The Little Mermaid in a future devastated by climate change, where mermaids have been hunted to near extinction.

The game is currently in development with a 25k word demo (~2-3 hours) released. The full game will be 52k words long and is set to release in April 2024.

Platforms: Windows, MacOS

The Deepwater Witch also has a Steam page, if you're interested!

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance where you play as the Hero's childhood friend. His journey is finally over, and the kingdom is at peace. But after the "happily ever after," new dangers emerge: dangers that threaten the life of the kingdom's strongest man.

The game is currently in development with a 60k word demo (~4-6 hours) released. The full game will have 5 love interests and will be over 300k words. There is no set release date due to the scope of the game, but a revamped demo will probably release in Summer 2024.

Platforms: Windows

Games in Current Production

My current project is the full version of The Deepwater Witch, which I aim to release in April!

Hanasu is the third installment of the "Karamu" trilogy, following Karamu and Kanau, and it will describe the events a few months after Karamu. I'll be developing it concurrently with TDW, with a release date of Summer 2024. I also hope to release an updated Actala demo (with extra scenes and updated art) around that time frame.

Additional Links

Itch.io

Twitter/X

Patreon

Website

All other links

[lilareviewsbooks]

Gay Mermaid Books!!

Are you excited? 'Cause I'm literally so excited -- who doesn't love a gay mermaid book? Honestly, I think mermaids are a little underrated as fantasy creatures, and so it's time we change that. And be gay along the way. 'Cause why the fuck not, right?

I've compiled this list with all the gay books with mermaid and mermaid-adjacent creatures I've read before. I've also made a GoodReads Shelf with more books, as some lovely people from SaphLit (a sapphic bookclub you should definitely join!) contributed. I haven't read the ones that aren't here, though!

The Deepwater Bride, by Tasmyn Muir

If you're a veteran of queer books, you've probably heard of Tasmyn Muir! She's the author of The Locked Tomb Series, which starts with Gideon The Ninth and is about gay necromancers in space! It's a wonderful series, but before she sat down to write that, Ms. Muir penned this novellete, which is featured in the July/August 2015 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 

This is a more Lovecraftian take on aquactic creatures. The Deepwater Bride follows a young girl who can see the future, and the weird things that begin happening in her small town. All the while she's falling in love (with a girl, duh)! 

This one will give you Ms. Muir's traditional cheeky style, which includes phrases such as the iconic "the drowned lord who dwells in dark water will claim you. the moon won't rise tonight, and you'll never update your Tumblr again". Not to mention, it's a quick read, and still takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride that will leave you wanting more.

Aquicorn Cove, by Katie O'Neill

Another quick read, Aquicorn Cove is the sweetest graphic novel you'll read. It's a middle grade, but like Ms. O'Neill's other work (The Tea Dragon Society, which you should also take a look at, by the way), this one can be enjoyed by all ages. 

Aquicorn Cove follows Lana, a young girl who comes back to her family's seaside town to help clean up after a storm, and soon discovers the aquicorns - seahorse-like sea creatures. And, don't worry, there will be mermaid-like creatures as well!

This one is extra special because of how cute and fluffy it is - if you're looking for a nice, comforting read, look no further! Aquicorn Cove will fill your heart and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside!

The Girl From The Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag

The Girl From The Sea is also a graphic novel! This one follows Morgan, a 15-year-old who terribly wants to leave the island she grew up on. But everything changes when she meets a selkie called Keltie, and her desire to leave seems to lessen...

What I really loved about this one was the introduction to the mythological figure of the selkie. It's so rarely seen in modern SFF and I thought it was lovely to see it here. Not to mention, the art is super sweet and it follows that queer first-love plot-line every gay person needs to read every once in a while. Definitely recommend!

Ice Massacre, by Tiana Warner

This is the first book in a trilogy I haven't completed yet, but this first one impressed me so much, I couldn't help but recommend. It follows Meela, who lives in the fictional Polynesian island of Eriana Kwai, which has been attacked mercilessly by mermaids. As a solution, the elders send groups of young men out to sea to try and kill them, but it hasn't been going well - the men fall prey to the mermaids' songs. Now, Eriana Kwai is trying out a different strategy - sending young women, and Meela is among them. But she might not be as immune to the songs as all the other girls are...

Ice Massacre is action-packed and is perfect if you're in need of a post-Hunger Games-revival fix. Most of the story follows the girls in the boat, as the situation progressively gets more and more dangerous, and it definitely feels like reading about Katniss in the arena. Although the story does skew a little younger, I do think it's a good read, and it had me totally hooked from start to finish!

The Deep, by Rivers Solomon

This is definitely the most interesting of the mix, and the one I recommend the most! The Deep follows an underwater, mermaid-like people, descendants of enslaved African women who were thrown overboard slaver ships. Because of their painful history, they have designated someone to hold one to their collective trauma: Yetu, a young mermaid, is their historian. But this role can be more draining then it seems, and Yetu might find herself wanting something else.

The world building in this novella is just so unique! And it draws you in. The writing is very atmospheric, making you feel like you're in the ocean (and I'm super scared of deep water, so that was a weird experience lmao). Not to mention, Mx. Solomon seemlessly weaves in themes relating to slavery and the Black experience, not to mention the queer representation. It's definitely a must-read!

[onefleshonepod]

Hi! My wife is looking for some new books and I was trying to remember one that was mentioned briefly on the podcast- something about lesbians who can’t touch each other? And then they brush pinkies at some point? What was that book? (Also, your analysis is brilliant and we both love the podcast soooo much!!)

hi! 🖤 thank you so much for the kind words!!

i’m very sorry to say that the book in question is not about lesbians – it’s six of crows, a young adult novel by leigh bardugo (in the same universe as the grisha books, which were recently adapted as a tv show on netflix).

the couple we love brush pinkies for two microseconds in the sequel which completes the duology, crooked kingdom (mild spoilers for the first book in the plot summary on goodreads).

i (baily) love these two books so much (as does kabriya). all the characters are delightful and well fleshed-out, the books are very funny, and there’s an exciting and twisty plot which tests all of the characters and slowly reveals their backstories.

some more book recommendations, for you/your wife and for other people who may be interested:

sticking to leigh bardugo’s work to start, i also love this book of short fairy tales from the same grisha universe (my review on goodreads). kind of hate linking my own goodreads review here in a self-indulgent way, but i hate the idea of rewriting reviews and summaries i've already written more, so there you go.

i honestly find leigh bardugo very inspirational because she substantially improved as a writer between her first series, the grisha trilogy (which relies heavily on ya cliches like the mean girl, the most specialest chosen girl ever, and the love triangle with normal guy next door and hot but morally questionable guy) and the crows duology.

if you’re looking for things to read that are like the locked tomb:

more work by tamsyn herself:

her novella “the deepwater bride,” which is not available online but can be purchased for a reasonable price here.

“the magician’s apprentice,” which is available in full here, is an early exploration of some of the themes that arise in john’s relationships with alecto and harrow in the locked tomb

“chew,” a short story about cannibalism set during wwii

"the woman in the hill" (have not read)

“the house that made the sixteen loops of time” (have not read)

wlw sff books i have enjoyed, in no particular order:

a memory called empire by arkady martine: an anti-imperialist epic, written with a historian’s love for the byzantine and aztec empires. intricate worldbuilding with spectacular little diegetic poems and excerpts that i personally really enjoy. also uses the 70s science fiction conceit of overthinking social encounters to the point where one conversation can take up to fifteen pages (think dune and early dragonriders of pern) – i love this but i know some people who grew up reading today’s snappy ya fiction really don’t. contains a memory device that i suspect tamsyn was inspired by for aim/the messenger. a debut novel with some pacing issues – it read a bit like an exponential growth graph, leaving barely enough time to explain what was happening before the book was over. i haven’t read the sequels (i have a hardcover copy of the second book sitting on my desk literally right now) but hopefully they are better paced.

the traitor baru cormorant by seth dickinson: i’ve ragged on this series for its heavy-handed writing, telling and not showing, and thinly-sketched time skips, but despite all that it’s an enjoyable read. a very dark anti-imperialist tragedy set in a homophobic empire loosely based on late victorian britain. lots of economic intrigue. has similar psychological and medical horror to harrow the ninth beginning in the second book, if that’s something you enjoyed.

the unspoken name by a.k. larkwood: the story is thrilling, the world is interesting, the characters are lovable, the names are luxurious, the romance is cute, and i plan to read the sequel. the science fantasy vibe is very similar to tlt. however, this book is trying to cram three books into one. the time skips are frustrating because it robs you of organically coming to know and like these characters. loved it but be warned!

she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan: speculative historical fiction about a chinese emperor (do not google this emperor like i did bc you will be spoiled for some elements of the story!!), with minor fantasy elements. parker-chan does interesting things with gender if you’re interested in that aspect of the locked tomb series. however, it is definitely set in quasi-fantasy ancient china, not a homophobia- and sexism-free future. this was my favourite of the three major adult fantasy novels with central f/f relationships released in 2021 that were often lumped together on social media, lol.

speaking of those novels, i also enjoyed the unbroken by c.l. clark. it has a similar anti-imperialist storyline to the locked tomb, inspired by the real-world history of morocco and france. definitely has some debut novel issues (the pacing was very uneven), but i loved the characters.

foundryside by robert jackson bennett: a unique magic system called 'scriving' that allows you to essentially speak to objects, interesting plot, and a sweet but honestly kind of understated and forgettable romance. slow to start but has a satisfying and wild ending that sets up the next book in the series.

the ruthless lady’s guide to wizardry by c.m. waggoner: a light but delightful and hilarious fantasy romance. not at all similar to the locked tomb in terms of atmosphere – this has oddball victorian steampunk vibes.

the long way to a small, angry planet by becky chambers: in many ways, this series not at all like the locked tomb – it’s very cosy and sweet and low-stakes. in one way, though, it is like tlt – imo the locked tomb is fundamentally a warm-hearted book series full of love for humanity, even though there is a lot of horror and loss and grief. you can’t take loved away, etc etc. becky chambers writes from the same point of view on life and love, but without the horrors. these books always have interesting and inventive worldbuilding. sometimes the voice of the author peeks through in a clumsy way when detailing the leftist policies of her invented worlds but since i generally agree with the author politically it doesn’t bother me. the excellent sequels are linked stories, not a direct continuation of the same plot.

sisters of the vast black by lina rather: hey, nuns in space!! some of them are gay. i gave this four stars right after reading but i can't remember anything about it, so take from that what you will.

the raven and the reindeer by t. kingfisher: wlw retelling of the snow queen!

daughter of mystery by heather rose jones: alternate history fantasy romance / fantasy of manners set in a made-up european country. enjoyable lady and bodyguard dynamic.

monstrous regiment by terry pratchett: fantasy comedy about a fictional war in discworld. the fact that i'm putting this in wlw is a bit of a spoiler; i'm sorry, try to forget that.

some wlw sff books i thought were “okay” to “fine” but you might like better:

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon: i feel obliged to recommend this because we’ve mentioned it so much on the pod. a solid three stars. interesting enough, just not mindblowing in any way. here's a good although mildly spoilery review if you're interested in a more articulate encapsulation of some of my issues with this book.

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone: it’s fine. too flowery for my taste. would have preferred to read unrelated poems from these authors and read this story written by other people.

starless by jacqueline carey: standalone fantasy with a very promising start, great central relationship, and well-sketched setting, but the plot slots into a prophecy that’s already 90% complete and the world is saved all within the last 50 pages. as long as you’re not expecting anything else, you’ll probably enjoy it! i like jacqueline carey's other work as well. i read her book santa olivia like a decade and change ago; iirc it's a wlw romance between a boxer and a werewolf in a post-apocalyptic future, but i barely remember it so can't really rec it.

bone shard daughter by andrea stewart: it’s decent. an anti-imperialist story set in a society reminiscent of ancient china. there are lesbians. interesting magic system built on draining life from unwilling subjects of the empire to create magical constructs with, essentially, computer code written on shards of these subjects’ bones.

the jasmine throne by tasha suri: another book that is fine. also anti-imperialist, with interesting magic based on spirits from hindu mythology. i loved the worldbuilding inspired by indian history. there were definitely pacing issues in this book though – the central relationship lurched from place to place without any super natural development in between, and it seemed like the book was trying to end about seven times before it actually did.

non wlw sff i love:

a natural history of dragons by marie brennan: a personal favourite of mine. the beginning of a series following essentially a female charles darwin in an alternate history england. really is nothing at all like the locked tomb but i love it so much. here's my non-spoilery review of the fifth book.

provenance by ann leckie: my review on goodreads. i personally got really pissed off at the ancillary justice series for doing a hard left turn away from the universe-spanning objectives and alien horror i expected based on book one, but i love the author’s other work, including this book.

all systems red and the rest of the murderbot series by martha wells: nothing but hilarious romps with murderbot. i can never remember anything that happened after i finish reading but i always enjoy the experience. here's my review. i love martha wells’ other work as well, like this standalone fantasy novel and this portal fantasy series. there’s an author-approved free download of her debut novel available here.

the curse of chalion and the sequel, paladin of souls, by lois mcmaster bujold: very warm and happy and above all thoughtful reads. my review of paladin of souls is here. the penric and desdemona series is set in the same world; it's a gentle and feel-good novella series which only gets better as it goes on. lois mcmaster bujold is best known for the vorkosigan saga, which is extremely good – don’t START with my favourite, komarr, but please read enough so that you love miles and then read komarr (my review here).

the goblin emperor by katherine addison: god this is so good. SO good. i can't put it better than i did in my review.

velocity weapon by megan e. o'keefe: a somewhat complicated but mostly straightforward scifi adventure – the complexity comes from the timeline and structure of the book, something i enjoy picking apart in the locked tomb.

spinning silver by naomi novik: i love naomi novik’s writing and plotting. imo, her plots unfold in the same inexorable way as tamsyn muir’s, where the characters are established and placed in situations such that they move into and resolve conflict in a way that is shocking and thrilling at first read but perfectly fitting and inevitable in hindsight.

natasha pulley’s slow but thrilling novels, particularly the watchmaker of filigree street (my review) and the bedlam stacks (my review).

sixteen ways to defend a walled city by k.j. parker: a whip-smart fantasy based on the byzantine empire (or the late western roman empire). anti-imperialist story from the perspective of someone within the empire itself. uses the very weak device of just swapping skin colours and doing Fantasy Racism against the white people, which you just kind of have to laugh at. the narrator is very misogynistic but imo funny enough to get away with it – you can tell the author is making fun of his character as much as the character is bitterly taking witty jabs at the world around him. there are 3 books in this series now, all excellent.

the wee free men by terry pratchett: speaking of monstrous regiment and terry pratchett, nona pov reminded me a lot of tiffany aching, beloved of younger me.

rivers of london and the rest of series by ben aaronovitch: my review here of the first book. the subsequent books are all better than the first, tbh, but the first isn't bad by any means, just kind of weird. the series has a charming protagonist with a very gideon-like outlook on the world (for a straight dude lol).

infomocracy by malka older: thought-provoking near-future scifi.

powers by ursula k. leguin: showcases ursula k. leguin's always-excellent worldbuilding. profoundly human and full of love. my review here.

winter’s orbit by everina maxwell: m/m scifi romance. i have to be honest, i read this first when it was published as original fiction on ao3 and i haven’t read the published version, but i don’t think it’s changed too much except to add more political intrigue. very sweet. contains a memorable scene with scifi skiing.

sunshine by robin mckinley: my favourite ever vampire story. robin mckinley has also has done a lot of excellent fairy tale retellings.

sff short reads:

this list is already way too long, so i'm just going to recommend two short story authors i love:

rich larson, story 1 that i love (my review), story 2 that i love (my review).

sarah pinsker, story 1 that i love, story 2 that i love

non-fiction (specifically about space):

the end of everything by katie mack: my review.

packing for mars by mary roach: i love mary roach so much. a laugh-out-loud read.

poetry for locked tomb fans:

incarnadine by mary szybist: strong gothic catholic vibes. i described this collection on gr as “numinous and gruesome.”

poems by denise levertov, who converted to catholicism in 1984. i prefer her poems about nature, but there's a lot of stuff there for the religion enjoyers.

horror:

i'm absolutely not a horror connoisseur, but the horror book that i think gideon the ninth fans are most likely to enjoy is we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson. there's a fucked-up sibling relationship, a horrible antagonist who's just some guy, wild twists and turns, and a big old crumbling house.

i also loved the bloody chamber by andrea carter, particularly the bluebeard retelling.

the merry spinster by danny lavery: more dark fairy tale retellings. my review here.

[betterlatethanneverevers]

Podcast about Dylan O’Brien

They cover The First Time, American Assassin, Love and Monsters, and The Outfit. We also dig deep into The Maze Runner trilogy (A-Sides though they may be) and a little less deep into Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film (of which O’Brien is the star).There’s chatter on the nearly career-ending (nearly life-ending) accident O’Brien suffered on the set of Maze Runner: The Death Cure, his scene-stealing and star-making role on the hit MTV show Teen Wolf, and the enduring legacy of generational teen shows in general. The O.C. gets a lot of love here, so be ready for that. Cue the iconic “Dear Sister” SNL Video.Billy Ray takes a minute to cover the recent Dylan O’Brien/Zoey Deutch starrer Not Okay, we chat briefly on Deepwater Horizon (the best of the Peter Berg/Mark Wahlberg films), and why we think O’Brien has made the right career decisions so far. https://soundcloud.com/tfsbside/ep-106-dylan-obrien

[goodjohnjr]

Mission Genesis (Season 1) / Deepwater Black (Season 1)

Mission Genesis (Season 1) / Deepwater Black (Season 1)

Mission Genesis : 1997 TV Series Episode 1 What Is It? The 1997 science fiction TV show Mission Genesis (Season 1) / Deepwater Black (Season 1). 1997 YTV Promo: Deepwater Black Here is how The IMDb describes this TV show: A virus breaks out and leaves the humans residing on Earth doomed. However, in a desperate attempt before the end, all humanity’s resources are dedicated to a crash program…

[thesenesx]

Recently finished reading the first two books in Claire McKenna's The Deepwater Trilogy and I can't wait for the third!

There's tension, mystery, monsters, romance, magic, rituals, and most of all the deep dark ocean.

If you enjoy gaslamp fantasy and oceanic/nautical gothic, I would highly recommend the series.

[callmebrycelee]

MY MAN CRUSH MONDAY IS...DYLAN O’BRIEN

Dylan O’Brien is an American actor best known for his roles as Stiles Stilinski on MTV’s Teen Wolf and Thomas in the Maze Runner trilogy. Dylan was born August 26, 1991 in New York City, New York. He is 29 years old and a Leo. He has also been featured in the following: Deepwater Horizon, American Assassin, Bumblebee, New Girl, Weird City and 2020′s Love and Monsters. He is set to star in the upcoming science fiction film Infinite directed by Antoine Fuqua. He is 5 feet and 10 inches tall. 

[nerdslikeme]

BOOK REC: Deepwater King (The Deepwater Trilogy #2) - Claire McKenna

I kept this book on my tbr pile for so long to savour it, because I wanted time to really enjoy it properly. And then I took even longer to review it because I struggled to find the best background for the beautiful cover!

Author: Claire McKenna (website / twitter) UK Publisher: HarperCollins Genre: Fantasy See Also: Monstrous Heart Since losing her great love to the Queen of the Sainted Isles, Arden must fulfil an impossible promise before she can return home – she must complete the dangerous Rite that will return Jonah’s spirit to the abyssal Court of the Deepwater King. This sets her off on a journey far out…

[demifiendrsa]

SCOOB! - Official Teaser Trailer

poster

synopsis

The first full-length animated Scooby-Doo adventure for the big screen is the never-before told stories of Scooby-Doo’s origins and the greatest mystery in the career of Mystery Inc.   “SCOOB!” reveals how lifelong friends Scooby and Shaggy first met and how they joined with young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to form the famous Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world.  As they race to stop this global “dogpocalypse,” the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined. 

Starring in “SCOOB!” are Kiersey Clemons (“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” TV’s “Angie Tribeca”) as Dee Dee; Zac Efron (“The Greatest Showman,” the “Neighbors” franchise) as Fred; Will Forte (“Booksmart,” TV’s “The Last Man on Earth”) as Scooby-Doo’s best friend, Shaggy; Jason Isaacs (the “Harry Potter” films, TV’s “The OA”) as the infamous Dick Dastardly; Ken Jeong (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Hangover” trilogy) as Dynomutt; Tracy Morgan (“What Men Want,” TV’s “30 Rock”) as Captain Caveman; Gina Rodriguez (“Deepwater Horizon,” TV’s “Jane the Virgin”) as Velma; Amanda Seyfried (the “Mamma Mia!” films, “Ted 2”) as Daphne; two-time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (“The Fighter,” “The Departed”) as Blue Falcon; and Frank Welker (the “Transformers” franchise) as Scooby-Doo. “SCOOB!” is directed by Tony Cervone, Annie Award nominee for the feature “Space Jam” and two-time Emmy nominee for his work on “Duck Dodgers.”   Set for a May 15, 2020 release, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

[chattercap]

May 2024 Monthly Devlog!

Hello everyone, happy May!

Another month - another monthly devlog!

WHAT I DID

This month really seemed to fly by, gosh! Where does the time go…(sob) I was originally going to work on finishing The Deepwater Witch in the lull between NanoRenO and Otome Jam, but at the beginning of the month I realized that I was a bit burnt out…(I suppose releasing a game a month will do that to you!) So this month was a bit of a break month - I took a week break from dev work at the beginning of the month, and I also went on a small vacation to spend time with my family in the middle of the month!

After that I started to ease into producing assets for my Otome Jam game, which is a complete demo revamp of my big fantasy title, Actala! I completed around 3 backgrounds (out of 20+ sob) and finished 5 CGs (also out of 20+ sob).

On the writing side, I continued writing for Hanasu (currently at 25k words, which is longer than Kanau and Karamu combined), and I also finished up the script for my Mythology Jam project! I probably won't announce it until a week or so before the jam actually starts, but I'm excited to work on it! (I also made plans and outlines for my Once Upon a Time VN Jam and Winter VN Jam projects!)

In addition, I did some other miscellaneous tasks! I'm happy to announce that Kanau and Karamu will be receiving a French translation! I also plan to translate Hanasu when it releases, so the full trilogy will be available in French! (And I also did some business related tasks that I won't bore you with…tl;dr government things…)

PLANS FOR MAY

As you probably saw, I announced my Otome Jam project, which is a complete overhaul of the original demo from my first project, Actala: The Hero's Shadow. It's a fantasy/mystery/romance game with 5 male love interests about the "side character that needs to save the Hero" after the end of the Hero's journey. The original demo had 60k words with scenes for one love interest (Liam), but I'm planning on adding scenes for all of the love interests in the update.

Since the revamp involves redoing ALL of the art, I'll be going full steam ahead into the art for Actala in May! Hopefully I can get a good chunk of it done; I thought it might go quicker since most of the art is being "redone," but considering almost all of the compositions/lighting/faces and such are being changed, it's ending up taking me about as long as doing art from scratch (and longer than it took me originally, since my rendering process is longer).

I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to release the full revamped demo by the end of June, to be honest! I'm being very optimistic, but I'll reassess at the end of May to see how I'm doing. Since this is my big project, I really don't want to compromise on the quality. If it looks like I can't, I'll release an abbreviated demo and plan to release the full updated demo at some point during the summer.

For writing, I'm definitely going to finish Hanasu this month! After that, I'll be tackling revisions and additions to Actala's script to get that done for the updated demo release.

CURRENT PROJECT ROADMAP

My game dev plans have shifted a bit, so here's an updated roadmap! This is all not concrete, but this is my current planned work schedule:

May/June: Actala: The Hero's Shadow July/August: Mythology Jam Project (TBA), Hanasu, The Deepwater Witch September/October: Once Upon a Time VN Jam Project (TBA), Winter VN Jam Project (TBA) November/December: Hanasu if not complete, Actala (Liam route)

I am very excited to announce the jam projects, but I'll restrain myself! I post most of my major announcements on here and Twitter! If you want to hear from me more often or see the WIPs, I post frequently on my Patreon with sketches, writing snippets, sneak peeks, high resolution art, and weekly devlogs.

Thanks to everyone who's following along, and see you next month!

Chattercap

[narrie]

Resal, can you recommend what movies should I watch? I honestly have no idea, because I only watched the same 5 movies over and over again lol

inception

all the hp movies 

shutter island

prisoners 

the invisible guest

the proposal

goodfellas 

the intouchables

the godfather all parts

the proposal

big hero 6

batman trilogy

get out

knives out

tangled

life is beautiful

kabhi khushi kabhie gham

the da vinci code

seven

always be my maybe

coco

deepwater horizon

hsm 1-3

bend it like beckham

a quiet place

she’s the man

blade runner 2049

twilight saga

hush

princess diaries

white chicks 

the parent trap

hidden figures 

one direction: this is us 

[creepykingdom]

Scoob! | Official Trailer

The first full-length animated Scooby-Doo adventure for the big screen is the never-before told stories of Scooby-Doo’s origins and the greatest mystery in the career of Mystery Inc.  

“SCOOB!” reveals how lifelong friends Scooby and Shaggy first met and how they joined with young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to form the famous Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world.  As they race to stop this global “dogpocalypse,” the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined.

Starring in “SCOOB!” are Kiersey Clemons (“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” TV’s “Angie Tribeca”) as Dee Dee; Zac Efron (“The Greatest Showman,” the “Neighbors” franchise) as Fred; Will Forte (“Booksmart,” TV’s “The Last Man on Earth”) as Scooby-Doo’s best friend, Shaggy; Jason Isaacs (the “Harry Potter” films, TV’s “The OA”) as the infamous Dick Dastardly; Ken Jeong (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Hangover” trilogy) as Dynomutt; Tracy Morgan (“What Men Want,” TV’s “30 Rock”) as Captain Caveman; Gina Rodriguez (“Deepwater Horizon,” TV’s “Jane the Virgin”) as Velma; Amanda Seyfried (the “Mamma Mia!” films, “Ted 2”) as Daphne; two-time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (“The Fighter,” “The Departed”) as Blue Falcon; and Frank Welker (the “Transformers” franchise) as Scooby-Doo.

“SCOOB!” is directed by Tony Cervone, Annie Award nominee for the feature “Space Jam” and two-time Emmy nominee for his work on “Duck Dodgers.”

Set for a May 15, 2020 release, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

[thatsreallygay]

What are some of your favorite films, directors, and/actors?

THIS IS MY FAVORITE ASK. THANK YOU. Note: this isn’t in order. This is going to be long and I’m going to miss a lot but you get the idea. I know you said “some” but I decided to be extra.Live-Action films: 99% of the Marvel movies, Psycho (original), Friday the 13th, The First Time, Halloween, Star Wars, Donnie Darko, The Gift (one with Jason Bateman), Think Like A Man, Think Like A Man 2, Silence of the Lambs, Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight trilogy, Jurassic Park, Baby Driver, Insidious, Safe House, American Assassin, Deepwater Horizon, Sinister, Horrible Bosses, Hot Rod, Bring It On, The Shining, Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver, Wolf of Wall Street, Catch Me If You Can, The Perfect Guy, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, and Girl InterruptedAnimated films: 99% of Disney/Pixar movies (top two: Peter Pan and Tangled), Coraline, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Balto, Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron, and How To Train Your DragonDirectors: Christopher Nolan, John Carpenter, Kevin Smith (his older stuff such as Clerks, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Tusk, etc), Anna Boden, Brad Bird, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Patty Jenkins, Taika Waititi, James Wan, and Hayao Miyazaki.Actors: Cara Delevingne (my wife), Margot Robbie (my gf), Dylan O’Brien (my husband), Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Donald Glover, Britt Robertson, Mark Hamill, James Franco, Dave Franco, Jason Bateman, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Wahlberg, Natalie Portman, Tyler Posey, Daniel Sharman, Arden Cho, Michael Ealy, Alison Brie, Rosario Dawson, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Blake Lively, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Viola Davis, Meryl Streep, Sanaa Lathan, Taraji P. Henson, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Charlie Day, Anne Hathaway, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Randall Park, Ken Jeong, all of the Stranger Things cast, the majority of the Marvel actors/actresses (Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Josh Brolin, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Letitia Wright, Brie Larson, Robert Downey Jr, and so forth), and the majority of the Walking Dead cast (Andrew Lincoln, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan, Jon Bernthal, Alanna Masterson, Ross Marquand, Norman Reedus, and Seth Gilliam).

[agentnico]

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) Review

The last big YA franchise still going, and its only cause Dylan O’Brian thought he was Tom Cruise and risked a stunt when he didn’t have to so he ended up in a hospital and so the film was pushed back whilst the YA film movement slowly died out and now ‘The Death Cure’ is finally here, but is there any interest left in the franchise? I thought not, and then I went to the cinema to see it, and the screening I was in was full. So well done world, you still surprise me!

Plot: In the epic finale to The Maze Runner Saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary last city, a WCKD controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get the answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze. Will Thomas and the crew make it out alive? Or will Ava Paige get her way?

The ‘Maze Runner’ films were never anything special in my eyes. I don’t even really find them particularly good as films, but they are enjoyable for what they are. These are the types of films you can watch on a Saturday night when you just want to relax and you don’t want to watch something that requires a lot of brain work. But one thing I admire about the ‘Maze Runner’ franchise and more-so about this new entry is that you got to give props to director Wes Ball for making his trilogy. He directed all the films in the series and he was able to tell this story from beginning to end, and that is admirable. And I also appreciate Wes Ball for having the gut to refuse that extra paycheck and not split the final book in the series into two films, unlike franchises like ‘Harry Potter’, ‘The Twilight Saga’ and ‘Divergent’, the latter of which didn’t even succeed in its ambitions. And don’t even get me started on the short ‘The Hobbit’ book being turned into a massive trilogy the size of ‘Lord of the Rings’. So yes, I do admire Wes Ball for keeping the final book as one film, and not splitting it into multiple films, however at the same time with having only one movie for the final book, the movie is too long. ‘The Death Cure’ goes on for about 2 hours 30 minutes or something along those lines, and I get why, since Wes Ball wanted to cram as much into the film as he could, however by doing so the movie inevitably hits pacing issues, with many scenes dragged out to the extent of becoming boring, and many side-plot points which the film easily could have done without. That brings me to the next issue, being that there are way too many characters in the film which the plot doesn’t manage to balance well, and so many characters end up being under-used. The main victim in this is Patricia Clarkson’s villain Ava Paige, who throughout the series has been doing sweet FA and gets the same treatment in this film too, especially in the end where she kind of loses the ‘villain’ title in order for another character to get his moment to shine, which is fair play to that character, but not to Patricia Clarkson. To add to this, ‘The Death Cure’ finds the need to introduce more new characters with the likes of Walton Goggins’ mysterious business man Lawrence, who appears in the film, says a bunch of monologues and then just goes away. Goggins doesn’t do a bad job at portraying the character, but you are just left there wondering what the real purpose of his character was. And there are quite a few questionable plot choices throughout the movie, then again for the kind of movie this is trying to delve deep into the logical side of things isn’t really the right call. 

‘Maze Runner’ and ‘The Scorch Trials’ both were films that were enjoyable on their own, but it always felt like we were missing something, with that feeling that those two films were building up to something big. So ‘The Death Cure’ has the job of giving us the pay-off as the final chapter in the series, and to be honest it does a swell enough job with basically a non-stop action romp with our heroes going on endless missions and looking bad-ass whilst doing them. And the action is actually fairly decent, with the opening sequence involving a cargo train having a very ‘Mad Max’ feel to it, and then later in the more final moments of the film there are some cool close combat moments which were in all fairness to Wes Ball not badly directed at all. Moving on, the performances from cast members in this film were not bad at all, but generally everyone was fairly mediocre, and it didn’t help that many cast members the likes of the already mentioned Patricia Clarkson and Walton Goggins, and then also Giancarlo Esposito, Dexter Darden and many others being strongly under-used. But there are stand-outs, with Dylan O’Brian being one as our lead hero Thomas, and if there’s one thing that the ‘Maze Runner’ franchise succeeded in, it was that it made a rising star out of O’Brien, who is a talent to be watched. He just needs to be willing to step away from the comfort of his action films and be willing to tread into new territory like indie, drama, comedy or coming-of-age films, as I think that he has the talent for it. I mean, it was a nice change of pace when I saw him in the film ‘Deepwater Horizon’, and if he continues down that route he might end up being something bigger. Thomas Brodie-Sangster was also really good as Newt, and it was really nice to see that at the root of this film was the friendship between Thomas and Newt, and their relationship was the closest thing this movie got to emotional resonance. Rosa Salazar has a few strong scenes, which makes me really look forward to the upcoming ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ in which she will be able to show her full action star power by having to handle a lead role. And I was quite surprised by Aidan Gillen, who takes his weaselly factor from ‘Game of Thrones’ but also adds the sort of cool villainous stance to himself, and I was actually genuinely appreciative of his role in this film. Also a certain character makes a surprising return which was very welcome, that is all I’ll say on that matter.

Last few points to mention is that I feel like the film could have done a better job at tying into the previous two films, since because of the two year gap since the last film, a lot of people most likely forgot what has happened in the series thus far, as this is not a franchise which you can class as particularly memorable. For example, 30 minutes into the film and a zombie appears, and for a couple minutes I was confused as to why a zombie randomly appeared in this movie, and then I remembered that this series has the whole zombie virus plot-line which the film didn’t really remind us about until that helpful hungry zombie showed up. I’m just saying that because of the delay in production I think ‘The Death Cure’ should have had at least some kind of small reintroduction to the series for those of us who are not that dedicated to the fandom as some out there. Also, another point, I admired this film for not being scared of killing off its characters, which is a notable issue in many blockbuster films these days, especially those that are budgeted by a certain small company that goes by the name Disney. However with 20th Century Fox I always appreciated their films more, as it seems that the execs of that company generally give a lot of creative freedom to the directors and producers of their films, which is only more the shame that 20th Century Fox is now merging with Disney. Well, at least its nice to see that ‘The Death Cure’ still stayed true to its plans, with director by the end of the film hitting the point of “f*** it” and simply killing off everyone left and right. I actually was surprised as to how many characters died, but I appreciated Wes Ball having the guts to do so, and also from what I understand he stayed fairly true to the original novels, so good job to him on that also! Generally speaking even though this is a fairly dumb and not particularly brain-challenging franchise, all of these films have been fairly enjoyable, including ‘The Death Cure’, and even though I doubt I’ll remember much of these films, if they ever come up in my mind, I will look back at them fondly. 

Overall score: 6/10

TOP MOVIE QUOTE: “Three years we’ve spent behind walls trying to breakout, and now we want to break back in.” “Hilarious, isn’t it?”

[thesenesx]

The process for my Deepwater piece