#THAT IS LITERALLY MORE THAN A 600 PAGE BOOK

[millersdjarin]

wow I love spending hours upon hours writing a fanfiction for people to read for free and then getting comments like this that discredit and disrespect my (and all fanfic writers') hard work and time 🙃

[venusbby]

characters/pairings: itoshi sae x reader

warnings: fluff. the reader is an avid reader lmao so funny. sort of clingy sae? annoyed sae? just sae. maybe ooc too but idrc.

note: self indulgent because i've been reading this one book nonstop for the past week and can't think of anything else. wondered how sae would act with a reader who likes to read a lot like me lol this is lowkey bad forgive me sorry for typos

🌊 summary: sae starts to get annoyed because you won't stop reading your book. (and also because you won't give him your attention, but that's a secret— that isn't as well kept as he thinks it is.)

"y/n," sae muttered. he watched you with a glare, noticing how you had heard him clearly yet still ignored him, continuing to smile to yourself with your bottom lip between your teeth. he rolled his eyes, trying again, this time resting his hand on your thigh. his fingers impatiently tapping against the soft skin.

"y/n."

no response. you even giggled as you read the lines in that book you had been attached to all day long. that little 600 page romance book that entertained you so much more than he could— what the hell was it even about?

sae knew you loved books. you visited the library nearby almost every week, and he couldn't even decide if it was because the lady there was so nice to you or because you wanted to get away from him. there was no way he was that boring, right?

it was always sae who accepted all your amazon packages for the books that hadn't yet arrived in the library— and although the sight of your excited smile when he told you it was finally here was something, he never understood the hype at all.

why would he, when his sport was his all-time focus? books weren't ever as exciting to him as they were to you. so as long as you got any and every book you wanted (he made sure of that) he was alright.

but right now, sae had this urge to hide all your books from you.

especially this one.

because it stole you from him.

sae was annoyed. and he was even more annoyed that he started to think about hiding your books away from you like a madman, because it's fucking embarrassing that he's going borderline insane just because you haven't talked or even looked at him for the past two hours. and he's been in bed next to you this whole time.

he cursed under his breath and subtly thrashed around under the covers like a child who didn't get the toy he wanted. he shifted closer to you in the midst of his little quiet tantrum. "y/n. look at me."

"yeah?"

when you finally looked at him, it was as if he'd found oxygen.

and he hated it even more. why was he like this for you?

but then you went back to that book.

that stupid fucking book. again.

sae was going to cry.

fuck no, he wasn't. he won't. not ever. that's lame. so lame.

whatever. if you liked your book that much, maybe he should find something else to do too, he decided.

he turned around with his back to you and shut his eyes.

and then he heard another sigh. a dreamy one, at that.

"alright, enough. give me that." he jumped up from his sleeping position, grabbing the book from your hands. he didn't even know how to properly hold a book, but he didn't find it in himself to care as he shut it close, a breath of relief escaping from his mouth just as you started to whine.

"sae, no," you struggled, trying to get the book back, but you knew better than to fight against your boyfriend who was glaring at you like that with his lips pressed in a sad, thin line. his hair was still a little damp from the shower he took while you were just into the first 60 pages of the book. he swept his hair back, setting the book beside him, where you couldn't reach— atleast not without getting through him.

"i was almost done," you said slowly, trying your best to explain now that you were out of that world. "i promise, just gimme it now 'n i'll finish the first part in just 20 minutes."

sae scoffed. "fucking no."

he stared at the book placed near his side, literally judging it by its cover. "what's in this that has you giggling so much? some dude?"

you gasped, dramatically. "okay, he is not some dude. he is my husband."

"oi," sae groaned, things still not getting better for him even after that book had been closed and put away from you. "i'm sleeping next to you shirtless, and you've been giggling with your book husband?"

"you're always shirtless, though."

"that doesn't fucking matter." he retorted, huffing and looking to the side, chin up. you pursed your lips, placing a soft hand on his back, and leaning closer to leave a kiss on his shoulder. he always smelled so nice. he shook you off.

"baby, my sweet sae, if you wanted me to stop reading, you could have just said so." you smiled, watching him run another hand through his hair, his fingers pulling on his roots this time.

"first of all, i don't want your attention." he said blankly, finally looking at you. "and second, you ignored me when i said your name. guess you were too busy with your husband."

you laughed quietly, incredibly amused. about an hour ago, you were actually expecting sae to go back to sleep after showering— but for some reason, you were glad he didn't. this new side of him was so adorable that you never wanted it to end.

you sighed, lying back down, urging him to do the same. he listened as you explained, with you on your side facing him. "you know, i love this book a lot."

"i can see that."

so snarky. you resisted the urge to kiss his slightly puffed out cheek.

"it's really romantic. it's about the relationship of this newly married couple, how it develops day by day, and it's so cute. the main guy— my 'husband', is so good to the main character."

sae raised an eyebrow lazily, still opting to look at the ceiling and didn't respond. you weren't going to gain his attention this easily after that.

you went on. "and this guy reminds me of you. like, you guys are similar to an unhealthy extent. and the reason i was so invested in it was because there was a particular scene where things got a little hot."

"so?" he asked, still not convinced.

your cheeks were reddened from embarrassment. "so, whenever he said or did something, i thought of you. and that is why i was giggling."

sae turned to look at you. his eyes looked much more focused on your lips. he had forgotten how much he missed the feeling of kissing you. again, feeling another annoying pang in his heart because seriously, it had just been two hours. he had to stop acting like you'd been away for days.

"so basically you were having sex with 'book me' in your mind."

"oh god, no!"

"that's exactly it."

"you're so wrong."

"shut up, i'm right."

you groaned, covering your face with your palms and closing your eyes. you felt sae's arm slowly trailing around your stomach, him shifting closer until you could feel his breath fanning against your neck. you giggled out of nervousness and embarrassment, both. "that was not what was happening, okay?"

his lips twitched slightly at your state. "you know i'm way better than him."

"...are you, though?" you peeked one eye open, dragging out your words, guilty. fictional men were just different—

"ah, do you need proof?" he said, a smug look on his face as he began hovering over you. your laugh echoed through the room as you smacked his chest playfully, your arms going around his neck to pull him down on top of you.

"i don't need proof, thank you very much." you said softly with another laugh, letting sae rest his head on your chest. "but i wanna make it up to you for ignoring you. im sorry, my sae. i'll be better. you were just really cute."

"don't do it again," he said, staring up at you from his comfortable position. "or else you might have to go back to your 'husband'."

"i won't really mind— wait, baby, don't go! i was joking!"

taglist: @hyomagiri @yoimyas @beanxiv @hqfeatbetty @shuvvloverrr 🤞🤪

[journalsouppe]

APOLLO JUSTICE!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! What i would literally give to have a true AA4 sequel. I wholeheartedly believe if Yamazaki's team could ignore aa4 canon to make 5 & 6 then Shu Takumi should absolutely be allowed to ignore any 5&6 canon to make an aa4 sequel. I'm dying out here pleaseeeeee

The Phoenix sticker is from Peachcott. The Klavier sticker is from Ayabit from the Turnabout Cinema zine. The Apollo and Trucy stickers are from astarsor.

Writing typed below!

rating: 9.8 played: Fa 2023 port: 3DS favorite? Y replayable: Y recommend? Y series: Ace Attorney

Comments

THE JUDGE PAINTING

apollo's such a dork <3

ooo i like the perceive function

i love the music

DONT SAY THAT TRUCY T_T

there's so much going on in this investigation

wow i love how uneasy i feel even after the trial ended

LMAO I FORGOT ABOUT THE PHOENIX SEX PHOTO

i dont think y'all want your panties back...

klav's a bill and ted fan i see lol

LOVE mr eldoon's design 10/10

klapollo meet cute moment LMAO

oops ^^; i accidentally wrote a 600 word essay about the first case

i like how apollo cried over trucy

IT'S JUSTICE TIME??? T^T

i like klavier's hands a normal amount

alita must have some dirty fucking feet

the animations are so smooth

apollo being jealous of klavier at the concert and thinking he's cool LMAO

apollo is WHIPPED

trucy is KILLING it in court, she really is nick's daughter

klavier's shoe print *skull emoji*

out of pocket shiny forehead comment LMAO

lamiroir has similar vocal tones as malon!

THE PENIS FIRE AND KLAV PUTTING IT OUT IN THE BKGD

the smile and hair twirl klavier LMAO

why am i doing this music recording thing T^T

i dont like looking at daryan T_T

letouse kazuma moment lmao

capcom loves the face down death with writing on the ground huh LMAO

wtf is the judge talking about

i love all these scientific tests with ema! :)

i love the snackoos SFX

klav does not miss an opportunity to take a short at apollo's big forehead LMAO

APOLLO YOU DUMBASS

faking blindness is crazy

I KNEW IT WOULD BE DARYAN'S VOICE

klav's office is so much more normal than edgeworth's

WAIT IS IT GRAMARYE AND NOT GRAYMAYRE??

THE ANIMALS??

i love apollo and lamiroir goofing on klav

similar tech opening to brc

WTF WAS THAT KRISTOPH JUMPSCARE T-T

LORD DADDY???

oh he's insufferable

HOLY SHIT THAT'S WHY VERA IS STARING AT KLAV??

"rip off" phoenix is so real for that

are they injecting magnifi with piss??

im curious why kristoph would do this to phoenix

he just left his daughter???

tf is going on

T^T THE KRISTOPH ZOOM IN

why does klav have that egg from dragon tales

apollo understands me with mascots

this is so gay omfg

daryan not liking trucy means he goes even more into the shit book than before

apollo the journaling king

the x-ray function is a really fun addition

BABY TRUCY

omg phoenix with out the ugly hd redraw

GUMSHOE

he said it!!! he said 'ace attorney' lmao

i love and hate that i have to present the journal page

why does the screen shake when mr misham speaks T_T

THAT SCAR IS FREAKY

siblings omgggg

Summary:

I love this game so much. I love it so much that I am heartbroken knowing that AA 5 & 6 butchers the story it setup and I'm considering not even playing them unless AA7 is announced. I love all the main characters so much, the whole story was so well built and I can def see the influence the story had on DGS. Apollo is such a good protagonist, he's relatable but also so unique. I love seeing his character progression in the game: a new attorney who is easily manipulated to a confident and determined attorney who trusts in his own judgement. I LOVED Klavier oh my god. I love how much he respects Apollo and although he doesn't hesitate to tease him, he doesn't bully or abuse Apollo in any way. They both have a mutual admiration and rivalry where they try to play as fairly as possible. Klav doesn't maliciously withhold or change evidence, but he does spend hours reviewing his arsenal and thinks of all the counter arguments the defense could bring up. I really like Apollo's ability, it continues the mystery and mysticism from the original trilogy but with new mechanics. I adore Trucy so much. She honestly might be my favorite AA character. She's determined, strong willed, and above all -- extremely silly. I couldn't of asked for a better character to be Phoenix's daughter. I also LOVE the sibling reveal at the end but gdi if only they actually figure it out T^T T^T. I think Apollo and Trucy's dynamic is probably my favorite Defense and assistant dynamic. This who game was so fun, I know 4-3 is not everyone's favorite and it is a little all over the place but I also enjoyed it and loved the premise. There's so much to say, I haven't even talked about Nick and Kris - what an incredible feud, what a genius development for Nick. I cannot recommend this game enough, I am so obsessed with it and cannot wait to make art <3 <3.

[aliquistis]

On Mystra and Gale

Okay I gotta say it.

tl;dr: Gale is too old to have been groomed by Mystra (unless you headcanon him as 30 or younger), bc she was dead until 1479 (game year is 1492). I am not defending Mystra. Mystra is a mess. Her (FR) writing is a mess. But for this at least, the timeline doesn't add up.

Disclaimer: there is absolutely nothing wrong with people disregarding/tweaking lore for fan works/fanfic. God knows I do it all the time when I GM. That's your story now and you can do whatever you want with it, including exploring problematic relationships like what if Gale was groomed by Mystra? This is just a post for general information. Write what you want. Explore those dark recesses of the human heart. Fly free, you beautiful butterfly.

Too long but still gonna read explanation under the cut.

Let me preface this again: This is not a post in defense of Mystra. I have, in fact, been very loudly complaining about Mystra since long before Baldur's Gate 3 was even hinted. This is simply pointing out timeline discrepancies that it seems many newcomers to Forgotten Realms aren't aware of (totally understandable! You should not need to ingest 30 years of lore to enjoy a game and I'm not saying you do.) Additionally, FR literally kills Mystra every new edition and it gets dumber every time.

Anyways. It is highly unlikely that Gale was groomed by Mystra. This is not a statement of morality, it's a statement of timeline. Mystra died in 1385. She was in pieces (like bits of her magic were still in artifacts/her Chosen, such as Elminster in lore that I absolutely despise) and that, as far as I can tell, is how magic subsisted until 1479, when she was reconstituted by Elminster (in lore that I absolutely despise) This is a gross oversimplification of an event called the Spellplague. I am open to correction on how magic worked here because I moved to Pathfinder during the 4e era and you could not make me read those Elminster books if you put a gun to my head.

Regardless, from 1385-1479, Mystra was dead/missing/asleep. BG3 takes place in 1492. If Gale is 40 years old, he was born in 1452. This means, if Gale is 40, the youngest he could have been was 27 when Mystra contacted him. This lowers, obviously, if you think Gale is 35 or even 30. If he's 30 then Mystra could have contacted him at 17. Yes, a 17 year-old is a child and this could have led to grooming, but Mystra wasn't at full strength when she first returned and she most likely wasn't seeking new Chosen until the next year, 1480. Regardless, this is the reason I put grooming as Highly Unlikely instead of Impossible. I personally believe Gale is older than 30 (I say this as a person in their 30s), I believe he was written with the intention of being a man older than 30, and I cannot see him being in his 20s. (more power to you if that's your headcanon, he's an archmage, he could be 600 for all we know, fly free, etc)

OKAY THAT SAID. Would she have groomed him? Fucking probably! Mystra is a mess. I have been playing in Forgotten Realms in tabletop and video game settings for going on 25 years now and let me tell you. Mystra is a mess. I could make a whole long ass other post on all the many problems I've had with her writing over the years. Even without the "Mystra banged a minor" angle here, there is a serious power imbalance and very obvious manipulation on her part. And I'm here to tell you Gale isn't even the first wizard she has done this to! She's done much worse! Mystra has a ton of flaws (I could write a BOOK on Mystra's flaws) but it remains highly unlikely that grooming Gale in particular is one of them.

If you'd like more FR lore this person has some amazing lore write-ups that I really enjoyed reading during EA. And here is Mystra's forgotten realms wiki page, already linked to her death and return.

(my friend told me to post this after I kept bitching to them about Lore on discord and They Know Who They Are)

[male-hedonism-and-acting-cool]

so i saw you have headcanons on ur page, so i prompt you for more, unload all ur cattonquick headcanons can be nsft go wild mate

sorry it took me so long but here are almost 2k words of my cattonquick headcanons

Felix

dyslexia/adhd combo. has no idea until like late 20s/early 30s. gets medicated, and it changes his entire life (he even gets some kind of rich boy job)

but during oxford he's just struggling and insufferable. Oliver has to do some of his assignments for him (not often. usually when Felix forgets about them entirely and doesn't find someone to pay for doing them)

had chlamydia. do I really need to explain this one? boy fucks around a lot

wants to get his nipples pierced

likes horror stories and spooky urban legends and stuff but also gets scared shitless by them

he was around 10 when his dog died. was literally heartbroken, didn't eat for like a weak. swore to never have a pet again

once during boarding school procrastinated all of his works for the last moment drank five redbulls was awake for 43 hours to finish everything and went to two finals. slept for two days straight woke up with no memory of doing any of this and didn't have a caffeinated drink again for a couple of years (he still barely passed if you care)

has super boring stories about drunk nights out (because he's rich and popular, so there's always something looking after him). but he thinks they are crazy

turns into crazy people pleaser if you as much as hint that you don't like him

​Oliver

autistic

thinks he's great at masking (he does know it's masking because he's also not diagnosed but he's highly aware that he performs different versions of himself for people and believes it's him being an evil genius or something)

is actually shit at masking. he can put his shit together and act a certain way for some time (like he did with other Cattons). but most of the time he's a little freak type of guy, and everyone notices

he also won’t talk to anyone unless he absolutely needs to (he almost failed a class because he needed to do a group project but didn’t like the group he was assigned to, so he tried to email “sorry to miss our group meeting but here’s my part of the work” his way out of talking to any them)

since they spend almost all the time together, Felix knows him in his closest to not masking state

I think his dad does have drinking problems, but he's more like a functional alcoholic so no one cares

likes reading long books. like 600+ pages long. they provide him with a sense of stability

I know he doesn't look like it, but he did have friends at school. mostly children of his parent's friends or people from his classes. he doesn't keep in touch with any of them, and it's his decision (he misses them sometimes, but it's more like he misses the idea of having friends than actual people)

started using contact lenses because Felix would always mention how he likes the color of his eyes

really picky about food and would rather starve than eat something he doesn't like. skips meals at oxford all the time if eggs at the dining hall are cooked in the wrong way or something like this

tries to quit smoking at some point later in life but decides it's not worth it with all the passive smoking from living with Felix

talks in his sleep. not much and not often, but still

becomes a writer and write really fucked up stories with dark academia vibes (partially because he turned into a fucking gremlin when he discovered academic validation and never let it go + partially as a love letter to Felix, his uni sweetheart who, let's be honest, kinda peaked at uni)

gets close with his second sister when she grows older (she and the youngest one have a similar age difference to Oliver and the oldest sisters, and their parents treated them similarly. so they bond over being ignored and forced into taking care of their younger siblings) parents treated them similarly. so they bond over being ignored and forced into taking care of their younger siblings)

cattonquick

Felix is one year older than most people in his class. because he took a gap year after school to "experience life" (get drunk in nine different European countries) and "get to know himself" (receive a couple of mediocre hand-jobs from other rich boys and make some conclusions about his sexuality). he would've been one year Oliver's senior but when Oliver was five he had severe pneumonia and was too weak to start school (like a fucking victorian child). so he started a year later and they are the same age

they do awful couple Halloween costumes (there are also people dressing as them for Halloween as couple costumes, that’s how annoying they are)

they are "facebook official" if you care (it was a big deal for possessive mentally unstable people back then, trust me, my favorite movie is the social network)

Felix has insane separation anxiety (like those dogs on tiktok that grew up during covid with their owners always around)

he would sit in Oliver's laps at parties, play with Oliver's clothes or hair while he's doing his work, ask Oliver to join him in the shower because I need to wash my hair so it's gonna be a long shower and I'll miss you and then you'll go to the shower and I'll miss you even more

but once in a while he gets angry because he feels "too needy" so he ignores Oliver for the whole day or asks him to leave if they are together

then (you guessed it) he starts missing Oliver

at first, Oliver was freaking out every time this happened, but over time he figured out to just give Felix some time and come back later. it still hurts him though that Felix believes he can just send him away whenever he's tired of him

after days like this Felix does everything to show that he loves Oliver and wants him around. he cuddles him more, takes him to a bar or to one of their special places, buys him something (he keeps track of everything Oliver mentions he likes by texting Farleigh. Farleigh fucking hates it)

but still the best way to show Oliver that he won't suddenly get bored of him once and for all one day is to stop doing shit like this. and Felix fails to do it. so they pretend it never happened until it happens again

Oliver always pulls Felix for a kiss by the collar or by his hair. he never st­ands on his toes

they did acid toge­ther once. Felix was sure Oliver would love it but Oliver had an awful trip full of maze imagery and never tried psyched­elics again

for their first va­cation together, they go to France (mostly because Felix does­n't really care for traveling, and he kno­ws that Paris is the city of love or wha­tever). there're huge protests the second day they arrived. so they only go to Louvre and spend the whole two weeks in their hotel room

after Oliver and Felix date for a while and it's clear that Oliver isn't going anywhere Oliver and Farleigh start to develop some love/hate friendship. they mostly hang out toget­her, talk shit about everyone (including each other), and di­scuss poetry

Felix is insanely jealous. Farleigh is offended Felix thou­ght he would be into Oliver. Oliver finds it hilarious (he doesn't think it's hot because he already knows how possessive Felix is, which is hot, but this makes Felix nervous so Oliv­er isn't into it)

Oliver bites. not only during sex but in general. they can sit holding hands and talk and he will just bite Felix's ha­nd and continue talk­ing like nothing hap­pened. because Felix is a little spoon, he will often wake up from Oliver biting into the back of his neck and have a mark for the entire day. Felix gets used to it surprisingly eas­ily (and by gets used to it I mean he finds it unearthly hot, to­uches marks that Oli­ver leaves on him all the time and serio­usly thinks about ge­tting a tattoo of Ol­iver’s bite marks)

and yes he does call Oliver a vampire

Oliver has a couple of slightly worn t-shirts three sizes bigger for Felix to borrow (when they st­art living together a couple slowly turns into a whole drawe­r)

they never really lived in saltburn to­gether. but they went here for summer

when they start li­ving together (right after oxford they move into a two-story apartment) Oliver insists they both sho­uld have an office as some personal spac­e, mostly because he needs to get his wo­rk done. Oliver’s of­fice is very old-fas­hioned, with dark wo­oden furniture and tall bookshelves. he also gets a reproduc­tion of the Saltburn maze game. Felix do­esn’t know what to put in his office bec­ause he doesn’t need a fucking office. his only idea is to commission a portrait of Oliver, so for a couple of years (until he gets medicated and finds a rich boy job) his office has blank wall­s, a portrait of his boyfriend with a de­sk and a single chair across from it and nothing else. he en­ds up spending most of the time Oliver works on the couch at Oliver’s office any­way

Oliver has a lock of Felix's hair in a locket. very 18th century gothic poet style (Felix knows ab­out it btw. it was an anniversary gift)

Felix introduces Oliver as boyfriend, then fiancé, and then husband. Oliver al­ways introduces Felix as his life partner

they get married after six years toget­her

Felix is the one to propose (he waited for Oliver to do it, but Farleigh once told Oliver that he would look like a des­perate social climber if he proposes and Oliver internalized it immediately)

Oliver writes Felix love letters even after they’ve been together for years. full of admiration for small daily things Felix does, about how godly is even the way Felix brush his teeth; about small nice things that hap­pened to him because there’s no one in the world he would ra­ther share it with (much like Nabokov’s Letters to Vera)

Oliver doesn't bel­ieve in soulmates, and Felix claims to be personally victimiz­ed by it. but Oliver just loves to see it as a result of hard work they put into it. he doesn't think they were simply destined to be togeth­er, he believes it's years and years of them choosing to be together, choosing each other when there were so many easier options

as for nsfw

I don't think they have sex with penet­ration often

like Felix has oral fixation, and Oliver just prefers doing things with his han­ds or mouth

Felix is really vo­yeuristic and huge part of their sex life is just Felix putt­ing up a show for Ol­iver and Oliver watc­hing

Felix likes to do cookwarming (oral fi­xation + it grounds him and his adhd bra­in)

Oliver is really a service dom whatever Felix wants Oliver will find a way to do it

but his personal favorite is rimming Felix until he's all wet and finish him by sucking him off and fingerings him at the same time

[gotham--fc]

I mean yes but please expand

Okay this took me a while but the cba is 350 pages and I read that thing okay like I didn't skim it (okay I skimmed a lot of the numbers part bc the numbers mean dick to me) but I read it okay? Anyways here's all my thots, buckle up it's a long one, I'll put in under a readmore so you can just scroll past if you don't care

Non inclusive language (all players must be women, referring to players as ‘she’ ‘her’ etc, at least one out non binary player in the league, also no definition on what a woman is so afab? Trans women? Unclear)

Teams can only have 6 players with protected salaries (meaning teams still have to pay them if they get hurt or ill or cut etc) only vets can have protected salaries not rooks – rosters are 11-12 which means half the team can get cut without pay for any reason and lose their salary (this isn’t something that will ever be changed and probably is standard and/or better than other sports leagues but it is worth mentioning)

By agreeing upon provisions (to be set forth in Exhibit 3 to a Standard Player Contract) limiting or eliminating the player’s right to receive her Base Salary (in accordance with Sections 6(a)(i)(y) and 6(c) of this Article) when the player’s disability or unfitness to play skilled basketball is caused by the re-injury of one or more injuries sustained prior to, or by the aggravation of one or more conditions that existed prior to, the execution of the Standard Player Contract providing for such Base Salary – players that aggravate an old injury can get cut without pay and teams that sign players hurt can cut them without pay? this isn’t a problem for established players bc teams will deal with an injury prone player if they’re good enough when healthy, but it’s not good for rookies/unestablished players who won’t get the same grace

Players with less than 6 years experience can’t get trade bonuses from the team trading for them – kinda fucked up

Players base salaries not protected if they’re injured playing overseas, fine for top players bc teams won’t cut them and will pay for their rehab to get them back for wnba but for rooks/not established vets they get kinda fucked over also the fucked over players are the ones who need to play in Europe most bc they don’t make shit, like the players that this won’t affect make enough to not need to play in Europe if they really don’t want to

Max/min salaries should be determined by percentage of revenue, while salaries are better than they were and they go up each year they’re not connected to league revenue at all so league could make shit ton more money this year but players salaries next year won’t reflect that, also unclear where tf the numbers come from? Like how did they determine this is the salary cap # and this is how much it’ll increase like are these arbitrary numbers or is there logic behind them

Low salary cap = no roster space

Players given coach airline tickets from city they reside to city they play and back, and to cities they are traded to (it literally says coach even if teams wanted to give players better seats they cannot)

No airline ticket provided if travel is less than 200 miles (but travel still paid for but like bus/train/gas money)

All air travel provided by the Team (including, but not limited to, travel between games) will be, if available on the Team-chosen flights at the time of booking, premium economy (or similar enhanced coach fare) – no chartered flights hence why nyl was fined and why mercury can’t use their own plane, this is literally written in the cba that players agreed to who are now making a big stink about cathy hating to see a bad bitch winning when the bad bitches in question did this to themselves

Players are paid 25% of league revenue and 50% of incremental value. This is where it gets confusing for some ppl because they see 50% and assume it's 50% of total revenue. It's not. nba players for example make 50% of all league revenue, so if the nba makes hypothetically 600k in revenue then players get 300k. In the wnba on the other hand, if the league expects to make 500k then actually makes 600k, the players don't get 300k, they get 25% of 500k+50% of 100k, so that would be 125k+50k. It's significantly less revenue sharing than the nba has which is what the players have been fighting for, like Kelsey Plum said we don't want to be paid the same salaries as the nba we want the same percent of revenue.

Players required to attend media things, not a max number of things a season but whenever the team/league wants, a max number of things within certain number of days, but players really have no control over their media appearances for the team/league – why angel reese and Chicago sky fined, really takes away player freedom/autonomy and you know that certain players are going to do media more often bc they’re ‘big names’ meaning they do so much extra labour than their teammates (a’ja doing what seems like every aces press conference??), and it means a player can't back out of media if they're not up for it like if they're tired, hurt, physically or mentally not at 100% they can't say sorry coach not today or they and the team gets fined

“Player Attributes” means a player’s name, nickname, Picture, portrait, image, signature, voice or other identifiable attributes and, to the extent that she has rights therein, biographical data” league has rights to license any player attributes and players are not allowed to license their attributes, players cannot permit anyone other than the league to manufacture products bearing player attributes, and not allowed to appear promos or ads for any entity that is not a wnba sponsor or affiliate (so no individual sponsors with anyone not associated with the league) – this is probably a general thing in all leagues but it just feels icky

Must have minimum of 11 and max of 12 players on roster, nba has 14-15 roster – again this is salary cap related but even with the increasing salary cap teams can only have a max 12 players so even if the salary cap gets upped that doesn’t equal to more roster spots

Players aren’t allowed to strike, but teams aren’t allowed to lockout players – no lockout is good since it can be used to essentially force players into agreements that are league/team beneficial and teams/leagues can use lockouts to turn media and fans against players (mlb lockout where teams were like the players won’t play we’re willing to play but the players won’t in an attempt to villainize them and the players being like nah bro we’re ready to play they’re not ready to come to the table), but no strike… icky

Also this is not an issue I have with the cba I actually like it but "No Team shall make any direct or indirect payment of any money, property, investments, loans, or anything else of value to: (i) any basketball team not in the WNBA, or (ii) any other entity, organization, representative, or person, for the purpose of inducing a player to enter into a Player Contract or in connection with receiving the right to enter into a Player Contract." Actual quote from the cba I just want to bring up because this is why the wnba is investigating the aces 100k sponsorship bc they're essentially questioning if that money is actually coming from marky mark himself or if that money was used to incentivize players to sign contracts below market value anyways just wanted to point that out, I'm all for bagging on commissioners when they suck but in this case cathy isn't doing this bc she hates vegas she's doing this bc the aces might be breaking the cba

Anyways, that's all my thots on the cba, it's definitely better than it was and there's some good stuff in there that does help protect players, but there's also a lot that's icky and stuff that I'm disappointed to see the players agree to and I understand that players have to make concessions and compromise on stuff, but there's stuff in there (like having to be available for media, the chartered flights debacle, the aces sponsorship debacle) which has been causing a big stink that players and fans obviously have issues with which are written into the cba that players agreed to, so I think after 2027 (when this cba expires) that there's some things the players association needs to take a hard stance on and not budge

[thetypedwriter]

Curious Tides Book Review

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle Book Review 

This book has so many things to love. 

Too bad I disliked almost all of them because of other glaring issues in the book. 

I still give Lacelle so much credit. Her book had so many dreams (literally) and tried to tackle so much for a debut YA novel. However, I really think she could have benefited from a more succinct editor, by changing up her timeline, and by shearing off a good 200 pages or so. 

This book’s plot is ambitious. It switches POV’s between two main characters: Emory and Baz. Emory, a student at Aldryn College, specializes in healing powers. Used to being mediocre and constantly standing in the shadows of her best friend, Romie, Emory is suddenly the recipient of every power after a near death experience that leaves several dead, including Romie.

However, in the aftermath of the event, Emory learns that she’s a mythical tidecaller. Baz meanwhile, is an eclipse-born, a person who receives his powers from being born on a lunar eclipse.

Known for their horrific and “evil” powers that combust in an event called “collapsing”, Baz is ostracized and alienated by the other students at Aldryn, but also the world at large for his incredible, but frightening ability to control time (another big issue that I won’t even get into). 

The setting of this book is a world based on the idea that people receive abilities depending on the moon they were born under. There’s lore galore, colleges dedicated to honing special abilities, rituals, language, and mythology–all based on the tides and the moon. 

The details that Lacelle includes in this is really interesting, as is the concept of magic based on the moon phases itself. A dark academia setting based on the tides and lunar alignments? I love it.

However, the magic system was needlessly complicated and Lacelle spent way too much time describing events, world-building facets, and societal elements that had nothing to do with the plot and only succeeded in making the book longer instead of pulling me into the story more deeply. 

In addition, a lot of Lacelle’s writing was incredibly repetitive. She hit the same points over and over and over again: eclipse-born are evil and everyone hates them, everyone loves the moon, Kieran is hot, Romie is great, Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, Emory feeling inadequate compared to Romie, and Baz thinking or describing the children’s book Sorrow of the Drowned Gods. 

No joke, the items I listed up above were about 75% of the book. The remaining 25% was action, too-in depth details about the college that didn’t matter—like what all the different halls were called and what they looked like in each dormitory, more flashbacks of Emory and Baz’s past, and interactions between the characters. 

Even though Emory and Baz are at a college, their classes don’t matter whatsoever. Honestly, I have no idea why they’re even at a college other than to have them all in one place. Emory’s classes are described once, briefly, and we see her go to about two classes. Otherwise, it’s not mentioned at all. 

The characters themselves were okay. Not great. Just…okay. Lacelle tried way, way too hard to give her characters depth, but only succeeded in telling instead of showing.

Instead of me figuring something out about Emory, Lacelle would have a huge, descriptive paragraph of Emory realizing that she compared herself to Romie too much and that she had her own self-worth. Moments like this aren’t bad per se, but they were way too frequent for my liking. 

Let me, the reader, figure things out about the characters and come to my own conclusions. Don’t spell out every single detail for me and hold my hand. It’s tedious and it’s boring. Lacelle did this constantly. 

In addition, for a nearly 600-paged book, about four characters mattered: Emory, Baz, Kieran, and Kai. Emory and Baz are the main characters so it’s hard to discount them, even though they’re not that interesting due to having every single personality trait of theirs spelled out and analyzed by the author itself. 

Kieran and Kai, although important characters, were very one-dimensional. Kieran’s power-obsessed manipulative personality was not a secret whatsoever.

Lacelle reveals his “true” nature at the climactic end, even though the signs showing his megalomania were painfully clear to a ten-year-old. 

I liked Kai the most, but he’s in very little of the book. We see him mainly in flashbacks and then at the very end. Lacelle, why lock up your most interesting characters and hide them away for most of the novel?? She does this with Romie too, a more egregious error. 

Romie dying is the catalyst for this whole story. It’s what changes Emory and makes her a tidecaller, it’s what invigorates Kieran and sets him on his master plan, it’s what influences Kai to collapse—the whole story starts with Romie dying at Doveremere Cave. 

Yet…Lacelle starts the story after this event. Why would an author do this??? It’s excruciating. Your most important part of the whole novel isn’t even included in the novel. She inserts it later as a flashback, but I don’t want a flashback. I want the real thing. 

The book should have started with Romie and Emory going to Dovermere and then 

progress from there. It easily could have been the first chapter and it would have introduced us to Romie’s character more, set up Romie and Emory’s friendship, and acted as the catalyst for the whole story. 

Even better, it could have even started with Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, then the three of them starting at Aldryn, them going to Dovermere, Romie dying, and thennnnn continuing.

That already would have been a better book. It wouldn’t even have to be longer. By cutting out all the repetitive and useless bits that I already mentioned, Lacelle would have had plenty of room to include these essential moments. 

I truly don’t understand the choices she (or her editor) made about the plot timeline and pacing because they were all terrible.

This is a true injustice when you take into account how original and fascinating the initial concept is and how much time and effort she put into the world and its lore. 

Recommendation: This book had all the right ingredients for something truly great, but fell short due to verbose, albeit beautiful writing, a slow plot, choppy pacing, predictable characters, and too dense world-building that added nothing to the story.

If you want dark academia, look elsewhere like If We Were Villains or the Atlas Paradox. These stories have much better plots with much more interesting characters and it doesn’t take 600 pages to get to the end. 

Score: 4/10

[theboarsbride]

A Court of Mist and Fury Reading Update I

Page 133 - 21%

!!SPOILERS AHEAD PERTAINING TO EVENTS IN ACOTAR - read ahead at your own risk!!

-I'm enjoying my time with ACOMAF more than ACOTAR........though not by much. Admittedly I just feel bitter entering this book aware of the character assassination that occurs and the fact that Rhysand is the endgame love interest.

-Feyre's trauma from her time spent Under the Mountain feels genuine and adds depth to her character. She can't stand seeing certain colors (especially red), she had night terrors, she feels like she is no longer capable of being a good person because of the faeries she was forced to kill, etc. It makes her feel more fleshed out and interesting to me!

-I still hate Rhysand - bro literally mind r*pes Feyre and has the audacity to be like 'what I did UTM was for your own good' and 'I'm not a monster.' Like bro shut the fuck up I do not care. Also do not get me started on the 'it's your choice' bullshit-

-AND I GET IT. Rhys is meant to be the edgy, tortured love interest that has a redemption arc but uhhhh with what he did to Feyre UTM??? Fuck that noise. He assaulted, drugged, invaded her mind, tortured, and objectified her ALL WHILE SOBER AND WITHOUT THE INFLUENCE OF ANY MAGIC OR DRUG OR WILL THAT WAS NOT HIS OWN. I refuse to redeem a character like that. Feyre deserves someone better than him - and Tamlin. PLS I SHIP HER WITH LUCIEN UUGHHHH!!!!!!! LUCIEN x FEYRE FTW

-Boo to Tamlin's character assassination (especially for the scene with the Tithe and having Feyre on house arrest). Like I get that he is traumatized, too, (which in of itself would've been so, so interesting to explore!!! fuck you SJM for not allowing us the same opportunity to explore Tamlin's traumas like we do Feyre's and Rhys's - who is arguably a more abusive character than Tam - and instead villainizing him just to make the abuser from ACOTAR a more appealing love interest.) but like.....it is so outside of Tamlin's character as was presented in ACOTAR to become such a control freak? Sure he was always somewhat possessive, but he was always willing to allow Feyre as much freedom she desired?

-And I know. Basically locking Feyre in his manor is not a great look but think about it... Tamlin saw Feyre get tortured by Amarantha and sexually abused by Rhysand right in front of him, he witnessed her die, a war is coming, and now Rhysand is essentially kidnapping her one week a month (I am considering it kidnapping because 1. Feyre was forcuefully coerced into this deal while halfway delirious with infection and 2. she doesn't want to go with Rhysand) in a deal he was never aware of. While I feel like house arrest is overkill, I cannot wholly blame Tamlin for wanting to go through the extra lengths of keeping Feyre safe. It's not the best thing for his character, and he definitely isn't the most charming guy in this book (and I am by no means excusing his behavior), but I think it's unfair to his character, and the traumas he's faced, to instantly vilify what he's done to Feyre while, at the same time, SJM is trying to convince us that the truly heinous bullshit Rhysand did in ACOTAR was a good thing, actually, and that he's an upstanding dude.

- SJM why are you saying "males" and "females"??? :( I hate it. This gender essentialism is icky and is making me uncomfortable. (which as a worldbuilding thing this isn't a wholly bad thing..........this just makes me uncomfortable because these faeries in SJM's world are essentially just humans in shape and demeanor, and it just feels unnecessary.)

-The faeries in this world still lack feeling truly FAERIE...so this is just a really bland and boring fantasy world

-Basically this is just boring, overall, lmao - I can already tell that getting through 600 pages of this is gonna be.... a lot

Anyways!!! This is my first update for ACOMAF, and I shall see you all in the next update!! (also I am very slowly but surely putting together a more in-depth review of ACOTAR so stay tuned for that).

Happy reading!💛

[aropride]

this is literally exactly what it's like though. like IT HAPPENED TO ME. i used to read books all the time. when i was 7 or 8 i could read thru a 200 page book in a day. i could read 600 pages in a day at 11 or 12. i understood what i was reading. i'd have to move around or listen to music to focus, and it was perfectly common for me to pace around the living room while reading, but that was just the adhd more than anything. and then i started using social media and youtube and i could still read, for sure, but there was a little voice in the back of my head begging me to check my computer to see what was going on. and then i got older and instead of reading books i'd read fanfics, sometimes 80k words, sometimes 800 words. and then i started watching book summary videos instead of reading them at all, and i'd find fics over 30k words hard to finish. and then i couldn't finish school assigned reading at all, ever, and i'd spend the time on social media. and then covid happened and i got into audiobooks for a while and it helped but then the world decided covid was over and my temporary library card wasn't valid anymore and i couldn't get audiobooks anymore. and then i got tiktok and suddenly i was spending 12 hours a day on it and i couldn't write or draw or read or sew or anything. and then even watching a full minute-long tiktok was hard. and then i'd pull up tiktok to watch 5 minute youtube videos. i couldn't even finish book summary tiktoks. like everything needs to be SO FAST all the time and i know part of that was definitely the untreated worsening adhd and the depression etc but when i couldn't even watch 45 minute tv shows while playing a video game and listening to music and would just end up on my phone and when i realized there was a visible dent in my phone screen protector from where i'd scroll on tiktok and when i realized how much of my life i was spending on that fucking app. i finally managed to delete it in january when i got on meds and it's easier now but i still can barely write for 5 minutes without instinctually switching screens to check my notifs here or opening my phone to see if anyone's posted a new instagram story and it's like. exactly this. i hadn't finished a book in years. i just watched summary videos. everything is so fucking fast now

[kaladinstormsblessed]

okay so i know you are a sanderson fan and i wonder if you have opinions on the order in which to get into his books, series to start with etc.

what a delightful question! wlecome to the cosmere - it's a wonderful, wonderful world!

for reference, i have read:

mistborn era 1

most of mistborn era 2 (have started, but not finished, #4)

stormlight 1-4 (i've read the lift novella but not dawnshard)

warbreaker

most of elantris

most of arcanum unbounded

the easiest answer is that bransan himself has a recommended reading order here, although i don't think it's super up to date

warbreaker and elantris are standalones (as of right now), although i don't think anyone (himself included) consider them his best work. but, if you don't want to commit to thousands of pages, they're good examples of his writing, and i did enjoy them quite a bit (warbreaker more than elantris, but i liked them both just fine). they're also good to read before stormlight - a lot of warbreaker has started to make its way into stormlight.

i started with mistborn era 1, which i recommend - it's really accessible even if you haven't read any fantasy before and introduces you to his magic systems and his writing style (the famous sanderlanche, the truly insane plot twists). if you're comfortable reading a trilogy of approximately 600-800 page books, i'd start there (and honestly final empire is so good and is worth reading on its own imo). mistborn era 2 is less good and should be read after era 1 - it has less cosmere wide importance at this point. this is what i've read most recently.

i would recommend reading stormlight last. it's hefty (currently four books are out, totaling around 4500 pages), but i also think it's some of his best work and it's true high fantasy at its finest (way of kings is so fucking good and it's literally 1000+ pages of setup and also words of radiance is maybe my favorite book of all time). it is a huge commitment and is the series that draws most on the cosmere universe at large so i recommend reading it after most of his other cosmere related books. however, it's a great time to hop on the stormlight train because #5 comes out this year and you can experience that live. stormlight is slated to be 10 books, but there will be a significant timeskip after 5 and he envisions them as two halves, so this arc will be complete come december.

i haven't gotten to any of last year's secret projects yet (tress, yumi, sunlit man, frugal wizard). reviews are that they're not his best work, but they may be good introductions to his writing (with the exception of sunlit man which should be read after stormlight) and are again less commitment than his other series .

i also haven't read white sand, but that's a completely different medium and also they're apparently impossible to get ahold of (although it sounds like there's new editions in the works).

as for non-cosmere, i haven't read either the cytoverse or alcatraz and the evil librarians, but i've heard good things about both! they're both written for a younger audience, though, so will feel distinctly different than his other writing.

so, long story short i'd recommend starting with either one of the standalones (warbreaker, elantris) or mistborn (but really if you're up for it i'd strongly, strongly recommend starting with mistborn - it's really really good), then turning to stormlight.

[coldshrugs]

okay, so how about a ficlet/scene where Estinien is take Io's glasses off?

scholarly fatigue

pairing: io laithe / estinien varlineau word count: 600 note: i mentioned in party chat that io has a touch of presbyopia and needs glasses to read for long stretches of time. cute headcanons abound. this was so much fun!! thank you viking!

He finds her sitting alone at the Rising Stone's bar.

Well, alone, except for the pile of books splayed on the counter and the wine glass balanced precariously between the tome she reads and the counter's edge. Io's shoulders are tense, her head bent.

Estinien strolls into the space, making no effort to keep quiet, but it seems even her keen hearing misses his entrance. She heaves a frustrated sigh, brushing a hand through her hair, but why? Reading is one of Io's great joys; more than once has he seen her disappear into well-worn pages for hours, quiet and content. He saw what love looked like on her long before it was ever directed toward him.

The reason for her frustration becomes apparent as he leans over her shoulder: these are no ordinary books, these are grimoires. She sighs again, still too lost in the dense work to notice him.

Estinien places a hand on her back, firm but gentle, hoping to pull her out of her own head. "Mon âme," he whispers.

She blinks up at him, dark eyes glossy behind silver glasses and irritation etched between them. It fades in an instant.

"Oh, it's you." She leans into his chest, and the tension in her body subsides. "I'm sorry, I was–"

"Taking the phrase "nose in a book" literally, aye." He kisses the top of her head. "You look miserable."

"I am. You know this sort of thing doesn't come to me easily. The theory is simple enough to understand, but the application escapes me. What use is a surfeit of aether when I can wield but a fraction of it?"

He hums a noise of understanding. The arcane is beyond him, always has been, but he has no interest in learning spellwork. He can do naught but offer supportive sympathy in her endeavor.

"Take a break," he says, and with a hand on the bar, he vaults himself over the top and begins the search for the open bottle of red. She must have it within reach. "What are you drinking?"

Mischief sparks in her eyes at his suggestion. "Estinien, be serious."

And there it is, one of Wineport's finest vintages, half-corked and tucked just out of his line of sight. He grabs the bottle and refills her glass, fixing her with a level stare. "Do I not look serious?"

"Oh, you look very serious," she laughs, leaning across the bar as if he's too far away. "But so am I."

Estinien leans in, too, almost meeting her halfway. So close he feels the ghost of her breath on his lips. Hers part, anticipating his kiss. Her tired eyes close, lashes fluttering across her cheeks. A strand of midnight hair falls in front of her glasses as she tilts her head. How beautiful she is, waiting–wanting–to be kissed.

He would never deny her.

He pulls the glasses from her face and carefully places them under the counter. With the same hand, he brushes her hair back, fingers twisting into the soft locks, and pulls her in.

Warm and sweet like her wine, Io melts into the kiss. The pages beneath her hands crinkle in her effort to be closer, and soon she is standing, her hands on his face, exhaling a shaky breath as they part.

"Take a break," Estinien repeats. He shoves the grimoires out of the way, catching Io's grin as a few fall to the floor on either side of the counter. In their place, he slides her newly filled glass.

"Alright," she smiles and raises the glass. "But only if you'll join me."

[sxfik]

Omg dud you finally get around to reading witchshadow?? What are your all over thoughts??

omg hello!! and yes i did! i actually ended up rereading the whole series because it's been literally seven years (saying that outloud makes it so much more real wtf). it took me a while bc my god are those books a l o t to get through for me now.

i mean idk if i need to preface this since you were literally there but like... i was one of like the 10 people that was active about this series on here when it started back in the 2016-2017 era. like i love this series, and to this day i've kept the username and all the stuff i wrote for it, so just like idk a disclaimer: im not here to hate or anything, just truly mourning something i really loved.

overall thoughts: witchshadow was so disappointing. like resoundingly disappointing. there was so many things i had issues with, and idk if i even have enough time and words to describe it. i feel like this whole series suffered from having too many complex plot points and too many characters introduced five books into a six book series. not to mention the amount of lore and words that is dropped into the books with little to no explanation of what they mean and what they indicated in this world? like how is it book five and i still don't understand what a domna truly is?

i feel like the complexity balance was really held well up until witchshadow, when it literally just got so confusing that none of the characters felt like themselves? also the weird timeline for this book did not help. like jesus christ this book is complex as it is, how are you making it harder for us??

like a) iseult. i felt like she was overshadowed in her own book, i wanted to know about her nomatsi heritage and literally so much about her like the other books did for the main characters, but this felt so disappointing. where was all the worldbuilding you set up for this moment? why did esme just get downgraded all of a sudden? and also just... she doesn't feel like she made any character improvement/her arc went backwards?

b) safi was just? stupid in this book? how did she have a negative character arc. like i know she's supposed to be reckless and making impulse and stupid plans, but her character felt reduced to just that. like first and second book safi: i knew why she was making these decisions, even if they backfired, but this just feels like a mockery of her character. and i love safi, and i wish she had a way better arc than she did, and got treated with the same book time as isuelt and aeduan.

and also god, the weird emperor/safi bs was so unbareable. she's literally like 18 in this book (i actually thought she was closer to 19/20 but whatever i guess she's 18 here). every scene with them was so werid and uncomfortable. (especially that weird one where she walks in while he has sex what the fuck was going on there) why was she desperate to have sex with what i assume to be like a 60 year old??? i had to force myself to read through these parts and not skip them

and god the hellbards. i loved them at first but im getting sick of them taking over the story. why are they so important that they essentially replace both merik and practically the whole main cast of characters. why are they mentioned at every turn? if they were this important, why didnt you introduce them sooner?

c) why does safi and iseult just not have any interaction. its literally been five books bro the seperation arc is enough (and yes i fully consider them separated) !! why have they had 0 character development together?? they're arguably the center of this series, and what started this whole chase, and yet we've gotten maybe one book and a half of them actually growing together. how is this gonna turn out for the final book when you have maybe 600 pages and 6 characters to get through?

d) where the fuck was merik. hes literally a main character how did he disappear??

e) the whole vivia/stix to vivia/vaness makes me. upset. i dont understand the decision to make them threadsisters when they were vivia was gay panicking about her 24/7 in windwitch. literally 0 buildup for something that feels like it came out of nowhere. why are they like siblings now, it feels so so so weird. i honestly have so much more to say about this and yet im still upset

now this might seem like such a hateful rant, and i promise it's not hate, it's just frustration at what seemed like such an excellent book series. and honestly, up until bloodwitch i was doing fine and then this book was just... so different to the rest of the series. i know susan was forced to combine the books into one, and so maybe that's why, but idk man, this felt so disappointing.

i love foreshadowing and worldbuilding when it's done right, and i think it was doing great until this book. a lot of stuff felt like plot twists out of nowhere, with no rhyme or reasoning to it. it just didn't feel like a witchlands book if you get what i feel. honestly, out of love and time for this series, i think i'll be reading the final book as well in the series, hoping things get fixed and we get to see characters that were beloved back again.

(p.s. how are you? its been so long!!)

[goddess-aelin]

This is going to be such a long post but I feel like I need to get my thoughts out after the angsty ending from A Light in the Flame.

Overall Thoughts:

Umm I thought it was amazing. I know a lot of people were saying it was repetitive and I definitely get that but at the same time, I would literally read 600 pages of Nyktos and Sera eating breakfast so.... Anyway though, I loved the character journeys. I think good characters are what makes a good book and even if the rest is confusing and angsty, it's those character-driven moments that redeem it.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. This prequel series is so much better than FBAA. Not hating on FBAA but I just feel like Nyktos/Sera is so much more well-developed than any relationship in the main series. I love every single side character (yes, even you, Rhain, when you're being rude).

I was hooked from the beginning. How can you not be when it starts with the whole prophecy thing and continues from there with almost constant action. The first half was definitely repetitive, I can totally see that. But I also think that repetitive-ness helped to get the point across that Nyktos cares about Sera. Not the embers, but Sera. Even before they had any convo about forgiving her, I think his actions were speaking louder than words. Though it was a constant battle of "Sera, no." *Sera does the thing.* "How dare you not value your life. *Fucks* Ya know, the usual. Lol. Some of my new fave sera/ash scenes came from this book.

- I adored when he set up a bath for her and everything- it was such a sweet gesture.

-When he took her to the pool and literally just played and had fun, especially because he knew she missed her lake.

- The "I want to be your consort, Nyktos." and Nektas just laughing and knowing.

-The way they both are always stunned by each other. Like they do such sweet things and they are always, ALWAYS, surprised.

-The entire scene of Rhain asking her if she was in love with him and her not being able to answer because she had no idea what it felt like either.

-Her whole breakdown in the carriage because "Oh my gods, I might be in love with him!" Loved every minute of it.

- And then of course, him trying to get her to breathe and calm down when she was about to freak out over this.

-THE FOREHEAD KISS AT THE CORONATION WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE AND HE DID IT JUST BECAUSE HE COULD. I die

-The sweet but angsty talk about Veses that they needed to have tbh.

**Nyktos is literally the ultimate book BF, I said what I said. It's honestly refreshing to see this 200+ y/o male character that has like no sexual experience whatsoever yet it doesn't demean him or negate him as weak. Love that for him.

Non romantic scenes that melted/broke my heart:

-Sera holding Jadis when she fell asleep and Jadis feeling comfortable enough to switch into human form.

-Reaver then getting the blanket for Jadis and just being a weird little kid. I love it.

-Jadis giving a kiss on the forehead to Sera before going to Kolis. Sera's gonna be such a good mom even if one of her children is a giant piece of shit.

-Ector trying to calm Sera down in the carriage and just talking to her.

- The friendships with Aios and Bele and pretty much everyone just finally forgiving Sera.

-Ugh going back to see Ezra! I needed more sister love tho tbh. They didn't even hug!

Now for the painful parts:

-Aios dying. Like wow. This 100% is number one. I was devastated when Sera saw Ector's decapitated head. But then she saw Aios' red hair and I literally almost threw my damn book. I'm so happy she's ok in the end but RIP Ector.

-When Sera saw Nyktos with Veses. I know we got an explanation for it in the end but I was incredibly stressed and about to unstan Nyktos. I hate cheating (even if that's not what it was) as a trope and tbh I hate miscommunication as a trope. So this entire part of the book was just devastating to me.

-Sera's reaction to the above. She was in love with him already, she just didn't know it. I felt her reaction so viscerally, though. I suppose that's a testament to JLA's writing in this book.

-Sera constantly being told that she's going to die and there's nothing that can be done. Just when they think there might be another way, nope it's just death again. I love that Nyktos is fighting so hard for her and I have some theories that I'll make another post for, but I do find it very ironic. The entire situation was Sera was meant to make Nyktos fall in love and then kill him. Oops except he can't love. And now instead, she's the one who fell in love and now he has to kill her to literally save the world. What a 180. A fabulously done 180 but a shocking one, nonetheless.

Another post will be coming about theories!

[spookfished]

media roundup june 2023

hey guys guess who just went "oh its the 4th of july. that means that its july" here im going to talk about things i read/watched/played last month! i didnt read as much but did finish a couple books that ive had checked out Forever. ok actually i read a lot woops

books/comics/written media:

fake dates and mooncakes by sher lee: fake dating (obv) premise between a cooking boy and a rich heir! book that made me realized im honestly just not that interested in ya romance anymore LMFAO. pretty sweet and a decent read, but landed more heavily on the expository end of uhh i guess diaspora fiction? than i really prefer. i think i picked this up bc the author got mega cancelled on tyk twitter lol??

bird by bird by anne lammott: book about how to write. i love to read about how people do stuff :3 some of the advice applies pretty universally to creative efforts i think.. made me want to write more too

john dies at the end by jason pargin: DNF. comic/horror about this loser guy who discovers stuff. sigh i tried so hard to like this book its supposed to be pretty 'mecore'...talked about this with alena a bunch but its like hm... i know the sort of casual offensiveness sort of goes in hand with being poor and white and in the midwest and i appreciate how its like that creates its own doomed narrative or whatever. but also i feel like the protagonist would call me slurs or something. also the lowgrade but pervasive orientalism is kinda offputting. probably fun for some other guy! i did enjoy the horror elements though

the goldfinch by donna tartt: literary coming of age about a boys relationship with a painting (the goldfinch). also he flops a lot and its sort of homoerotic i guess? a movie was made of it. so something to note is that ive had this book out on loan since literally december. neil kept on being like hey man just stop reading it LMFAO. thoughts cp'ed from discord:

why does the goldfinch feel like a 600 page leadup to the actual book which is 800 pages

idk at this point im kinda sick of pathetic lovelorn self obsessed semi literary men. like toku men are also sopping and pathetic but i think its more appealing when they are also kind and can be vulnerable. this guy is just annoying and kind of incel coded. like does a grand gesture to make up for the fact that he killed your dog while dogsitting

i actually did enjoy the parts post timeskip but i still think the first two thirds could have been cut or Greatly compressed or interspersed w the present or Something, yk? prose was nice though

the bodyguard by katherine center: romance novel about a woman bodyguard who lives for her job. fresh from a breakup, shes given a new undercover assignment with a handsome actor, recently withdrawn from society. will they be able to break each others' shells....? my mom recommended this to me LMFAO we kind of have different tastes in romance.. ive read a book by this author before i think her platonic scenes are very strong? i wish there had been a couple more of those. also i like how she always includes a life affirming section at the end about how important it is for us to open ourselves up to love etc etc cute but not especially memorable

kiss quotient by helen hoang: (reread) a shy, autistic econometrician decides that she needs to get better at sex, and so hires an escort. helen hoang is one of my faavorite romance authors i really enjoyed this reread although i kinda forgot that both leads say, think and do some pretty embarrassing things. but you know a little embarrassment is endearing and all that.. i still prefer her other book (the bride test) but this one is pretty good too. vivid characters 👍

sisters of dorley hall by alyson greaves: web fiction - a trans woman infiltrates a secret force-feminization program. ok im just cp'ing my thoughts from discord again but i enjoyed it a lot:

my thoughts are that the first like, third? is really really good. it like idk takes the very real trans fears of like discovery and passing and all that and fictionalizes them a bit. but like its still grounded and swag. sooo tense once The Reveal happens n things w steph are pretty normal it gets kinda meandering? which i dont really mind bc i love interpersonal drama even if i miss how tense and scary it was. but also theres only like two major plot threads going on rn and theyre both pretty slowburn. a timeskip would probably benefit tbh like the point rn is kinda like. the 7 year meteor? yeah sorry

like it used to be sort of psychological thriller? and now its sort of more character focus and also surprisingly fluffy.. im surprised that the author has said they have a complete outline bc it doesnt feel very focused atm? but also like i suppose things are snowballing a bit re: revealing the sisters to the outside world

an unauthorized fan treatise by lauren james: a fangirl trying to prove her rpf ship is real uncovers a greater conspiracy. to me if something is able to capture a specific age/vibe from the internet its automatically pretty good. however more and more people are learning how to do that so maybe i should change my standards... i was never involved in All That re: rpf or even fandoms of live action shows until kamen rider? but like i definitely knew people in hs that were sort of like this LMFAO so it felt very familiar. i appreciate the author trying to make that $$ but i dont know if it really needs an expansion/sequel.. the ending is better off with some ambiguity imo

impossible us by sarah lotz: literary romance? a man and a woman fall in love online, but encounter difficulties when they try to meet. ok im just pasting my thoughts here again (spoilers btw):

ok that was a lot of stuff. onto movies/tv:

xo kitty: kitty goes to a school to connect with her online boyfriend, but all is not well. yall this was not good. i guess my standards shouldnt have been that high but to all the boys ive loved before was so cute!! (havent watched/read the others). but like.. the writing was bad and the main actress just wasnt very sympathetic or charming? characters waste time saying "i can explain" until time runs out for them to actually explain, additional (and nonsensical) romance plots are added for no reason, and the male lead isnt even that hot. sorry. also kitty deciding to move to korea to connect with her mom but not bothering to learn a speck of korean and insisting that everyone else speak to her in english really sucks honestly. not even my mom liked it so thats how you know its bad 👎

succession season 1: yesss succession. greg is my favorite cant wait to see him become evil. makes me stressed

shin kamen rider (hideaki anno): reboot of the first kamen rider by the guy who made evangelion. this guy kinda makes the same thing over and over but it looked sick as hell so i wasnt complaining. like stella obstinaterixatrix said, kinda more introspective or even insular to the point of kinda ignoring the usual kr theme of justice but it was still very fun :3 kinda want to watch the original now

ready player one (movie): my parents made me watch this movie. aggressively mediocre.

kamen rider revice and live and evil and demons: pretty fun if you have the disease that makes you think revice is good, but mostly made me miss revice. i think they should have gone more into the clone thing but i always think that so

kamen rider juuga vs kamen rider olteca: two-parter special for kr revice. i forgot what happened in this pretty much immediately after but karizaki was hot

roman holiday: a princess touring in rome escapes her duties for a day, and meets a dashing young reporter. classic romance!! i actually liked this so so much like it actually is very romantic and funny and like deserves the hype. didnt expect it to be in black and white even so audrey hepburn is really hot. (spoilers) more romances should have bittersweet endings though like it hit

kamen rider ryuki: a young man is inducted into a battle royale between those fighting for their deepest wishes, and decides to try and stop the rider battle once and for all. hey guys ryuki is so fucking good for those who have watched madoka magica a lot of it is very heavily based off of/inspired by ryuki! but ryuki does it better. pretty much The kamen rider has so much to say about justice and love and what it means to be a hero and sacrifice and *runs out of air and falls over* also it made me cry. if you ever try kamen rider try this one <3

EDIT OH i forgot about across the spiderverse 100/10 obviously groundbreaking in animation nice take on generational trauma and also like the nature of adaptation and being in a multimedia comics franchise and all that. really hope the sequel doesnt get crunched too bad. oh but copaganda not great 99/10

video games:

twisted wonderland: gacha game where random disney villains are bishie high schoolers instead. ill play chapter 3 sometime soon i swear. gameplay is terrible as with most gacha games but the characters are cute? i feel terrible guilt for being involved with a disney franchise. honestly pretty compelling character writing sometimes though sorry

apico: stardew-like about raising bees (in beta). sooooo cute and the devs obv care about bees a lot in real life. the gameplay loop + breeding systems are a little bit punishing right now though i really hope it gets adjusted. took over my life during finals (woops) and i got like half the bees and then burnt out. multiplayer is fun though!

legend of zelda tears of the kingdom: the next zelda game, now featuring building + vertical elements. yeah this took over my life for two months like it did for a bunch of other people i finished the main story a couple days ago! i might go back to do a couple more of the shrine puzzles, but other than that i think im done. LOVE the vertical elements and also all the little sidequests there are to do and how the world has changed since botw. dragons tears was really good and OMG PROVING GROUNDS. would be a 10/10 if zelda was the protag stop damseling her you guys cmon

paper mario origami king: newest paper mario game, which is a spinoff of the main series where theyre all paper (duh). im about halfway through this, i think? tried it out because of the dunkey video lol and also bc it was free at my library. very charming and inventive, has a really good soundtrack and really funny writing! i know the gameplay was controversial, but im enjoying it a lot (and theres a lot of room for error). might 100% it

it feels like this month i tried a lot of things that i didnt really like LMAO. also a lot of romance. im very happy about finally finishing the goldfinch! the only holdout on my libby is slaughterhouse 5 :P i did find some things that i really liked though! anyways this one feels a bit more scattered but if you got to the ending, congratulations! thanks for reading :3

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Ok, So, We're Doing This

One of these days, I swear I'm actually not going to do a thing I say I'm not doing. But today is not that day. This review isn't going to be as in-depth as usual, mostly because I just honestly don't have that much to say about it, and what I do have to say is...less complimentary than I shoot for on this blog. So all that said, I guess we're talking A Fire in the Flesh.

CONTENT WARNING: Some brief discussion of sexual assault. Always take care of you first; this book is not worth triggering or retraumatizing yourself over and we will happily see you next time if you need or want to bow out from here.

My biggest critique of this book is that it is generously half a book stretched to 600-odd pages. Like, you could have easily condensed the timeline, nixed about a third of the overall angst, and made this a really strong half of another book. The endless dragging out of Kolis releasing Ash and the agonizingly slow negotiations between Sera and Kolis could have paced faster without losing the stakes or the weight. Honestly, losing some of the dragginess might have ADDED to the weight, because honestly this book hit a point for me where you can only sit in a cage agonizing over whats-ifs and wherefores for so long before I am screeching at the book to *move the fuck on already*. There was too much of this book. Take some back, please.

Now before I jump into the conversation this book clumsily tried to have about sex and consent, I want to make one thing crystal clear:

Consent is important. Talking about consent is important. People knowing that they can choose to revoke consent literally at any time is important. Knowing what isn't consent is also important. This is an important topic and it deserves page time.

That said, maybe the king of "my dick wasn't actually inside you so it doesn't count" and gaslighting's court is not like...the best place to have that conversation. Especially with the mean girl primal (yes, she has a name, I don't care) actively going "I got off so its not rape" and making Sera question her own feelings about Kolis's assault on her. Gaslight is probably not the vibe you want in a romance book.

And yeah, the book tries to have nuanced conversations about this, but I didn't find them particularly well handled. The pacing and bloat of the book might have had something to do with that, because honestly I got tired of the repetitive nature of all of this. Again, brevity and speed might have strengthened an otherwise weak attempt at dealing with the absolutely fucky relationship North America has with sexual assault and its propensity to minimize, victim blame, and gaslight. And again, THIS TOPIC IS IMPORTANT. This book just wasn't well structured and paced enough to pull off the conversation it wanted to have, and then it also threw in the scene where Sera breaks a glass dildo in half and murders a guy with it. That is FARCICAL. Pick a tone and stick with it when you're trying to have a weighty conversation.

I will say that the ascension bits at the end and Ash full-on going "if you die, I'm dragging the world to hell after you" was entertaining, in a twisted kind of way. I did also think that it was an extension of the last two books' "Ash and Sera can't communicate if their lives depend on it" problem, but I'm starting to think this series is treating that like a feature rather than a bug, so... *shrug*.

That's more or less my take on this book. It was too long, it was too slow, and it could easily have been the first ten chapters of a stronger book. I wish I could say it was at least a dumb fun read, but the pacing just absolutely killed the reading experience for me.

[viiinz]

hi vince, your posts about dostoyevsky have made me want to read some of his works; any suggestions on where to start? hope you're having a lovely day <3

hiii, Finn!!! sorry for the late reply, I've been kinda busy and really wanted to give an in-depth response (and I also knew that once I started talking about Dostoyevsky, I would hardly be able to stop lol). I hope you're having a lovely day as well <3

I'll give you 4 of his books that I've read so far that might be a nice place to start, and a little spoiler-free review, so you can see which one appeals to you the most

okay so the first novel I've read by him was Crime and Punishment (1866), I think that's where a lot of people start. and tbh it's a good place to start! it's not extremely long, about 500-600 pages (depending on the edition) and I think it's definitely one of his more accessible works. in the story we follow our main guy, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a poverty-stricken ex-student who has the vague plan to murder and rob an old pawnbroker. during the book we then follow his mental anguish and moral dilemmas. we also get introduced to an amazing cast of characters (one of them being Razumikhin, who is the best friend ever and whom I have had such a crush on ever since I first read c&p lol <3). the psychology in all Dostoyevsky's books is amazing, but this is the book that first introduced me to it. what I wasn't expecting when I first read this, is that it's also honestly really funny at times, like there were literally times where I had to laugh out loud. other than that it's also just really interesting to get in the head of our main guy, and the book also discusses (and by doing so ultimately criticises) some theories that were getting popular at the time about utilitarianism, free will, who stands above the law, etc. other fascinating themes are guilt, morality, poverty, family, power dynamics, mental illness, religion etc.

this was one of the first proper classics I had ever read, so at first I was scared that it might be too difficult for me and that I wouldn't be able to get through it. but honestly, once I started caring about the characters, I just wanted to keep reading. and in the end I found it to be a fascinating and really moving story. (I also read this during a time in my life where I seriously struggled with my mental health, and not to be dramatic but crime and punishment really helped me a lot, so just for that it'll always have a special place in my heart)

then there's also The Brothers Karamazov (1879). the book I'm currently the most obsessed with, I'm sure you've already seen me posting about it lmao. personally I think this is Dostoyevsky his best work, it's also the last book he wrote before he died. a lot of themes from his previous works make a comeback in this one and get more polished and perfected. it's so fascinating, and moving, it made me cry and laugh and think A LOT (I mean I haven't been able to stop thinking about it). HOWEVER it's also about a 1000 pages with a couple characters that love to monologue, which makes it not the most accessible, so keep that in mind lol.

the plot is basically about four (half) brothers and their piece of shit father who dies (him dying isn't a spoiler, since it's said in the first sentence, but fair warning, it doesn't happen until like halfway through). the four brothers (three recognised sons, and one bastard son), are all very different in personality and belief, but I love them all so much. they're so interesting and well-written, and so are some other characters as well!! I could talk for hours about all the characters and their dynamics, but I won't do that here. but if you are interested in reading this book and would like a list with the names + a little bit of info about all the characters in this book, just let me know! I made one for a friend of mine and could easily translate it to English and send it to you. I definitely recommend keeping a list of some sort with the names of these characters, since it's easy to loose track of them all. (this goes for all his books btw)

I couldn't possibly summ up all the themes in this book, it's about family, it's about humanity, it's about god, it's about suffering, it's about children, it's about love, it's about Alyosha visiting a fuckton of people, and so on.

of course there are some aspects and ideals in it that I don't agree with, but at it's core there are some really beautiful and meaningful things that I took away from this story that will probably stay with me my entire life. and for that reason and because I'm absolutely obsessed with the characters, it's one of my favourite books of all-time.

The Idiot (1869). I love this weird little book so much. (I say little, but it's about 600 pages) Dostoyevsky's goal was to write about how a christ-like hero would interact with 19th century Russia, but what it comes down to however is just a sweet guy trying his best and having an awful time.

there's pretty much no plot, just people visiting others people, causing drama, and I love it. mostly because of the characters!! the characters are amazing!!! even the side characters are so complex and all over the place and weird, but also feel so real, it's great! the main character is Myshkin who spend years in an asylum in Switzerland and is now returning to Russia. the title of the book refers to him, because a lot of people simply see him as an idiot, (which is so unfair!, he's not!!) personally I think it's a really interesting portrayal of how people with disabilities/neurodiversities are viewed and treated. the guy canonically has epilepsy (just like Fyodor Dostoyevsky himself btw) and this is probably one of the most sympathetic portrayals of epilepsy during that time period, despite the harsh title of the book. (he also has a lot of characteristics of autism in my opinion, even tho obviously autism diagnosis didn't exist back then).

and again, the other characters are also amazing and messed up and complex and well-written and !!!! one or these characters is Nastasya Filippovna. all I'll say for now is that I love her so much and that's she's done nothing wrong ever in her life (no but really, she's a very complex character, who has suffered a lot and is allowed to be a messed up person because of it). there are also like two love triangles in this book, but actual triangles, meaning the relationship in one of them between the two guys and in the other between the two girls is about just as intense and fascinating as the guy-girl relationships. this book is fun at times, has some really interesting discussions at other times (some of which were very personal to Dostoyevsky himself) and then there are a couple of scenes that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life.

okay, last one: Notes From Underground (1864). this one is by far the shortest, around a 150 pages. it has an iconic opening line that goes: "I am a sick man, I am a spiteful man, I am an unattractive man, I believe my liver is diseased." (honestly this book has a lot of really good lines)

it's basically just a diary of a very pathetic man. at times I hate him, other times I relate to him deeply, I make fun of him a lot and I can't help but feel really really sorry for him. the book consists of two parts, the first part is some of the fictional author his philosophical ideas, how he sees life etc. it's very fascinating and you already get a glimpse of what the character is like, as he tries to impress his imaginary audience. the second part are retellings of events from his life when he was younger. these made me laugh at times, feel so much secondhand embarrassment, sometimes dislike him a lot and pity him even more.

while this is the shortest out of the four, it's not the most accessible. and the fictional author his self deprecation and bleak outlook makes this book sometimes difficult to read.

other than that I've also heard really good things about Demons!! I'm probably going to read the book this summer.

for all these book, if needed, I'd definitely advise to maybe look up the trigger warnings. some of the top of my head are: suicide, animal cruelty, abuse, talk of rape, talk of CSA, lot's of religious talk, and unfortunately also antisemitism at times and just some really biased religious and russocentric views (which is why I'd never blame someone for not liking or not wanting to read Dostoyevsky)

okay, this was A LOT lmao, but I hope you find a book that interests you. of course it's always possible that Dostoyevsky just isn't your cup of tea, which would be totally fair. but if you do end up reading one of his books, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!!