#book red flags

[idontcarecarebear]

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩A red flag in any book I read that makes me instantly put it down is when an author goes into detail describing the chest or sexualising the body shape of an underage female character. I hate it whether it goes into a heavy detail or does it offhandedly, I just have to stop reading it. Especially if the point of view is from a grown man who is supposed to be the protagonist I support while reading. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

[kat-the-redhead]

Does anyone know the tiktokker that would stitch booktoks and it would switch to a notes app and it would be why you should NOT read a book that tiktok was making popular? Like, an example is the Tentacle Entanglement by Siggy Shade and the warning was the main Love Interest killing and wearing the skin of the main characters boss and doing some no no stuff with his tentacles and the main character's urethra. I would appreciate getting their name.

[see-arcane]

Annual reminder that despite all memes and adaptations to the contrary, Jonathan ‘If I die I hope Mina gets my diary as a goodbye :’c’ Harker acknowledged that something ominous was up as of DAY 2 in his little Transylvania travelogue. The only reason he wasn’t turning his ass around was, you know. Needing to Do This Incredibly Vital Assignment for His Brand New Job. If you put this boy in [PICK ANY HORROR MOVIE], he would be out of there two seconds after the opening credits

Halloween night in Haddonfield? My guy isn’t sticking around to meet Michael Myers and his killer kitchenware

Camp Crystal Lake is very lovely, he’s sure, the nice nubile college kids should send him and Mina a postcard while they’re hanging out at home

What’s that? There’s a haunted house with spirits chucking furniture around and you want to record it all for posterity? Neat, cool, awesome, write to him about it while he’s off in a restaurant somewhere talking up a chef and posting nice foodie reviews

This guy knows when horror story bullshit is happening even while being unaware of the fact that he is one of the main characters of Dracula.

He can smell what genre he’s in and does Not like it and would be out of there if he could, do not paint him as a one brain cell oblivious baby man

[the-dumbass-demigod]

tik toks like this are hilarious to me, idk how they can just be so, WRONG, like WhAt? (I found this on tiktok guys I did read the books)

[silentwalrus1]

if i have to read one more published fantasy book that uses irl memes and online vernacular in its dialogue i’m taking away the toys until y’all can learn to respect yourselves. Not only does it break immersion in your world and detract from your characters having their own voices, it also makes you, the author, seem like a dim parrot incapable of neither original thought nor basic understanding of the passage of time

1) due to the timeline of publishing, any meme included will automatically be hopelessly dated by the time the story reaches readers and

2) it’s literally the same thing Ready Player One did. Hey look i’m pointing at a thing in pop culture. Did you get my reference? Did you get it? Let me list some more colors and shapes you recognize. Did you get it? And then Gideon Nav hit the dab or whatever. Hashtag Relatable!

It’s so painfully unfunny and uncompelling every time. We can do better. Apply some creativity to your own work

[hyperfixatedfandomer]

I hate twilight’s writing and it has way too many problematic things to count but let’s be clear for a second:

Jacob was objectively the best choice for Bella. Period.

He was a genuinely kind boy, he and Bella had a good, believable friendship, Bella fell in love with him because of HIM and not some magical predator quirks that lured her in (like with Edward), Jacob never controlled Bella, never stalked Bella, never fantasised about killing her and draining her of blood, etc.

“B-b-but when he imprinted on her daughter—🤓“ that was character assassination. The author took the best thing that happened to this franchise and murdered it right in front of our eyes. S.M couldn’t keep her own character’s consistent but it‘s not Jacob’s fault.

[sserrafeim]

“I need him biblically,” I say about a man that would be locked up in jail if he was real

[abruisedmuse]

Can Dain stop being such a killjoy for 5 minutes? Violet is out here kicking ass, being cunning and intelligent and bonding with not one but two. TWO dragons. He's never happy about any of this. Never congratulates Violet. It's always okay well now you can run. Pick the smaller, weaker dragon.

Dude. Shut the fuck up.

Dain has one character trait and it's red flag.

[somewhereincairparavel]

An in depth analysis on Jiper - Why it was much more toxic than we realize.

okay. I know Calypso is known for her horrible treatment of leo, but hear me out, Jason grace was in a toxic relationship without even realizing it. I've recently reread Hoo, and I can't believe that it only just struck me how much of a red flag Piper was in the relationship. I made a whole analysis on this, and I'm going to put it here.

If you are a fan of jiper or Piper Mclean in general, then, this might be triggering for you to read, so I recommend you not to. You can agree to disagree with my analysis, just be respectful about it. I don't dislike Piper, I just dislike the way she is written, so no harm intended on her character.

so let's begin.

♦ She obsesses over him for a long time and then complains that he doesn't give her attention, like mf, he's trying to save the world here. She compares their relationship to percabeth wishing jason wasn't so serious all the time, when she was the one who claimed she liked his rule following nature and chose to date him. Before she got him, she complained that he would never like her, after she got him, she complained that he is too uptight.

Like, him being a rule follower is a part of his personality, take it, or leave it. She really doesn't like him for who he is and seemed very intent on wanting to change his morals. Like wanting his to trash the rules for her, she puts unrealistic expectations on him and gets disappointed when he doesn't meet them.

This highly contrasts Jason's treatment of her, when she vocalises her jealousy of Reyna being so "pretty, powerful and Roman" and jason says that he only wants Piper to be Piper, not anything else. Jason knew better than anyone else what is was like to pretend to be someone he's not.

♦she claimed jason as some kind of prize to drew, I physically cringed when the other Aphrodite kids cheered for her when she when she said jason was her boyfriend and he just didn't know it. Like. Jason said it himself, to Hera, "I belong to no one". If only he'd heard what she said about him behind his back lol.

♦She guilt tripped him so hard till the point he promised her that he would never go to camp Jupiter unless she came along, that's like the biggest red flag ever… Camp Jupiter was like his only home, his sister is busy, his mom is dead, and he wasn't even supposed to go there?

♦she got jealous of Reyna, annabeth and Thalia without any context, simply because they are acquainted with him in some way. Even after all the war chaos, jason reassured her patiently like twice that he only had eyes for her. She got jealous when he spoke about camp Jupiter, is he not allowed to talk about his home, the place he's grown up in for 12 years? She controlled jason like a puppet and took advantage of the fact that jason is very passive and had abandonment issues. If you read into their dynamic, Jason was in an unhealthy relationship without even realising it, because he clung on to anyone who gave him affection, it's honestly sad. He hadn't thought that anything was wrong in their dynamic because of his sheltered upbringing in camp Jupiter and lack of experience in love. His sister was lost for years, his dad is a douche, his mom is dead, so you really cannot blame him for not wanting to leave Piper.

♦ Also, in TOA, she was absolutely despicable, We see that jason is still very confused about why she broke up with him, and didn't properly understand why she dumped him bc he thought that they were still going strong, so we can get the hint that piper never exactly gave him a proper reason or anything and just ended it abruptly. Despite all this, he still respected her choice without any resentment against her, and chose to die so she could have more time with her dad. Fucking thoughtful and selfless.

♦ She doesn't voice out her concerns on their relationship to jason. Only the jealousy thing, but other than that she never seemed to tell jason about her issues she has with their dynamic, jason is more of a blunt kinda guy, so her lack of proper communication really hinders their dynamic in many ways, this is clearly seen in the fact that jason was deluded into thinking that their relationship was going great.

♦ She was also quite cold about their breakup, when Grover asked her why, she said stuff like "you thought what? That we'd be together forever like Percy and annabeth?" Like that's so cold and for what reason?? She ended stuff with him, and was acting like she got dumped.

[Take this single paragraph below with a grain of salt, since this one can only be derived out of assumptions, since it wasnt really confirmed properly, as there seemed to be a LOT going on]

♦ coach hedge and mellie thought he dumped her, so it can be implied that she might have dramatized the break up, if that is true, then she practically victimized herself in front of them. She drew so much attention to herself after the breakup, but then gets all cold when people ask her about it. Leading everyone to dislike jason for the breakup. If she did indeed tell mellie and hedge an aggravated version of their break up, then you can't tell me she did all that "unintentionally". I may sound harsh here but it seemed to me that she just wanted sympathy and attention, it's not all surprising either, considering how she chopped her hair off so that her dad can pay attention to her. So we can see a pattern here, she does go to great lengths to gain everyone's sympathy. I honestly don't know if she does it subconsciously or not. But take this paragraph with a grain of salt, since we dont actually know what she told hedge and mellie, so only strong assumptions can be made.

♦ Mellie treated jason which such hostility that even self absorbed Apollo could take the time to notice it. Jason asked apollo if piper told him that he dumped her or something, so even jason sensed that people were blaming him. he didn't even complain about it either. on the contrary, he literally said it was okay if mellie blamed him and that it was better that way.

”One more thing,” I blurted out. “About Piper. It’s just…you seem like such a good power couple. Did you really—did you break up with her to make it easier for her to leave LA?” Jason stared at me with those azure eyes. “Did she tell you that?” “No,” I admitted. “But Mellie seemed, ah, upset with you.”Jason considered. “I’m okay with Mellie blaming me. It’s probably better.”“Do you mean it’s not true?” In Jason’s eyes, I saw just a hint of desolation—like wildfire smoke momentarily obliterating a blue sky. I remembered Medea’s words: The truth was enough to break Jason Grace.“Piper ended it,” he said quietly. “That was months ago, way before the Burning Maze. Now come on. Let’s go find Caligula.” ‘ ~The Burning Maze, Chapter 23 Last Page

♦ Don't even get me started on how she found someone else weeks after her ex boyfriend whom she was with for a year died for HER. I'm sorry, but I couldn't even think of dating someone else for a long time if I were in her position. It's canon that literally even annabeth cried herself sick when she heard about his death and they weren't even close, and Percy couldn't even mention jason without breaking down, Percy and jason barely knew much about eachother. Heck, even hera, a literal goddess who only saw jason as a pawn, started sobbing at his death. So compared to those, piper literally had the reaction of a stale bread. I'd expected her to react in a similar way to nico, just genuine devastation and anger. Now she is using someone else as a rebound when she isn't even emotionally healed?

Connecting all of these points, it's such a shame how jason got taken advantage of for his passive nature. It dawned on me how jason was SO trapped in the relationship with only Piper as the centre of his world. I know Piper was just a teenager herself, but that doesn't make me feel any better about her treatment of him tbh, she's also seemed to have lots of internal misogyny, bringing down the other girls for ogling at jason as if she weren't the one who did the same like 5 minutes ago. Any thoughts? Rick really fumbled the bag with Piper imo, especially in the trials of Apollo.

[turkeysandyellowroses]

[its-vicky1]

This is so beautifully hot <3

[vixxensvoid]

I never understood why women thought being in a headlock during sex was so hot until…

Like I need him so bad y’all it’s soooo… 😭😭😭

[planetmaven]

I love so much that Victoria always reminds us about how much Maven lies, but one of my favorite lies will be how humble and good he is to his people when his intentions are so ominous and cruel.

in King's Cage, we watch him welcome Newbloods into his army with warm, open arms and dashing white smiles. Not once does he retch or look like he is disgusted with them. His smile and generosity seem so genuine.

Page 195 of King's Cage says, "Maven alone seems unfazed, smiling for the workers and their tattooed necks. He doesn't cover his mouth like Evangeline or retch at the smell like so many others, myself included."

like not even Mare could pretend 😭 but Maven can

Victoria not only tells us that Maven is a good liar, but she's SHOWING us, too. As a writer, I love this scene entirely.

[lightvsdark18]

I don't like the forgetting Yuu concept because I feel like it's weak. It does make sense and makes for good angst, but it feels like they're once again not letting Yuu have some importance in the game, how they not really needed.

Also, Malleus has shown to care for Yuu from voicelines and his acts. (Admitting he's scared of losing you and jumping in to save you in the masquerade event.) That's why I also think it's weak because the game has shown he wouldn't simply forget Yuu like that.

Someone said Malleus is focusing on keeping everyone asleep and enjoying their perfect worlds before preparing a dream for Yuu to keep them trapped, to keep them with him.

I believe if Malleus can make a perfect dream for anyone, why would he need to forget his first friend. In the dream world or reality, they're not a threat to him, there's nothing they can do to him. He just has to focus on the real threats before giving his precious friend their happiness.

I think a horror concept would bring more angst and thriller to the story. They already shown how scary Malleus can be, why not lean more into it?

I want Malleus to be terrifying and threat Yuu. I want him realize they are indeed a threat to his dream world. I want him to do everything in his power to prevent them from leaving his side.

Have him tell Yuu he can make their perfect world, there's no need to return home because Twisted Wonderland is their home. He can give them everything they would ever need and want.

Imagine Malleus sending Yuu into a deeper sleep or trapping them in a dream, then says to them before leaving "I love you." I want Malleus to say "I love you" to the player so badly that him saying it during a scary scene with him in overblot form and saying in a twisted type of love, I will eat it up.

[toastandjamie]

Hi hello, it’s Mat/Tuon time again and today’s topic is the Art of War!

So, famously, Mat and Tuon treat their courtship like war and I want to talk about the different ways they approach said war and how that reflects in their actual war strategies.

So let’s start with the goals, the most important part of any war. On the surface Mat’s goals are pretty simple, he wants to make Tuon fall in love with him. However his true intentions are a bit more complicated than that. While he does want a loving relationship with Tuon his main goal is and always will be to defend his fragile sense of independence and identity. Tuon on the other side of the metaphorical battlefield is both trying to learn about Mat and importantly trying to thoroughly claim him as hers. In the terms of a war, Tuon much like the Seanchen Empire, is a conquering foreign power attempting to subjugate the local population. Mat conversely is interestingly enough not a retaliatory force attempting to stop this invasion, but more akin to a smaller rebel force that is not attempting to overthrow but instead is trying maintain a certain level of rights- like a rebel population trying to lower taxes or have less sovereign oversight.

This is where their individual strategies come into play. We are told pretty consistently that what makes the Seanchen so dangerous is their adaptability. Even as aggressors the Seanchen have such a strong defensive strategy to wear down the enemy. The Seanchen’s Ever Victorious Army, is not victorious in every battle, but they Are victorious in every war. The reason for that is that they learn from their enemy, no trick is going to work on them twice. That’s what makes them so difficult to beat in a long-standing war. However the only reason they can carry on in long dragged out wars is because they are such a large army that is being constantly well supplied. Tuon similarly despite being “the aggressor” in the courtship she is still a defensive player. She has a very strong wall, and forces Mat to make the moves and then throws him off balance with decisive and sharp attack. Like The Kiss, or even her suddenly finishing the marriage vows without ever even mentioning it before then. Tuon like her army may lose a battle or two, such as the A’dam Incident, but in the end she’ll win the war and successfully subjugate the rebel army. However for any imperialist nation the war doesn’t really end when you defeat the enemy. You still need to govern and reach the perfect balance between being in control enough that they don’t seek independence but not be too heavy handed that it results in a rebellion. The most successful and long lasting colonization efforts finds balance between those. The Roman Empire for instance famously allowed the conquered nations under them keep their culture intact and even attempted to keep their power structure relatively untouched. The Seanchen do the same as we see in Ebou Dar, this type of gentle assimilation is a far more sustainable type of colonization than aggressive assimilation which often angers the locals to the point of rebellion. Tuon uses these same gentle assimilation techniques on Mat. She doesn’t force Mat to completely assimilate to Seanchen, she doesn’t scold him for his friendship with Aes Sedai only for going against her and while that may seem like a negligible difference it’s an important distinction because it sounds more reasonable. The same as the conquering culture simply introducing aspect of their culture to the colony put doesn’t outlaw the original culture, simply, encouraging assimilation into the new one. Think about it like the boiling frog experiment, slowly raising the temperature so the frog doesn’t jump out. It’s the same logic with both Seanchen colonization and Tuon’s courtship.

Mat and the Band however are a defensive army. They are always trying to protect or defend something. There’s two ways win a defensive war, outlasting your opponent or defeating your opponent. Mat prefers the method of defeating his enemy because of the simple reason that Mat’s main priority is to minimize casualties in the long term. Simply outlasting and surviving the enemy runs the risk of retaliation, but if you strike first and strike decisively you can remove the threat before it ever hurts you. It’s why Mat is always upgrading to bigger and better weaponry that does the most damage in the shortest amount of time. Mat reacts similarly in his courtship with Tuon, he initiates in order to get the upper hand, a preemptive strike if you will. Mat relies a large decisive gestures, gifts, big grand acts of service. Hard hitting attacks in the hopes of ending this war as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for him Tuon’s slow retaliatory battles is almost a perfect counter for his aggressive strikes. Now Mat however is not fighting Tuon for freedom, he is not trying to escape her sovereignty instead he is just trying to protect his most valuable independence. To extend the colonization metaphor, he doesn’t mind deferring to a major head of state he just wants to have his own local government to take care of things close to home.

Luckily in terms of the longevity of the relationship, Mat’s goal of simply maintaining a level of independence is actually well suited to Tuon’s concept of imperial leadership. As far as such large empires go, it’s impossible for the singular head of state to manage every land, which is why the allocate leadership of smaller areas to vassals. As far as the metaphor goes, the way they settled things by the end of the books the war ended in an inconclusive white peace with Mat accepted vassalization with ✨benefits✨ and Tuon plotting to slowly strengthen her authority over her newly conquered territory with a gentle assimilation onto her empire.

[theatre-heathen]

RWRB: a case study 🩷💜💙

Light blue: All of Alex’s “Sweetheart”s, including one use of “Dear”, and “Sunshine”

Dark blue: All of Alex’s “Baby’s”, one or two “Babe”s

Light pink: All of Henry’s pet names, one “Dear”, one “Darling”

Dark pink: All of Henry’s “Love”s

Purple: Either ones “I love you”

All from spoken or digital communication - even pulled from some of the quoted historical letters bc that still counts. Duh.

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