#cycle of galand

[white-tree-barden]

hey look!! last two books in CoG are nearly upon us!

[reginleif-valkyrie]

Cally: “Alright kids, what’s something good you did today?”

Dante: “I prevented a murder.”

Cally: “How’d you do that?”

Dante: “Self control.”

******

Blays: “Someone please take me to the hospital. If you need to know, my blood type is red.”

******

Dante and Blays: “Whoever decided to put their hands on our kids, please come outside so we can peacefully break your legs.”

******

Blays with alcohol: “If the human body doesn’t get water, it will die.”

Dante: “I hate to break it to you, but this is not water.”

Blays: “No, but it’s a liquid.”

[myupostsheadcanons]

Myu's Reading List from 2024.

I haven't been able to read as many books as I did in previous years. So this year, i didn't sort them out, but instead listed them in order of when I read them, linked to the book, and left a personal score. Because, always remember Dumb Fun > Boring Navel Gazing.

Previous Years' Lists: 2023

2022, 2021, 2020. 2019, 2018, 2017

A Canticle for Leibowitz - 5 / 10

Relic of Sorrows: Fallen Empire, Book 4 - 8 / 10

Cleon Moon: Fallen Empire, Book 5 - 8 / 10

Arkadian Skies: Fallen Empire, Book 6 - 8 / 10

Perilous Hunt: Fallen Empire, Book 7 - 8 / 10

End Game, Fallen Empire, Book 8 - 8 / 10

Back to One: The Bad Guys, Book 7 - 7 / 10

Trick of the Night: The Bad Guys, Book 8 - 7 / 10

Tale of the Dead Town (Dramatized Adaptation): Vampire Hunter D, Volume 4 - 6.5 / 10

The Stuff of Dreams (Dramatized Adaptation): Vampire Hunter D, Volume 5 - 6.5 / 10

Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane (Dramatized Adaptation): Vampire Hunter D, Volume 6 - 6.5 / 10

Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part One (Dramatized Adaptation): Vampire Hunter D, Volume 7 - 6.5 / 10

Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part Two (Dramatized Adaptation): Vampire Hunter D, Volume 8 - 6.5 / 10

Darktown Funk: The Bad Guys, Book 9 - 7 / 10

Implacable - 7 / 10

Neverwhere - 6 / 10

Classical Mythology - 6 / 10

Preceptor: Spellmonger, Book 16 - 7 / 10

On a Throne of Lies: The Bad Guys, Book 10 - 7 / 10

Esrahaddon: The Rise and Fall, Book 3 - 9 / 10

The Talented Mr. Ripley - 8 / 10

Assistant to the Villain: Assistant to the Villain, Book 1 - 6 / 10

The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells: Mage Errant, Book 7 - 8 / 10

The Case of the Felonious Faire: 5-Minute Sherlock, Book 3 - 8 / 10

The Shattered Path: The Cycle of Galand, Book 9 - 8 / 10

Metropolis - 7 / 10

Smuggler Ship: A Sky Full of Stars Prequel Novella - 8 / 10

Bambi (Classic Tales Edition) - 6 / 10

The Emerald Circus: Stories - 6 / 10

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale - 6 / 10

Illuminatus! Part II: The Golden Apple - 8 / 10

Illuminatus! Part III: Leviathan - 8 / 10

Mona Lisa Overdrive - 7 / 10

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar [Classic Tales Edition] - 7 / 10

Volume IV: The Minority Report - 6.5 / 10

Volume III: Upon the Dull Earth - 6 / 10

Volume V: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale - 6.5 / 10

The Rogue Prince: Sky Full of Stars, Book 1 - 8 / 10

Angle of Truth: Sky Full of Stars, Book 2 - 8 / 10

Stolen Legacy: Sky Full of Stars, Book 3 - 8 / 10

Aliens: Phalanx - 9 / 10

The Vanishing Girl: Daphne and Velma, Book 1 - 6 / 10

The Dark Deception (Daphne and Velma #2): Daphne and Velma, Book 2 - 6 / 10

Clytemnestra - 8 / 10

Cats of the Louvre - 8 / 10

Persephone Made Me Do It - 5 / 10

The Girl from the Other Side - 9.5 / 10

Innocent & Innocent Rouge (MA, seinin) - 7.5 / 10

Chilling Reflections (Villains' Code, Book 3) - 8 / 10

[ambersky0319]

NNT Rewatch: Episode 2

Masterpost

College orientation is done, Camp Nano begins in two days, and I have plenty of free time right now! So! Time to continue the rewatch!

Also I should probably say, this being a rewatch, I will talk about things that happen later both in this season and the story in general

Okay so first of all, Netflix, you're asking to skip recap when this scene wasn't in the last episode

Secondly okay then her father wasn't laid up in bed sick when she escaped, but I wonder if he encouraged her to leave on her own because he knew he was/he'd get sick, or if he knew he'd just slow her down bc. I mean. He IS old

Gotta respect the holy knights still calling him Majesty when there to arrest him and while banging on his door-

Love characters with parental-related trauma, whether it's just related to the parents or the parents caused it. And Elizabeth (though not known yet) has BOTH of those

Anyway she'll be seeing holy knights burst into her father's room in her nightmares for a long time I'm sure

Also what was that roar. Like jesus you'd think one of the new generation had transformed then and there with it-

Also also Elizabeth's dress when fleeing is actually pretty cute and separately I like that purple cloak, and I gotta remember to draw her in it at some point

Final also give this poor girl a hug :(

It's interesting just how many demon types there are depicted in the intro (at least a huge variety in appearance) yet we don't really see a lot of them

First season it's the red and gray demons, then we see more humanoid ones (Meliodas and the commandments), and Grayroad, but then there's this hulking demon in the intro and some dragon-like ones. There's one I'm curious if it's what Galand is beneath the armor. And there's tons of - again fairly humanoid - demons in the Cursed by Light movie.

Just. I'm really curious why we had so many humanoid ones. I would've loved to see the more beastly or monstrous looking demons throughout the show more, if only because the designs look so cool

But then we also don't know how much of this art can be considered accurate since the goddesses are portrayed with only a single set of wings, so (assuming that this was art depicting stories passed down by humans) maybe none of these demons exist

It'd be really cool if they did tho

Also at the bottom we have two human armies facing against each other, one blue the other red, and supposedly fighting on their respective sides. So it's interesting to see humans being depicted to be split on who they should support in the Holy War, if anyone, kinda like what I assume was going on with Rou and the humans who attacked the Fairy King Forest in the first Holy War

One day I'll analyze the Sins' armor and how it fits to each of their characters perfectly

But today is not that day

NETSUJOU NO SPECTRUM

I just. I love the colors in this intro and every scene is just beautiful

Also Elizabeth and Meliodas, while standing hand in hand, are fairly far apart and I'm pretty sure in future intros they're MUCH closer together

Holding hands to show that their lives are intertwined/connected - hinting at the curse they're plagued with. But there's also distance between them that Meliodas is likely putting there, trying to keep Elizabeth at arms length to avoid accidentally activating the curse.

Like. Cmon. Elizabeth is closer to HAWK in the intro right there.

Alright I'm gonna be overanalyzing EVERYTHING if you hadn't caught on so here's more

In the scene they're lying in the grass Elizabeth is sleeping (or at least has her eyes closed) but Meliodas' eyes are wide open. Could be referencing how Elizabeth will die/has died but will come back (reincarnation -> sleep cycle) whereas Meliodas will continue to live (never truly dying -> awake). Like he closes his eyes for a moment then springs up, kinda like a brief respite before getting back into the thick of things

I'm definitely reading too far into it and idk if it makes sense but I'm fine with that

Too bad we don't see more of the Necropolis. I feel like it'd be interesting to explore more.

Especially the differences between there and Purgatory imo

And we're back with the sexualization

Like even if Elizabeth was just naive she's a TEENAGE PRINCESS you're telling me she doesn't know proper etiquette and what would be considered inappropriate behavior?

Meliodas just dodging her question so effectively that even when she hits the nail on the head (sorta, could what he did really be considered a crime when everyone else was dead?) he just says "well, maybe" and she just. Doesn't bring it up again I think?

Anyway I also just love the look on his face when he says maybe-

WHERE DOES THE PATH LEADING TO THE BOAR HAT COME FROM

MAMA HAWK JUST DIGS DOWN AND IS GREEN AS THE GRASS AROUND HER BUT SHE DOESNT HAVE A PATH PATTERN AND THE STEPS TO THE BOAR HAT ARE FAR ENOUGH THAT THEY WOULDNT REACH THE EXISTING PATH

But also I love that there's a path leading to nowhere on this hill. Meliodas sells Vanya ale regularly from the looks of it (we see it in episode 1) so I wonder if the path is just there for when the boar hat is in town

Also it's a crime Meliodas became king of Liones

Man knows his stuff about alcohol and he seemed to actually enjoy running the tavern. He should gave just remained a bartender. He didn't even really WANT to be ruler of ANYTHING

I mean. Sir. Look at him then compare him to literally every person around you. You think he can SEE what's going on???

Wait I forgot Twigo wasn't a holy knight

Also apparently I accidentally quoted Meliodas in Eternal (Gelda saying "That twigo guy" in ch 19)

Surprised we don't see more people other than Mead say they're buddies with the Sins, but at the same time it makes sense bc the Holy Knights? But like damn you telling me not one grown ass arrogant bastard decided to scare people by saying this?

I actually love a lot of the villager designs in Vanya. Like there's so many types of people (body type wise at least)!! It's great!!!!

Girl practice your aim better

But also Elizabeth's reaction to Meliodas getting nailed in the face with a rock is gold 😂

Also also Meliodas didn't budge after getting a - pretty decent size - rick straight to the face

The way he just ushers Mead off like "alright we're going and you're mine now let's go"

"why are they hitting me" boy you're literally between him and the villagers?????

Why wasn't the rock-throwing stopped until AFTER Mead was gone??????????

Mead looking all cheeky and Meliodas just like "Brat. You're gonna regret this." when Mead insists on eating before telling Meliodas anything

While I am miffed over them not using more of Elizabeth's physical abilities in the show, I do absolutely love just how big her heart is and how she's such an empathetic person

Like she figures out what Mead's deal is before going to confront him and connects with him through it and just ughshfhdh

The shock on this kid's face when he suddenly realizes he's talking to someone who will completely understand him

Also he looked so surprised when Elizabeth got down to his level and like

This just shows a really healthy way of talking with kids and trying to get to the root of the problem. She starts with what she's heard, then gets to his level and connects with him and just.... my heart....

And like. It WORKS. He opens up about what's really going on because Elizabeth opened up to him

The way they just look at Meliodas - who wasn't paying attention lol - after Mead's explanation

What tf are these knights even thinking like. Mdudes you got no powers. You ain't holy knights. What if the village just decided to mob you? Every single one of em looks twice as strong as you

Anyway

They should've mobbed the two idiots

"That's the power of one of the Seven Deadly Sins" I mean. The sword thing? Not really? Since pretty much ANY Holy Knight could've removed the sword. Just happened to be him

But if we're talking his kindness to do it? Like him just having a big heart? Then yeah

Wonder if Mead was gonna ask if he was a Sin or just a Holy Knight

That lil push and "Go on" and the village and like ajdjfjfjfhfjfjf

I love this episode so much and I always forget how much I love it

Also! Perfect Time still playing in the background! I don't remember much about future seasons but I don't remember it playing much in more emotionally triumphant scenes rather than physical

Like the fight with the DK and even SD, while somewhat emotionally charged, were more about the physical triumph than the emotional

Perfect Time in this episode doesn't kick in until AFTER Meliodas pulls the sword and then it plays in the background, lasting until the scene changes to the Boar Hat

It was used to emphasize this as a win, because it was a win for these people's spirits and less about Meliodas' physical win

ITS CALLED THE FOREST OF WHITE DREAMS OKAY

I love the foreshadowing of Gilthunder's story, because while we don't know much about him or what the fuck that raven is and why it looks so evil, we know they're connected somehow but don't know how

Also the raven is outside observing Gilthunder, through the glass, maybe highlighting how Gilthunder is trapped under Vivian's vigilance AND how Vivian cannot truly see Gilthunder (who's in a chair blocking the view of the window and therefore letting him hide from Vivian)

That is a really nifty power of Gilthunder's and it's a damn shame we NEVER SEE HIM USE IT AGAIN

Love seeing the customers starting at Hawk in shock but also nervously lol

I do love all the foreshadowing to the curse without blatantly showing that foreshadowing

After Meliodas confirms there's something Elizabeth is meant to do, he says "And I have something that I'm meant to do" and while it's clear to people who know he's talking about how he has to break the curse to first time watchers it could mean something much different, like he's meant to protect the people or save them (because, as revealed later, that's why he's the sin of wrath - he failed to save the people of Danafor but also he's protecting THESE PEOPLE now too)

Him catching and then throwing the spear back will never NOT be epic

Wonder how close Meliodas got to hitting Vivian's raven

It's been a LOOOOOONG time since I last listened and watched this outro oml

Also poor Diane having to walk while everyone else can just pass the nights sleeping

She's been sleeping in the forest to prepare for how long she'll have to walk awake once she joins everyone else

And that's episode three! Yknow I thought I was going fast-paced with Eternal but now I realize we get introduced to some of the characters REALLY FAST

Anyway if you got this far, you're fantastic! Lmk what your favorite nnt race is if you want and - if YOU want to ramble too - why?

[aro-oak]

Nulladoon is like a cross between DnD, Settlers of Catan, and debate

[joriontel]

The Star Eater

[paintedposeys]

finally getting some time to draw a bit, previews of some paintings im working on !

[joriontel]

A-Are you Dante Garland?

i am evil and gay. i commune with the rats. i have 17 knives. i don’t have horns yet but i’m working on it.

[heyraybeam]

high priest of narashtovik and nethermancer extraordinaire, dante galand!

[white-tree-barden]

i forgot to make a post about it last week but! last of the cally books came out!

[aro-oak]

Dante Galand be like

[reginleif-valkyrie]

Do Not Take Me Seriously! unless you want to ship it too.

So, Blaydan.

In the third book of The Cycle of Arawan series, The Black Star.

Dante has in his hands, the Black Star, this magical item that only appears every 1000 years (or was it 10 thousand?) that can basically do anything you want. The last time it appeared it was used to move an entire mountain range that fucked up the whole region’s weather.

Dante has several ideas of what he wants to do with it, including giving himself a longer life span so he can find the Star again and do the same thing. Whatever he wants, this thing will do it.

You know what he does with it?

Brings Blays back to life.

Infinite power at his fingertips and he gives it up for Blays. The guy he hasn’t seen in a few years and has been actively hiding from him because he was pissed that Dante killed his girlfriend (she was practically his wife). The guy that moments before fucked up his original plan to get the Star. The guy he’s been searching for and obsessing over the entire time he was missing.

Dante gives it all up for Blays.

This troupe is called ‘Willfully Weak’ and it’s when a superhero gives up their powers for love. This troupe came about in Superman 2 Man of Steel. Superman gives up his powers so he can live with Lois.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Obviously Dante is still pretty powerful without the Star, however he’s basically giving up borderline godhood (Superman powers) for Blays. Dante wouldn’t do that for anybody else, maybe Cally since he was a fatherish figure, but that’s it. (And even then I still have my doubts he’d give up power for Cally)

Just think about that for a second.

Now I can hear you saying ‘But Reginleif, why wouldn’t he bring his brother back to life? Anyone would do that’

And I would say ‘First, be careful with that blanket statement of ‘anyone’ and second, I said don’t take me seriously’

I, as a shipper, see it this way and you as a non-shipper see it that way. Both are okay 👍

Also, Blays can be in a queer platonic relationship with Dante and still be married to Minn.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dante.

[myupostsheadcanons]

Michael J. Sullivan vs. Edward W. Robertson

I had just finished the Legend of the first Empire series by Michael J. Sullivan, as well as the latest book in the Cycle of Galand series by Edward W. Robertson: What Lies Beyond.

Both series involve a threat to humanity that eventually require their heroes to head into the “underword/land of the dead” in order to acquire an object to stop said threat from wiping them off the face of existence. They meet the gods that created their world, and made enemies and friends among them. The threat in the Cycle of Galand is on a much grander scale than the one from Sullivan’s Legend series. However, the writers followed roughly the same path to get there. Starting out with a problem that concerns the protagonists personally, that snowballed into larger and bigger problems.

The Cycle of Galand is a sequel series to the Cycle of Arawn Series, so we had prior stories (three books) involving the two main characters, Dante and Blays, and of their prior situation and why they respond they way they do. The Legends of the First Empire is a distant-prequel series to the Sullivan’s earlier work The Riyria Revelations, Empire could be read on its own without knowing anything in Riyria, the characters are all new.

The main take away with comparing the cast of characters between Cycle and Legends is that their are more characters and more female characters as leads in Legends, while Cycle of Galand still mainly follows Dante Galand as POV and the occasional chapter from the outlaw turned spy Raxa, the only woman pov character in the series. The women in Cycle are all 3rd or 4th tier characters at best, a result of Dante being the main POV and while he does get a love interest, she isn’t around for most of the series and is only occasionally pined after (this dude is hyper focused and he’s like platonic soul mates with Blays, so there isn’t much room for anybody else. Dante could easily be an Ace Main character). 

In Legends, I would put the top main cast of characters as being Brin, Persephone, and Suri, all women characters. The men are the second tier characters: Mawyndule, Gifford, and Raithe (then Tesh after Raithe). Even several other characters get moments in the spotlight, and the thing is that it doesn’t feel crowded by focusing on so many characters throughout the series. It is difficult handling a large cast of POV characters, something that Cycle cuts down by having Dante be the main outlet to the world with the occasional secondary character (Blays gets one in Arawn and Raxa in Galand). What happens is that when you only have one character as the POV character vs. having a Large Cast of characters as POV characters is that with a single POV you only get their opinions on the world they live in. Trilos put it brilliantly near the end of Age of Empyre that a single voice will tell their version of the truth, but can’t see someone else’s perspective, that someone’s hero is an other’s villain. Dante gets told by their literal gods that a lot of what went wrong was because he didn’t see the larger picture.  (Also to note, Dante and Persephone. Both writers chose to have characters named after other people that end up in the Underworld.)

There is also focus in both series on writing things down for the future. The Book of Brin and the Cycle of Arawn are treated as bibles, if incomplete bibles by the people in their societies. Cycle spends a great deal of time involving another book The Book of What lies beyond, a book that tells the story of a man that went into the afterlife thousands of years prior when a similar situation they face arose. Dante even made a last request that their story should be written down for posthumous reasons. After the fall of her town and the loss of their Keeper, Brin realized the importance of passing their own story down for the future, inventing/appropriating reading and writing just for that cause. Every chapter in Legends even starts out with a quote from her writing, even the few chapters prior to meeting her or her being introduced to the idea of setting their story down permanently. There is also a loose end by the end of the series involving The Book of Brin that will likely be important thousands of years in the future.

The Audio Books in both series are read by Tim Gerard Reynolds, who’s became one of my favorite readers and performers. I think Cycle of Arawn was the first time i heard his work, that or Red Rising, but I’ve became a big fan of his through how he captured Dante and Blays, when just reading on paper what they say would make them sound so cruel without that extra context of Layers and Layers of Sarcasm and Banter between the two of them. This same ability played well in how he characterized similar snarky characters in Empire like Nyphron, Tesh, Raithe, Malcolm, and Moria... having someone read these lines out loud and in the proper inflection can make a barely tolerable character into one of the best well rounded characters.  The only other readers I’ve felt came close are Steven Pacey, the man behind Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law books, and James Marsters, who’s read The Dresden Files Books. They don’t just read the book with funny voices, they ACT the book, they perform it.

(Brom’s Lost Gods was another book I’ve gone through recently that also involves a protagonist going into the underworld and part of a larger quest. If you are wanting a darker, but shorter, Orpheus story.. and don’t mind a downer ending.)

[aggressivelyarospec]

oh if we've got books: the cycle of arawn and cycle of galand series by edward w robertson! the protagonist/pov character for 85% or more of the series is as aroace as I've seen a character get without actually saying it outright. there are a few jokes scattered through about him not having a girlfriend, but it's not meanspirited. even what little romance there is is super background to anything else happening

=================================

Additional Information: Fiction, Fantasy Trailer: N/A

Added!

[roosterjazz]

Quarantine Q’s

I was tagged by @sennextheassasinkingoflight thank you for tagging me 😊😊😊

Are you staying home from work &/or school?

No staying home for me. Since I work in a hospital microbiology lab, it’s all hands on deck right now more than ever. All of the Covid-19 specimens collected in the hospital come to us for testing.

If you’re staying home, who’s with you?

If I stayed home it would be with my boyfriend and his 15 year old son. Also 4 cats, 2 dogs, 2 rats, and a bearded dragon.

Are you a homebody?

Yes! My favorite place to be is in my bed. That’s were I do my favorite things, such as reading fanfic and drawing.

Did any events that you were looking forward to get cancelled?

SXSW in Austin, TX, got cancelled. Noga Erez was going to be there, and I am soooo in love with her! It would have been amazing to get to see her live. I would have hated to have to make the trip to Austin, then deal with the madness of the festival, but for her it would have been worth it! She’s my dom, my alpha. Sighhhhhhh.

Any movies you’ve watched lately? TV shows?

The only new shows I’ve watched since The Witcher is F is for Family and Tiger King. When I’m drawing, I like to have It’s Always Sunny or Trailer Park Boys on in the background. I always fall asleep to Rick and Morty or Metalocalypse. I rarely watch movies since they require me to actually pay attention. 😅

What music are you listening to?

I listened to The Amazing Devil nonstop for all of March lol. This week I’ve been listening to the new Die Antwoord album A LOT, also Lana Del Ray and Noga Erez. Last week I was on a bit of a Bob Dylan kick.

What are you reading?

I only read fanfic, everything else I ‘read’ are actually audio books. I’m addicted to Audible. I just finished all of the Witcher books, the narrator was phenomenal! I’m about to start listening to the 6th book of the Cycle of Galand series, which just came out!!!

What are you doing for self care?

The hospital screens everyone who walks through the door. They ask if we have any symptoms, take our temperature, and give us a mask. When I’m at home I do the same thing I usually do; sit in bed, drink beer, draw, and read fan fiction.

I’m tagging @reinvent-and-believe and @lerandomone

[joriontel]

zatchbent replied to your photo “The Star Eater”

Perfect match with how I imagine them!

I know right?! Real vivid descriptions that is essentially a type of soul demon. Love how ornery they are just like, they have to be told NOT to fight stuff more then anything.