#derkholm series

[chelshiart]

a call-out post

[best-childhood-book]

I have some books/series recommendations for the fantasy poll - I’ll send more when I get home and actually get to look at my shelves

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock (series)

The Black Company by Glenn Cook (series)

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (series)

The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe (series)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Cemeteries of Amalo by Katherin Addison (series)

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir (series)

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones (series, sequel is Year of the Griffin)

I’ll think of more when I see my shelves. I’d recommend the Earthsea series 100 times, but I figure it’s already been submitted. Cheers - and thanks for doing these. They’re a lot of fun.

You are correct, Earthsea has already been submitted lol

I added all of these, and god, I love The Locked Tomb!

[hawnks]

MINT what other dwj books have you read????? i've read *most* of them (i THINK. realized i never read fire & hemlock bc i was getting it confused with hexwood, i'm just excited i have another of her books to read) if you're reading dark lord of derkholm are you also gonna read year of the griffin???? i am so desperate to talk about ANY of her books with ANYBODY. going to grab my copy of derkholm right *now*

JSJSJJDJKDD I haven’t read that many by her actually 🥺 Just Howls Moving Castle and House of Many Ways.

The Chrestonanci series has been on my tbr list for a really long time but I saw this one and couldn’t help myself skdkdkdkdkf.

[uovoc]

2023 Media consumption

God tier: media that invoked blorbo-induced euphoria, mini-obsession, or just haunt me

White Cat Legend (大理寺日志, Dali Court Journal) - donghua, seasons 1 and 2. The new vice minister of the imperial court of criminal justice is, unfortunately, a cat demon. Tang Dynasty workplace comedy/political intrigue. Lovely animation, sick fight scenes, and catboys.

Scissor Seven (刺客伍六七) - donghua, seasons 2-3. Netflix summary: "Seeking to recover his memory, a scissor-wielding, hairdressing, bungling quasi-assassin stumbles into a struggle for power among feuding factions." Season 1 was just ok at best, season 2 was great, season 3 was phenomenal, season 4 was meh.

Derkholm duology by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

God Troubles Me / Hanhua Riji (汉化日记) - donghua. Cringefail loser girl Su Moting, her cringefail smartphone god, and her cringefail cat (demon) have to save the world. But first she has to go to work. And get takeout. And watch dramas. The premise sounds SO cringe but it's well-executed and hilarious. And actually a pretty sharp but good-humored window into the delights and horrors of modern everyday life in china.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (reread). At the peak of the California gold rush, hitmen Charlie and Eli Sisters are hired for a job that Eli is liking less and less. 1st-person perspective of a stone-cold killer, where it turns out the killer is just Some Guy. Who is kind of awkward. And pathetic. And maybe not very bright.

Gobelins graduation animated shorts: "Chroniques de l'Eau Salée" (2021), "Last Summer" (2022), and "Go Fishboy" (2022). Available to watch on YouTube. Got caught up on 2021 and 2022 and these are the ones that will haunt me.

Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi - manga (reread). Teenage martial artist is cursed to transform into a hot girl whenever he's splashed with cold water. Still some of the funniest and most deranged comedy I've ever read.

"Golden Age" - short story by Naomi Novik set in the Temeraire universe. Hilarious and delightful Feral Temeraire AU.

Just ok: media that I didn't hate, and maybe even enjoyed

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore

Glass Onion (2022) dir. Rian Johnson

Puss in Boots: the Last Wish (2022) dir. Joel Crawford

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Witch's Business by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones (reread) - Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Mixed Magics, The Pinhoe Egg

Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Sharyn November. Faves: "Beauty" by Sherwood Smith, "Little Dot" by Diana Wynne Jones, and "Remember Me" by Nancy Farmer.

All Systems Red (异星危机) by Martha Wells, Simplified tr. by 黎思敏

All Saints Street (万圣街) - donghua, seasons 1-3

Moira's Pen by Megan Whalen Turner

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

The Game by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Selected Discworlds: Thief of Time, Unseen Academicals (reread)

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer (reread)

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

"Louise", Gobelins 2021 graduation animated short. Pretty good, but not god tier.

The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Most of it was a slog, but the ending was wonderfully tender.

The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Spinning by Tillie Walden

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (reread)

The Mermaid (美人鱼) - movie (2016)

Exhalation by Ted Chiang. Fave: Exhalation

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Motorcity - cartoon (rewatch)

Sing 2 - movie

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - movie

White Cat Legend (大理寺日志) manhua through chapter 186

A Monster in Paris - movie (rewatch)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - movie

Lionboy trilogy by Zizou Corder: Lionboy, The Chase, and The Truth (reread)

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (封神第一部：朝歌风云) - movie

Our Flag Means Death - season 2

Skellig by David Almond (reread). Even more unsettling and magical than I remembered.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (人渣反派自救系统) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Savvy by Ingrid Law (reread)

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

Golden Age and Other Stories by Naomi Novik. "Golden Age" alone was amazing. Every thing else: meh.

Wonder by RJ Palacio except that the ending sucked

蓝溪镇 (Lanxi Zhen/Blue Creek Town) - manhua (reread), through chapter 112

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Disliked and often DNF'd

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley

Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse

Palimpsest by Catherine Valente

Knives Out (2019) dir. Rian Johnson

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nhi Vgo

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Genuinely creative concept, enjoyable characters, and horrifying (affectionate) ending! Writing was just very, very bad.

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

Stowaway by Karen Hesse

Nirvana in Fire (狼牙榜) - ok objectively it was fine. It was just SO long that I started losing patience at multiple points.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes on (2021) dir. Dean Fleischer Camp

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

Suzume - anime movie

Fairies Albums (百妖谱) - donghua

Link Click （时光代理人）- donghua

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn by Tri Vuong - webcomic

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

Journey to the West: Demons Strike Back (西游伏妖篇) - movie

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Others Writings by Jorge Luis Borges

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Frozen 2 - movie

Logan - movie

The Three Sisters of Tenmasou - movie

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Nothing new.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers

Nimona (2023) - movie

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blache

One Piece - the live action Netflix series

Good Omens season 2

Birdwing by Rafe Martin

Blue Eye Samurai - netflix cartoon

Haven't You Heard I'm Sakamoto - anime

System Collapse by Martha Wells

The Cay by Theodore Taylor (reread)

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Bottoms (2023) - movie

Daily Life of the Immortal King (仙王的日常生活) - donghua

Witch King by Martha Wells. Actually I enjoyed the Kai/Bashasa storyline a lot. The present-day storyline I found extremely boring. Which was unfortunate because it was more than half the book.

The King's Avatar (全职高手) - donghua

The Apothecary Diaries - anime

Assorted nonfiction

The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May. Bored. DNF

Alone in the Wilderness (2004) - dir. Dick Proenneke. Documentary of Proenneke's year spent living alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Neat look at one dude building a cabin, furniture, and all his accompanying household implements by hand.

A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia by Blaine Harden. The human and environmental significance of the Columbia dam system.

Gifted Earth: The Ethnobotany of the Quinault and Neighboring Tribes by Douglas Deur. Guide to key native species and their traditional uses.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders. Four classic Russian short stories with accompanying technical analysis of their narrative construction. Great look at the process of writing and analyzing stories.

Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin - animal behavioral psychology

Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin - more animal behavioral psychology

Crying in HMart by Michelle Zauner. DNF. Felt like the book could have been 1/4 of its length. Mostly nothing new.

Wood in American Life: 1776-2076 by WG Youngquist and HO Fleischer. Wood use in America. Really makes you realize just how many things are now made out of plastic but used to be wood. And how much more difficult and expensive it was to make and replace objects.

Authentic Diversity: How to change the workplace for good by Michelle Silverthorn. Concise and nicely concrete. Would be a good starting place for an executive.

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil - how some big data algorithms reinforce preexisting inequality, and how to improve them.

The Relationship Cure by Joan Declaire and John M. Gottman. The classic originator of the "bids for attention" approach. Pretty good, most helpful was the part where it identifies the styles of responses.

Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers: A Retirement and Aging Roadmap for Single and Childless Adults by Sara Zeff Geber

A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs

the excellent hyperlocal nature guidebook I bought after encountering the author at the mall

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. 2018 ed.

[ninja-muse]

I read The Goblin Emperor and Witness for the Dead awhile back, and I really liked them (especially The Goblin Emperor, I loved Maia as a protagonist). Do you have any book recommendations with protagonists who are kind? I miss that. Doesn't have to be the same genre. Thank you!

Oh gosh. Um. Thanks for the ask and I'm glad you liked the books! I'm still waiting for my library to put Grief of Stones into circulation. For me, and probably for you by the sounds of it, one of the things that makes the books so great is that you don't see pure kindness in a protagonist very often. I'll give it my best shot though!

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - A novice monk who's quite happy tending a garden and getting in nobody's way suddenly finds himself the only person who can speak to his god (who is currently a tortoise). Everyone else is too busy playing politics, converting people, and heating up the pokers to believe anymore.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones - A sorcerer and his family are elected to represent Evil in the annual "let's play fantasyland for the people from Earth or else" show. His secret mission is to end the show forever—but he's really bad at being bad.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley - A government clerk is saved from a terrorist attack only because he got a watch in the mail. His mission to find out who sent it and why leads to all manner of life changes.

honestly, the main character dynamic in any Pulley novel is "kind, gentle, sort of lost man meets aggravating and mysterious stranger, they heal each other", and I'm a sucker every time.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - A man determined to explore the infinite House he lives in (and maybe help the new albatross family) discovers there's an awful lot about himself and House that he's forgotten.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree - An orc, newly retired from adventuring, moves to a river town to start a coffee shop. She's not always the nicest person, but she tries and it's an incredibly kind and gentle story.

A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai - An aging teacher and a cat who's grown up in a cage find their forever home together.

A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic Durbin - A boy is evacuated to live with his grandmother and discovers a mysterious garden with a riddle and a faun.

I have Heard Good Things about the Murderbot books by Martha Wells and Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers as well, but haven't read them so can't rec them for sure. I also have a hunch you might enjoy the Temeraire books by Naomi Novik. They don't fit the kind protagonist request even if Lawrence is a fundamentally decent person and tries his best to do right, but they're a very hopeful series about striving for human dragon rights and reconsidering perspectives.

[readingbooksinisrael]

5 Random Fantasy Books I Recommend

Artemis Fowl/Eoin Colfer: read if you like sci-fi and fantasy blends, subversions of classic tropes, characters that are too clever for their own good

Bartimaeus series/Jonathan Stroud: read if you like narrators with a strong voice, slow revolutions, humor together with meaning (also: characters that are too clever for their own good and critiques of society that are still a good story)

Dark Lord of Derkholm/Diana Wynne Jones: read if you like critiques of society that are still a good story, unusual families, clever characters, griffins

Deltora Quest series/Emily Rodda: read if you like cool and creepy settings, strong imagery, maps, quests, short books

East/Edith Patton: read if you like fairytale retellings, cold settings, watery settings, female characters that have both traditionally feminine and masculine interests (also: strong imagery)

[isfjmel-phleg]

June 2023 Books

The War Librarian by Addison Armstrong

The concept, regrettably, was more compelling than the execution. It was one of those historical fictional novels that feel more like contemporary people in costume than anything actually reflecting the times. And I had to skip a scene. However, I am interested in learning more about actual WWI librarians if given the chance, so that's something.

Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie (reread)

Reread on a whim. It's so good. It gets better every time I reread it, and I've been rereading since I was about eight.

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Oddly enough, this book captured the tone of historical fiction better than actual historical fiction. It's technically fantasy, but really more like an alternate Victorian Era but with dragons, told as a memoir by a scientist in her old age. There were a few content things I didn't love, and sometimes the narrative dragged a bit for me, but the protagonist was a striking character, and I appreciated her relationship with her husband.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie

Riveting in the usual Christie way. I need to catch up to the miniseries one of these days.

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones

Jones being satirical about fantasy is of course hilarious. Not a quick and easy read, but worth the effort. I wish a scene with an implied SA had been handled differently (introducing this topic at all felt jarring with the tone of this book), but on the whole, I enjoyed it!

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Forgive me, everyone, I wasn't particularly captivated by this one and don't feel especially inclined to finish the series. Not exactly sure why.

A Crown of Chains by Erin Phillips

This is the Esther-but-with-fairies retelling. You already know how I feel about it.

The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange

Middle-grade historical fiction of the mysterious house and family secrets variety, so naturally that was right up my alley!

The Creeping Shadow and The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud

I don't have anything intelligent to say about this series, but I did enjoy it a lot more than I expected to. Stroud's style is a joy to read. (And the series itself has much less of a focus on Romance than I was expecting, judging from how it's talked about around here--yes, it's there, but it's not The Focal Point, and I appreciated that, because the protagonists' platonic bonds were pretty fantastic already.)

Mirror of Danger by Pamela Sykes (reread)

I'm on a reread-the-haunting-mid-twentieth-century-children's-book kick. Bear with me. This one's a ghost story, but it's also about clinging to sameness in the face of loss, to an unhealthy degree, and about the cultural clash between a protagonist who was raised in isolation by a very Victorian elderly woman, and her cousins, who are very much products of the story's present (the 1970s)--which I find fascinating.

Comics

Mercury Falling by Todd Dezago (reread)

See recent posts. You all know how I feel about this one.

Stargirl: The Lost Children by Geoff Johns

I liked this one more than I expected! Goodness knows I have Issues with Johns and what he did to the YJ kids, but here he's writing a protagonist whom he created and handles well, and the entire series reads like a love letter to Golden Age comics and forgotten child characters in general. I'm very curious to see what happens next with these characters, especially now that Secret is back (reunite her with her friends!).

[incomingalbatross]

Diana Wynna Jones books I liked which are not the Ingary or Chrestomanci books (though still pretty predictable, probably)

Dark Lord of Derkholm and The Year of the Griffin. First one especially. Sword-and-sorcery/D&D parody with heart. Mad science but magic. Large family vibes. The (logistical) (and other) horrors of war. Griffins. The sequel has academic satire.

Hexwood. Timey-wimey. Aliens and magic and other magic. Memory alteration. Classic DWJ identity shell game, at a level even surpassing the Ingary books' denouements. Knights and castles and woods and space and a robot. I could not AT ALL draw you a diagram of this book, but luckily I don't have to.

The Dalemark Quartet. Maybe Spellcoats especially? The whole thing held me remarkably well, though, given it's one of those series where we keep jumping to entirely new casts of characters. The most purely secondary-world epic fantasy in her works, I think. Politics and gods and mythic prehistory. Wins the prize for Most Extreme Unlikable-To-Likable Protagonist Arc (Successfully Executed).

Archer's Goon. Okay, I was primed to like this one because I'd seen mutual talking about it. Still, though. SIBLINGS, man.

Enchanted Glass. Like the aesthetic of the glass. Like the worldbuilding. Like the family setup.

Deep Secret. Slightly mixed feelings about this one because of the not-appropriate-for-children bits (glancing though they are). Still, though. Cool multiverse. Ghost mentor. Authentic 90s nerd culture. Babylon. And I like the characters.

[lillyjen]

hello might i borrow your brain for a question❔

im trying to think of wizard imagery, I got big staffs, orbs, big books, the stars, thats it :3, do you have any thing else ? im trying to make a distinction between witches and wizards (though theyre both funky magic people so like theyre not that different but you know)

To me, the two things that really set wizards apart from other magic users are:

1. Grandiosity - if there's a chance to be dramatic, a wizard will take it, if there's a chance to impress people, a wizard will take it. They dress grandly (robes, staffs, big hats, velvet, gold, glitter, stars, long hair &/or beards...), live grandly (tall towers, sprawling, ancient, universities - both usually built in stone; a weighty, enduring, expensive material that lends extra gravitas - have tons of possessions, jewels, books, exotic pets...), & perform grand deeds (nothing domestic, only impressive, dramatic, impossible feats!) Wizards are usually wealthy (or at least have a lot of stuff) & showing off this wealth (velvets, jewels, gold, stone dwellings...) further adds to their grandiosity (most wizards are also showoffs; magic is a prrformance, plus it pays to advertise!).

2. Academia - all wizards are surrounded by books. Their towers are full of them. Practically every work that contains wizards (unless they go the tolkein route & make them mysterious, elder beings, not quite the same as unmagical mortals) makes a point of discussing the amount of study it takes to be a wizard, & many of them are set in or around a wizarding university (or, occasionally, school). Many of them also have various (often ancient) artifacts lying around, sometimes to use, but often to study.

Even though their magic often works on the forces of nature, wizards are generally removed from it, surrounded by stone walls, fantastical creatures (or caged ones), & manmade things. (This disconnect often serves to highlight the way wizards go against or triumph over the, supposedly unbreakable, forces of nature.) Wizards also tend to hold themselves apart from society at large, which serves to both add a layer of mystery to their mighty deeds (grandiosity again), & prevent people from attempting magic with incomplete knowledge (the need for academic study).

(Witches, on the other hand, are usually organic, close to nature, domestic, surrounded by creatures & plants, live & dress simply &/or poorly - though they also tend to be hoarders - are more closely linked to a community, etc.)

A couple of authors whose explorations of the differences between witches & wizards I like:

Terry Pratchett loved to compare & contrast witches & wizards. There are mentions of it here & there throughout several of the books, but the two in which it appears most explicitly are Equal Rites (which is all about the way witches & wizards are different - but perhaps not so different after all), & Lords & Ladies (which focuses on it less, but does contain various moments of witches & wizards clashing styles). - All of the Witches' & Wizards' books explore what it means to be a witch or wizard, seperately, though, often in a quite imagery-heavy way.

Diana Wynne Jones, on the other hand, decided that, in the Chrestomanci universe, the root distinction between witches & wizards wasn't one of style, but of power. In Charmed Life, there's a whole tiered ranking of magic users, that includes witches, warlocks, wizards, & goes all the way up to enchanter. (There aren't really any wizards in that book, it's mostly contrasting witches & enchanters, but the idea of distinguishing by power is a fun one, & one that doesn't seem to be done as much - at least not overtly/explicitly. The way power affects style is explored further in other books in the series; Pinhoe Egg, Magicians of Caprona, & Witch Week spring to mind.) - On the other hand, in Dark Lord of Derkholm, she just makes everyone a wizard (& has the female wizards roll their eyes at the main villain's attitude).

I don't know if it contains witches, but I believe Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series (which I somehow keep failing to read!) has a lot of iconic wizardy energy/imagery.

I don't want this to get too long, so I'll stop there. Hope at least some of this is helpful. Thanks for the question, it was fun to answer :)

[randomshenaniganery]

Placing different characters into TWST

Gonna merge characters from different books I’ve read into twst wonderland not even disney shit i dont care ( FT: howl pendragon, chrestomanci, wizard derk, melkor, feanor, sauron, maeglin, ezra squall, Prince Talithan, zaknafein, jerricho barrons, runaan, aaravos, viren, kaz brekker and the rest of the Crows, low key lothaire)

Howl Pendragon would be someone from another world who purposefully found some way to get through the mirror and become an NRA student. Every time for holidays he either hangs out to do research or spends his time back home in Wales lying his ass off about his college to his sister. And yes in school he uses his fake name he would at first be in Scarabia but later transferred to Octaniville. He’s also in the Spelldrive club and will absolutely join in the championship against RSA. He would go to RSA pretending to be Silvester Oaks and have this double life just to get as much shit as possible. 

Chrestomanci / Christopher Chant, he came here from another world (his own) he’s trying really hard to get back and is also lying his ass off about being a student and absolutely no one notices except for Professor Trein. He would be in Heartslabyul, makes friends with Howl since Howl seems to know a lot about dimensional magic. He would be around investigating everything and getting into everyone’s shit so that he could get closer to his goal of leaving. He definitely gets into hijinks with Howl to perpetrate Crowley’s office and living quarters. He’s very vague so Riddle gets pissy when he acts like that but he has very little against him since Chrestomanci knows all the rules and just uses as many loopholes as he can find. If we put Chrestomanci as his attitude when he’s an adult he’d be in Pomefiore but for teen Chrestomanci its absolutely Heartslabyul. (from the chronicles of Chrestomanci he’s not the main character not until the third book but he is an all powerful enchanter that had nine lives)

Prince Talithan, he’s an dark elven prince who is a little murder happy, loves pegasi, he’d be in Diasmonia because he’s an immortal all powerful elf. He doesn’t mind doing what Malleus says so but he definitely does not like it when Sebek bosses him around, has no opinion on Silver, at first didn’t like Lilia but Lilia schooled him and now he has massive respect for Lilia. (btw this is an elf from Dark Lord of Derkholm his role in that story was to lose his mind over a baby pegasus and to kill people). 

Wizard Derk, Ignihyde absolutely, he wants to live a quiet life and just goes along with the flow but he manages to be friends with Talithan because they’re both in the Horse riding club and Talithan is just blown over with how great he is with horses. He should have been in RSA but managed to get in NRC and he’s stuck here now. A very good boi all things considered has a girlfriend he’s devoted to and she’s very badass in his eyes. I want him to accidentally be friends with Malleus and now they just vibe together with Malleus going on about Gargoyles and he’s just like listening politely while wondering if he can make a gargoyle come to life or an animal that resembles a gargoyle. (he’s from the same story as Talithan and in that story he likes making hybrid animals with magic and giving them human sentience also he makes friends with the king of the dragons AND the king of demons) 

Ezra Squall, THIS BITCH would be in Scarabia. He’s is a conniving motherfucker and Jamil is stressed with his existence low key wants him to move to Diasomnia because he’s stupidly strong in magic. Very studious kinda full of himself joins no club because he’s off doing things on his own that no one really knows about. He would have taken over Scarabia but he saw what went down with Jamil and decides to think more on it later. (from Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend he is the main villain for the series and i haven’t read the latest one yet. He wants the main character of that story to join him and be evil and powerful and to fight some other evil force and also he used to be really hot so yeah)

Melkor, Diasomnia no question. Hates Malleus being the housewarden and challenges him pretty often, he’s actually almost on par with Malleus and gets really salty about not winning and talks on and on about might as well making his own dorm and being generally disruptive. Malleus is just there like oh well good game u did what u did. Melkor is also very intimidating so him and Malleus both have a infamous background but with him it makes more sense and its far more risky to talk to him. Spends his time trying to convince Mairon to either join in his idea to make up their own dorm or help him take over Diasomnia. (in my eyes he will be the rebellious teenager of Eru and created heavy metal and goth in fact he’s also literally called Morgoth to which my brain will attribute to More goth. if u didn’t know he’s from the Silmarillion written by jrr tolkien)

Mairon, is in Scarabia he’s very similar to Jamil except that he doesn’t really care for Kalim and his shenanigans. Ezra has tried to get him on his side but he’s already dealing with Melkor so he has no time to even bother. Very studious and is the only reason Melkor studies at all. He kind of likes the idea of a new dorm wouldn’t be so bad for the Great Seven to have a new addition wouldn’t it? I personally dont want him to be good at spelldrive skskksksksk. I want him to struggle on a broom dont ask why. He’s favorite teacher is Crewel I don’t know where i got this but I just FEEL IT. (sauron this is sauron )

Feanor, he’s also in Scarabia. Tells Melkor to fuck off regularly also tells Ezra to fuck off regularly. Studies a lot and is so pissed that Riddle is top at everything. It’s a one sided competition. Dislikes Azul’s study guides, he wouldn’t be part of the spelldrive club but in the vs RSA i think he’d try out because he would ya know. (silmarillion made many bad decisions he’s an elf, had a lot of hot sons)

Maeglin, he would be in Ignihyde. Idia is scared of him, Ortho thought he was pretty normal and doesn’t mind him too much. he’s got some kind of shit going on for some reason he got moved to RSA and it went BAD for everyone involved it went TERRIBLE. and then he dropped out of school never to be heard from again. (also silmarillion has an evil sword that says evil stuff to him also an elf but his dad is like evil or something)

Jericho Barrons, I’m including him because I feel like he’d be a villain anyway and also he definitely should die at this point like this bitch should not be alive for many good reasons. He’d be in Svanaclaw like no question, used to be one of Leona’s former vice housewarden but challenged him and didn’t win. which is GREAT because I get to humiliate him everyday with his failure heheh. He helps jack but he does it in an asshole-ish kind of way even WORSE than Leona but Jack is just like THANKS MAN and it throws him off. He thinks Ruggie is an opportunistic floormat so they don’t get along but Ruggie doesn’t give a shit about him lmao. (he’s from the fever series by karen marie moning)

Zaknafein, Svanaclaw this guy packs punch but is very low key doesn’t mind Leona that much helps Jack out with training and shit gives him tips and then goes off to be alone. I love him very much but man I bet he’s tired of just women in general because they’re kind of the biggest reason he’s got a lot of issues so being in an all boys school helps. He’s kind of in it for himself probably joins some kind of self defense club where he’s ridiculously good at. (this is the father of Drizz’t Do’urden he dies in literally the first book its called the Legend of Drizzt by RA Salvatore) 

Runaan, also Svanaclaw vibes with Zak they don’t do much and they do as they’re told. Definitely takes a distanced mentor role to a lot of the freshmen. (he’s from the dragon prince)

Aaravos, Octanivelle, vibes well with azul kinda doesn’t like Diasomnia and takes issues with Sebek but he doesn’t show it. goes along well with Azul but azul definitely thinks SOMEthing is up with him. Jade and him get along on the surface but deep down its a passive aggressive war. Floyd doesn’t care about him. Runaan already dislikes Octanivelle because of Azul and his shenanigans with the tweels but Aaravos just makes it worse ya know. 

Kaz Brekker, Octanivelle absolutely he’s definitely gunning for that house warden position and he’s plotting. Jade is the only one who suspects his intentions but he keeps it in because he thinks this could be interesting. Azul thinks he’s okay and he’s very business smart aa good and reliable member of Octanivelle. He hates Floyd because Floyd always breaks his personaly space and triggers him and Floyd thinks its funny. Help kaz somebody-

Jesper Fahey, heartslabyul that’s his general vibe would get along well with Ace and Deuce, is pretty chill with Cater but he doesn’t always follow the rules so gets in trouble with Riddle a lot. He’s friends with Kaz and Inej they hang out together a lot and does as Kaz tells him to. 

Wylan Van Eck, was in Pomefiore moved to Heartslabyul, he is a mess fails the rules not on purpose so he gets a lot of flack for it from riddle. He’s definitely friends with ace and deuce and trey just kinda lets him hang about because he feels bad for Wylan. Wylan manages to join in the group through Jesper and does his best.

Inej Ghafa, I was going to just do guys but I dont want to break up the crows so I’m putting her and nina here. She’s in Octaniville with Kaz but she was in pomefiore and was miserable so she and wylan connect over that. Kaz helped her move into Octanivelle and she helps him out with his stuff like distracting Floyd and he decides to plague Kaz. She’s on good terms with Jade and Azul since she doesn’t do anything bad but she never works on the floor she’s always on the back of monstro lounge. Jade thinks its hilarious to watch Inej and Kaz because he can tell they like each other but they dont act on it.

Nina Zenik she’s in pomefiore and enjoying herself she just blends in there very well and is okay with Rook. Nina helps out Epel from time to time. Vil doesn’t take issue with her unless she specifically doesn’t listen to him. She and Matthias got into trouble together and they managed to get themselves out of it but she had to throw him under the bus to avoid an even worse outcome which Matthias hasn’t really forgiven her for. Azul almost convinced her to take a contract to help her with Matthias but Kaz managed to sneakily give her a better proposition and one that doesn’t involve sacrificing her unique magic so she takes him on his request.

Matthias Helvar, he’d be in Svanaclaw he would be in the spelldrive club. Leona is far too laidback for his liking, Ruggie is okay but he’s wondering how he gets on in Svanaclaw, jack is a friend he hangs out with time to time. He joins in with Kaz’s group of people who are trying to one up the octrio in secret because Kaz helped him out of the trouble with Nina although it takes him a really, really long time to forgive her and become sensible. im too emotional to put anything further in here i have not moved on.

I was going to put in my favorites from the IAD series but all of them would be in Svanaclaw so im not even going to bother lol except for Lothaire he’d be in Diasomnia and he wouldn’t give a shit about anyone. 

I’m not gonna put every one I want to because there would just be so much and this list would be wayyyyyy too long. 

[greentrickster]

Bored with people going, “I didn’t find the Hunger Games/Animorphs/what-have-you too dark and disturbing as a kid, even though I was really nervous and still scared of things, so that means no one should ever be concerned about reading those books because all kids can handle them and you just must have been too sheltered growing up if you disagree!”

And it’s like... people have different things they can and can’t handle. I read part of the first chapter of the first book of Animorphs as a kid at night before bed, and had to get my parents to come into my room, comfort me, and put the book in their room because I couldn’t stand to have it in the same room as me, I found it so upsetting. You still couldn’t pay me to read those books.

At the same time, I was an avid reader of Tamera Pierce, a fantasy author who writes for the same age group. One of my favorite quartets to this day remains her Magic Circle, which opens with one of the four protagonists locked in a cellar, by herself, in the dark, with no way to get out, because a plague had swept the city she lived in and one of the maids quarantining her down there was literally the only way she could think of to keep this kid alive. It’s not just dropped and done, either, she can’t handle being in the dark after that because it gives her PTSD flashbacks. And this is the tame quartet, Tamora Pierce does not play around when she wants something to be dark, and she’s not afraid to kill characters in absolutely horrifying ways!

Another book I read that year, or possibly the one after? Hexwood, by Diana Wynne Jones. I read that book religiously every summer for years, stopped for awhile, then gave it a reread a couple years back and went, “Oh. Oh my word this is dark.” Still think it’s a great book and deserves its place in the kids’ section of the library, though. Another of hers I recently reread was The Dark Lord of Derkholm, which I just discovered has some intense commentary on capitalism in a very interesting format. Came out of that one wanting to stare at the wall for a bit but also stick it on more summer reading lists.

So yes, I agree, kids can handle dark, unsettling concepts! But the framework around those concepts plays a big part of whether they can handle this particular presentation of those concepts or not. I find dystopias extremely upsetting - no matter what age I am, I will never be ‘old enough’ to read the Hunger Games, because it’s a dystopia. Mind control freaks me out like no one’s business - I was never going to enjoy Animorphs, because that’s a core component of the series. Darkness comes in many forms and, while there’s something out there for everyone, it’s definitely not a matter of ‘one size fits all.’

[chelshiart]

team derkholm!

[gretchensinister]

What are your thoughts on the Discworld books? I read hogfather bc everyone was talking about it. I am currently starting another that a friend recommended. But should I let this series become an obsession? There are so many books.... It seems like a big task

I have read all the Discworld books because an Old Friend really likes them and if you feel like you are getting obsessed with them I say why not!

But personally they weren't reeaaaaaly exceptional to me in terms of satirical fantasy.

My tastes for satirical fantasy mostly include several of Diana Wynne Jones' books. I love The Dark Lord of Derkholm so much; it's about a fantasy land that's being turned into essentially a tourist attraction by another dimension.

Also Deep Secret which, I keep forgetting the plot of, but some of it is set at a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Convention, and when I read it, I was like "wow this is obviously part of the fantasy element bc nothing like this exists in real life." Little did I know! There are places where you can pass off a real centaur as a good costume.

[recurringwriter]

10 characters. 10 media.

Tagged by @omgkalyppso

Fado (FE8)

Lord Asriel (His Dark Materials)

Rusl (Twilight Princess)

Willow (Willow)

George Cooper (Tortall Books)

Derk (The Dark Lord of Derkholm)

Rodrigue (FE3H)

Otohime (Okami)

Millie (Chrestomanci Series)

Aljan Son of [Redacted] (Firebringer Trilogy)

who hasn't been tagged. um @wild-moss-art @onyxedskies @milkerys

[fremulon]

Numbers 10 and 17 for the book asks!

10. do you have a guilty fav?

I enjoy your average corny YA romance from time to time? I really like Meg Cabot and while generally I think her books are really clever and well-crafted there are definitely some that I can tell are objectively not good and yet I still reread.

17. top 5 children’s books?

I'm going to cheat and include series:

Enchanted Forest Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Phantom Tollbooth, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Artemis Fowl (1-5 only)

And I know I'm going to hit myself in 10 minutes like oh my GOD I forgot THAT--?

But basically as a kid I liked stuff that poked fun at genre conventions while also being a good story within them.

[mortimerlatrice]

I got tagged! @domsaysstuff wanted to know my 9 favorite movies.

Which, honestly, same. I'd like to know what my favorite movies are too! Favorites are hard to pick even as I’m watching them and once I’m done watching, the whole experience disappears. Movies are relegated to “yes I’d watch it again”—rare— or “once was enough.”

So here are the movies that I dredged up from my memory that I would be willing to sit down and watch again!

Everything Everywhere All at Once was beautiful, chaotic, and it hit me like a ton of feathers, which is to say like a ton of bricks but it feels so much larger. It reminded me that my nihilistic mood swings are temporary and that sometimes, I just really need to let go of whatever it is that's weighing me down because it's not worth the baggage.

What We Do in the Shadows is a bit different. I'm not sure it's really a favorite, but it is a really fun casual watch and the tv series it spawned is incredible. Great movie night with friends. "We're werewolves, not swearwolves!"

The Handmaiden is one that I have to be in the mood for because it is dark and painful, but the visuals are off the charts. The leading ladies are stunning and they have mastered the skill of casting pining gazes at each other over the shoulders of the men in their lives. Also, I'm pretty much a sucker for any kind of sapphic romance or period drama.

4/5. The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story are both pretty self explanatory. Very fond memories of these ones from when I was young. I read more than I watched movies at this age, so I think I really enjoyed that bridge between reading and watching that both movies played with.

6. Howl's Moving Castle is here on a similar note. Diana Wynne Jones was one of my absolute favorite authors as a child and if you haven't read her books (and like fantasy stories) you should. I greatly recommend "The Dark Lord of Derkholm." The source material is probably the only reason this movie won out against Princess Monoke as my token Ghibli movie. Tough Call.

7/8/9. Labyrinth, Pride and Prejudice, and Pirates of the Caribbean are what I'm going to affectionately call my own personal pride awakening. It seems silly in retrospect, but I absolutely latched onto most of these characters at a time when I had no idea what it meant to be attracted to the same gender AND the opposite gender (and all the things in between). Nothing I knew accounted for that! Labyrinth in particular struck me because it was the first awakenings of the (horribly stereotypical) "I don't know if I want him or if I want to BE him" brand of gender confusion over Jareth. Turns out, the answer was both! Bonus for my utter devastation at the line "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."

I hate tagging people because I'm a socially anxious sea slug, so if you made it this far and want to share, please do! Otherwise, feel free to tag me in shit, I actually love being forced to catalogue things so I'll remember next time!