#ember queen

[talecomet]

I AM HERE TO FEED THE STARVED FANDOM TAKE MY ASH PRINCESS ANIMATIC

[safirefire]

The Ash Princess Trilogy by Laura Sebastian is perfect for ya fantasy lovers who love a warrior princess trope and there’s really interesting world building in the later books. Every country has its own system of government, customs, technological advancements, and relationship to magic. The main character, Princess Theo, is a prisoner of the invaders who took over her land but she is patient, fiercely protective of her people, and stronger than she’s ever known. If you liked Aelin Galathynius but wished her story was less like it was told from the colonizer’s point of view, the Ash Princess trilogy is perfect for you. The main character goes through incredible character development and the series touches colonialism better than a lot of ya fantasy. Also the cover art is so gorgeous.

[ashprincessquotes]

I remember how my mother had no shame in crying when it was necessary. She never saw it as a weakness; rather, she believed it a strength to bear one’s soul.

Ember Queen, written by Laura Sebastian 

[thequeerlibrarian]

[pocacutaop]

“I was a princess made of ashes; there is nothing left of me to burn. Now it's time for a queen to rise.”

― Laura Sebastian, Ash Princess

[amodernarrietty]

Unknown / Nth is so Søren Theo coded, something something about realizing the person you wanted to save is a person with their own goals and ideas, and maybe they never wanted you to save them in the first place. How you look in their eyes and see your own guilt and shame instead, and know that you can never atone for what you’ve done. But you try anyway, because what else can you do? And on the flip side, seeing someone you hate, you’re supposed to hate, but you care anyway knowing you shouldn’t. And maybe everything would’ve been easier if the two of you had been left unknown from one another, and then you could finally know peace.

“Just to take the Injury of finally knowing you.”

“There are some people, love, who are better unknown.”

“Every tedious beat going unknown as any Angel to me.”

[zaintastic]

Ok what? Just like that...?

The best death of the side character was I think in Ash Princess trilogy...

....

But this is some deep stuff

There was once a boy with a future

Until all he had left was his past.

[mad-rdr]

March Reads

10 books!

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake (★ ★ ★/5): I loved getting to see Astrid be a normal human being with wants and needs and I especially loved her getting with a woman!! And telling off her awful mother!! (mommy issues hit hard bro)

Blue Monday by Nicci French (★ ★ ★/5): this was such an interesting little mystery involving twins and I loved how Frida was like "I'm a criminal investigator now" and broke like 10 laws. I was also not expecting that ending holy shit (he killed his twins and took his place)

Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian (★ ★ ★/5): honestly, I'm not sure anything actually happened in this book aside from a weird love triangle, this 16 yr old queen realizing she doesn't know shit and some half-assed revival from the dead “twist” at the end.

Ember Queen by Laura Sebastian (★ ★ ★/5): this series finale wasn’t too bad, I still feel like if it was written as an adult book it could’ve done so much more with the characters and plot, but I’ll accept it. People die, Theo learns to wield fire, and there’s a lot of unnecessary injures. Truly, where would they be without Heron. Don’t get me started on the dream walking.

The Power of Trees by Peter Wohlleben (★ ★ ★/5): this was a good book, if a little more scientific than I was expecting. Definitely made me think about the human relationship with trees and how we really do take them for granted.

By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter (★ ★ ★/5): I love historical tellings of gay people- factual correctness aside. I did not, however, enjoy the incessant use of the word “tis.” If you’re going to commit to 16th century England you gotta do it all the way and not just sprinkle it in here and there. I did loveeee our chaotic asf mc though- he doesn’t know anything except lust and money (and sometimes love)

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout (★ ★ ★ ★ /5): finally got around to this book and let me just say… these new high fantasy authors need more editors. Has no one told them that repetition is the bane of my existence?? If I read the word “Maiden” one more time I’m gonna lose it. On that note though, this book wasn’t too bad overall. I found it highly predictable (like duh of course Hawke is the dark prince) but once I accepted I wouldn’t be surprised I was able to enjoy it. I love me a good vampire story and this delivered.

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer Armentrout (★ ★ ★/5): someone please tell me why it took the entire book for the characters to move from one place to another. Seriously. There seemed to be little development character and plot-wise and while it was quite steamy... *something* should've happened in 600 pages.

A Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer Armentrout (★ ★ ★/5): this book was far better than the second one but I'm still chasing that high of book one. Book three is almost too much, Poppy goes from being crowned to kidnapped to rescued to dying to being revived and "Ascended" all within the first 80 ish pages... and then after that there's still 600 pages to go. In the course of the book her parentage gets "revealed" like 6 times and finally lands on her being a god? It was good, action-packed and smutty, but my god, someone needs to teach this author the skills of pacing.

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake (★ ★ ★ ★ /5): this was such a good end to the little Bright Falls trilogy; I love me a good bisexual mess who doesn't know how much love she deserves. I just didn't like the breakup at the end, it felt like the author was trying to add a little angst in there and it didn't really work because we all knew they would get back together. But hey, I'm never gonna pass up a fake dating trope.

[eddiesasspbrak]

I finished Ember Queen and I have cried so much that my eyes itch. the last few chapters destroyed me

[xstarlightsupremex]

Rhysand to Ember: “Are you calling me a monster, Ember Quinlan?”

Me Reading About It:

I have to appreciate his small instances of self-reflection. It goes nowhere of course, but it’s still a miracle to see.

[resart]

Wrath of the Righteous features a roster of splendidly written and enjoyable companions, but the majority of their interactions are, sadly, easily missable on individual playthroughs. A collection of camping banter made by the amazing @neverwintrians remedies this issue to some extent by making some of the dialogues easily accessible for all the players. Since the characters’ input goes much further, a good while ago, I started a project to record all their comments and interjections. The idea was to copy-paste them from the localization file into a convenient spreadsheet. Since a new wave of players pick Pathfinder games after playing Baldur’s Gate 3, and we have more DLCs on the way to reignite the interest of the old fans, I figured it’s about time for me to share the results so far. Whether you want to use it for all sorts of analyses, as an inspiration or a reference for fan content, are simply curious, or want to get a few laughs: here you go.

Now, a few notes to keep in mind.

The data is still incomplete. My current playthrough goes very leisurely, and I only finished Act 3 recently. Almost everything past this point, save for some crucial parts of the story I revisited, comes from the run during which I wasn’t yet using Toy Box. I intend to continue slowly patching the holes as I go on, but please take what you see in the later chapters with a grain of salt for now (and don't expect to see Ulbrig's lines there).

Having that said, the branching, especially in later acts, gets crazy, so naturally, I wasn’t and won’t be able to find every last bit of dialogue on my own. What you see is based on my Angel playthrough, in which I haven’t even activated most of the romances. I managed to cheat my way into some interactions that normally would be unavailable to me, but the results were mostly confusing. Cells highlighted in yellow contain dialogues that I found via game files but either have some of the information missing, or I simply wasn’t able to trigger them while playing. There are also red cells that include lines that, to my knowledge, might not have been implemented since I found them in localization files, but the blueprints folder doesn’t confirm their presence in the game.

So here’s where I have a request for you all. If anyone can help me fill in the already existing blanks or spots a dialogue is missing and can provide a screenshot or a transcript of it, please contact me. I will add it to the document and credit you. All I need to know is when and where the conversation occurs, what/who the companions are reacting to, and if there are any specific requirements to see it.

The areas of special interest are:

mythic path exclusive interactions,

romance exclusive lines (especially in Acts 4 and 5),

Greybor’s, Arueshalae’s, and Lich companions’ lines during the celebration in Heaven’s Edge

late game dialogues for corrupted Arueshalae

I also want to thank GardathWhiterock from Pathfinder reddit, who advised me to look into the blueprints folder. Once I figured out how to work with it, filling up the majority of the blanks became super easy.

I will most likely edit this post in the future to note some important updates and milestones. For now, I just hope you guys will find anything of interest in what I have gathered.

[safirefire]

I saved so many good quotes from Ash Princess but my digital library hold expired I’m so upset. I’ll find the exact quotes later but if this ya fantasy trilogy can say that indigenous people reclaiming their lives is not the same as settler colonialist violence, and the least of anyone’s concerns is where the colonizers go (although it does offer a good ya level solution) then I don’t understand why this is a difficult concept for so many adults

[ashprincessquotes]

Talking about him feels like rubbing at a raw wound, but I don't know how to stop. Some wounds you don't want to heal all the way. Some wounds you want to leave a scar.

Ember Queen, written by Laura Sebastian 

[fore-seer]

strategist felicia!

[justsimpleaestetic]

[nyk-is-always-lurking]

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“Back from the dead.”

revenant

/ˈrɛvɪnənt/

noun

a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.