#endless list of ruthless ladies i love

[musical-chick-13]

Text posts: Irene Adler edition

[hafanforever]

Tyrant Terror

So I know it’s no surprise to my closest friends and fellow Disney fans on Tumblr that I have a strong, deep affinity for villains, including those by Disney. And over the last several months, the more I wrote about King Runeard in my Frozen II analyses, the more I realized what made him a tyrant, albeit a secret one, and that led me to think about other villains in the Disney animated canon who were tyrants.

The thing is, while most historical tyrants were people of royalty, you don’t necessarily have to be a monarch in order to be a tyrant. The definition of a tyrant isn’t limited to being a KING or QUEEN who is openly cruel, hostile, harsh, uncaring, oppressive, persecuting, and unjust towards the people they rule. I mean, that is one way to express tyranny, and probably the most famous way it is and has been done. But what it really means for a person to be called a tyrant is being in a position of power, authority, and/or control over other people and MISUSING, to the point of ABUSING, that position, and often for that tyrant's own selfish desires rather than in the best interest of the people being ruled by the tyrant.

So from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Frozen II, there are a handful of tyrannical antagonists who are indeed monarchs, such as the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, and Scar, but also plenty others who are not. There are tyrants who are corrupt government officials, such as Governor Ratcliffe, Frollo, and Bellwether, and even those who wield magic, such as Maleficent, Ursula, and Jafar. And like the villainous monarchs, the non-monarch villains prove themselves as tyrants all because they abuse their positions of power, magic or non-magic power, and authority that they have over other characters. In fact, there are even a couple of heroic characters who start off more as protagonist villains because they display tyrannical behavior before they become better people. On the contrary, the main antagonist enemies of these tyrant heroes serve as darker reflections of what the latter characters could have become had they not learned the error of their ways.

Below is my list of all the villains from Walt Disney Animation Studios that I perceive as tyrants, from monarchs to government officials to sorcerers, and what scenes in their respective movies depict them displaying tyrannical behavior. I even listed villains that would have become tyrants had they succeeded in their longterm goals.

Monarchs

The Evil Queen: Though we never see her actively governing her kingdom on screen, the abuse that the evil queen displays in her authority over Snow White by dressing her stepdaughter in rags and forcing her to work as a maid in an attempt to make her (Snow White) unattractive makes her a tyrant for sure. Furthermore, the way she mocks the skeletal remains of a prisoner in her dungeon suggests the queen is indeed a cruel, tyrannical ruler.

Queen of Hearts: If we want to consider the epitome of a true tyrant that is a monarch from Disney, it can be safely assumed that that role belongs to the Queen of Hearts. While every resident of Wonderland is insane in some way, the Queen is the most dangerous one of all by being the ruler of the land. An egotist extraordinaire, she loves to get her way, insisting that “All ways are MY ways!” and enjoys hearing the words “Yes, Your Majesty”. The Queen outwardly abuses her authority and power over her subjects by becoming furious over even the smallest of matters, during which she loses her literally explosive temper and flies into violent rages. She is also extremely irrational and unjust in making decisions, primarily by utilizing executions as her only and immediate solution to any problem, especially whenever she feels someone has wronged her, while also refusing to let the individuals she wants beheaded explain their sides of the stories. Enraged upon seeing her white roses painted red, when she misses a shot in croquet, and when she becomes the target of a prank caused by the Cheshire Cat, the Queen sentences those she deems responsible to death by beheading. All of this proves just how much she persecutes and oppresses the residents of Wonderland, instilling only fear and intimidation into their hearts. (A pun that is VERY much intended by me, the Queen of Puns! 😆😆😆)

Prince John: While possessing a short temper that isn’t nearly as explosive and violent as that of the Queen of Hearts, Prince John is displayed to be extremely incompetent as the ruler of England during the time that King Richard is off fighting in the Crusades. Stingy and greedy, the prince continually finds ways to rob and swindle his people in pursuit of wealth for himself. John shows absolutely no care that the harsh laws he decrees to gain more money drive the citizens of Nottingham into poverty and starvation, and he even cruelly mocks them on their poor states by saying, “Rob the poor to feed the rich!”. After the villagers start making fun of him with the song “The Phony King of England”, John punishes them by further increasing the tax payments. Soon everyone in Nottingham is stripped of their money and they are put in prison due to their inability to pay their taxes.

Horned King: Even though the Queen of Hearts projects herself as the ideal example of a royal tyrant, she is far less evil and scary than the Horned King. A skeletal creature with green, rotting flesh, the Horned King is completely frightening in appearance and in personality. Malicious, cruel, malevolent, sinister, power-hungry, megalomaniacal, ruthless, and merciless, he is the epitome of a tyrant who is nothing but purely and completely evil. His goal is to find the infamous Black Cauldron and use its powers to unleash an army of immortal warriors called the Cauldron Born in order to become immortal and conquer the world.

Scar: Denied a legitimate chance to succeed Mufasa as the King of the Pride Lands once Simba is born, Scar schemes to have both of them killed to become king. After murdering Mufasa and believing that Simba has been killed as well, Scar ascends to the throne. However, because he allows the hyenas unrestricted hunting rights in the Pride Lands, their overeating leads to a shortage of food, and a drought leads to other animal herds moving away. Ultimately, these events turn the kingdom into a barren wasteland under Scar’s reign, leaving it completely devoid of green vegetation, water, and food sources. Incredibly lazy and incompetent as a ruler, and caring about nothing except the power and authority that being king gives him, Scar refuses to accept that his allowance of the hyenas overeating is what leads to the destruction of the Pride Lands. He instead blames it on Sarabi and the other lionesses since the hyenas complained to him that they refuse to go hunt. When she suggests they leave Pride Rock to survive, Scar obstinately rejects the idea, not at all caring that he has essentially sentenced them to death. He argues that his place as king puts him in the right for whatever he decides to do: “I am the king! I can do whatever I want!”

King Runeard: In his life, Runeard openly presented himself as a peaceful, generous leader to the people of Arendelle AND the Northuldra. But Elsa discovers from his snowy manifestation in Ahtohallan that he did not trust the Northuldra just because they followed magic. Despite his kingdom having seen him as a benevolent ruler, the face the figure of Runeard makes as he sneers "of a king!" implies that only really cared about himself as well the power and authority he had in being a king. Therefore, he secretly misused and abused it whenever the opportunity came along. This is displayed perfectly when Runeard had the dam constructed in the Enchanted Forest, presenting it as a gift to the Northuldra. He claimed that it would strengthen their land, but admitted only to the second-in-command that the dam’s effects would be just the opposite. This was all part of Runeard’s subtle plan to destroy the Northuldra, as he feared they would try to usurp him and take over Arendelle using their magical ties.

Government Officials/Authority Figures

Lady Tremaine: Like the evil queen before her, Lady Tremaine has control and authority over Cinderella once the latter’s father dies, and misuses it by turning Cinderella into her servant. Day after day for ten years, Lady Tremaine orders and bosses Cinderella around, forces her to do every single bit of housework and menial task for her and the former’s daughters, and subjects the poor girl to an endless cycle of abuse and torment. When Cinderella is accused by Anastasia of putting Gus under the latter’s teacup, her stepmother refuses to let her explain the truth and unfairly punishes her with extra chores. Later, Lady Tremaine falsely promises Cinderella she may attend the ball if she finds a suitable dress and finishes her chores, but gives her chore after chore to do to keep her from working on her dress. After Cinderella appears wearing the dress her mouse and bird friends fixed up for her, Lady Tremaine subtly and cruelly manipulates Drizella and Anastasia into destroying it so that she can appear to be fair in her side of the bargain (”If you can find something suitable to wear”) while simultaneously keeping Cinderella from going to the ball in the first place. The following morning, when she realizes Cinderella was the mysterious girl who danced with the prince at the ball, Lady Tremaine follows her stepdaughter up to her room and locks her in to prevent her from trying on the glass slipper when the Duke arrives with it.

Sheriff of Nottingham: Despite not being the main antagonist of Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham is as much of a tyrant over the town as Prince John is to it and the entirety of England. This is because he is abusive, ruthless, and completely unsympathetic towards the people’s poverty and continually demands that they pay their taxes, regardless of what other problems they may have that hinders them from doing so. It is because of the Sheriff’s harsh decree of taxes, and then by that of Prince John once the latter takes up residence in Nottingham, that the town’s citizens are driven into poverty. The cruel, immoral way the Sheriff collects taxes includes forcing out the coins Otto had hidden in his leg cast, not caring that his act was causing the blacksmith pain from his broken leg, confiscating the one farthing Skippy had been given for his birthday and insincerely wishing him a happy birthday, and taking the single farthing that was in the Friar Tuck’s church's poor box and laughing as he did it.

Ratigan: A notorious crime lord, Ratigan is the leader of a gang of thugs comprised primarily of mice, but also including a bat named Fidget, who is his second-in-command. Although they willingly help their boss with his crimes, they also participate out of fear for their own lives. Ratigan is an abusive tyrant to his minions and threatens to feed them to his cat Felicia if they ever do something that angers him, even if it occurs unintentionally. This is shown after one of his drunken thugs calls him a rat during "The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind”, and Ratigan threatens his other minions with the same fate if they do not keep singing. Ratigan’s latest scheme is to take over London by murdering the Mouse Queen during her Diamond Jubilee celebration and secretly replacing her with a lifelike robot. He and his thugs (who are disguised as royal guards) infiltrate Buckingham Palace and kidnap the Queen, who is taken to be fed to Felicia by Fidget. As the Diamond Jubilee takes place, the Robot Queen names Ratigan as her new "Royal Consort", and Ratigan, dressed in an ornate robe, immediately presents himself in front of the gathered citizens of Mousedom, terrifying them. He then proceeds to read over his long list of tyrannical laws, one of which is a heavy tax policy for people he deems "parasites", including the elderly, infirm, and children.

Governor Ratcliffe: A completely unscrupulous and greedy man, Ratcliffe leads John Smith and other sailors on an expedition to Virginia to find gold, but he secretly plans to keep all discovered riches for himself. Upon their arrival to America, he forces all of the settlers to dig around their encampment, but refuses to do any manual labor himself out of his own sheer laziness. When no gold turns up in the searches, Ratcliffe becomes greedily convinced that it is because the Native Americans are hoarding it. He refuses to believe John's claim that there is no gold around the land, claiming that the Powhatans’ land is his land for the taking and that he makes the laws. After John is captured by the Powhatans, as they believed he murdered Kocoum, Ratcliffe takes it as the opportunity to take the non-existent gold from them, but claiming to his men that it is a rescue mission.

Judge Claude Frollo: Perhaps the darkest and most malevolent of all Disney Villains in animation (aside from the Horned King), Frollo uses his position as the Minister of Justice in the city of Paris to enrich himself and persecute anyone and everyone he considers inferior. He especially holds a deep-seated hatred for the gypsies and plots to eradicate them from the city. Despite his dark deeds, Frollo refuses to find any fault within himself and he truly believes he is a good person who is only trying to rid the world of sin and malice. Any time he commits a crime or is about to do one, he makes excuses to justify them, saying he is doing it in the eyes of God and that his victims are the ones who are really at fault. After chasing and murdering Quasimodo’s mother since he believed that the bundle she was carrying was stolen goods, Frollo attempts to murder Quasimodo since he believes the latter’s deformity makes him an unholy demon. Years later, after trapping Esmeralda in Notre Dame and upon discovering that she has escaped, he launches a ruthless manhunt around the city to find her, burning down the houses of anyone suspected of sheltering gypsies (including an innocent miller and his family, who survive thanks to Phoebus’s intervention) and interrogating gypsies who are captured. During the climax, Frollo makes the excuse that Esmeralda has proven herself to be a witch and will be executed by burned at the stake as her sentence.

Hades: The reluctant ruler of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead, Hades abuses his authoritative role by subjecting his lackeys Pain and Panic to harsh mistreatment whenever they fail a task assigned to them and any other time they do or say something that angers their boss. The two imps only put up with Hades’s abuse not so much out of loyalty to him, but out of deep fear for him. When he discovers that the two did not succeed in killing Hercules as a baby, Hades furiously grabs both Pain and Panic by their necks and chokes them as he demands they explain themselves. Later, after Hercules becomes a famous hero in Thebes, Pain and Panic adorn themselves with some of the hero’s merchandise, much to their boss’s complete ire.

Shan Yu: The ruthless yet respected leader of the Hun army, Shan Yu is an extremely dark, merciless, and dangerous individual determined to take control of China. His thought-to-be impossible feat of getting through the Great Wall to invade China soon makes him notorious and feared throughout the entire country. In his journey to the Imperial City, Shan Yu and his army destroy one village, then slaughter the entire Imperial Army and residents in another village at the Tung Shao Pass in the mountains. He and five of his elite soldiers are the only ones who survive a snow avalanche caused by Mulan. When the group arrives at the Imperial City and take control of the palace, Shan Yu orders the Emperor to bow to him, and decides to kill him when the latter adamantly refuses to do so.

Turbo: Initially believed to be the ruler of the game Sugar Rush, King Candy is secretly Turbo, a racer from the old game TurboTime who was believed to have died after his game was permanently unplugged. Having stolen the throne from Vanellope Von Schweetz, the true ruler, Turbo turns her into a glitch and makes himself the ruler of her kingdom. While he is viewed as eccentric and flamboyant, yet jovial and benevolent, to his subjects, Turbo is extremely obsessive and possessive of his new royal status. He continuously lusts for power and authority and goes to great lengths to secretly abuse his position, not just by allowing the other racers to ruthlessly torment Vanellope, but especially by keeping Vanellope from racing so that she cannot regain the role he had stolen from her.

Bellwether: The epitome of the famous phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Dawn Bellwether pretends to be sweet, meek, and friendly to successfully hide her true prejudiced, ruthless, embittered nature. Initially the overworked assistant mayor of Zootopia to its mayor Leodore Lionheart, Bellwether secretly hates him and all predators, viewing them as nothing more than savage, dangerous monsters. In her scheme to overthrow him, take control of the city, and drive all predators out of Zootopia, Bellwether becomes the leader of a secret organization of sheep terrorists who create a serum from night howlers to turn predators feral. This would give the illusion that they were biologically reverting back to their "primitive savage ways" and eventually be regarded as too dangerous for society, allowing only prey animals to take up the entire population. However, in her goal to become the mayor of Zootopia, rather than subjecting Lionheart to becoming savage, Bellwether instead develops her plot to ensure that he is removed from office and his positive reputation amongst the citizens is ruined, allowing her to rise to power in his place.

Magic Users

Maleficent: Known as The Mistress of All Evil, Maleficent is a ruthless tyrant who rules her own subjects at her home, the Forbidden Mountain. Using her dark magic, she continuously abuses her power and authority over her minions, particularly whenever they display incompetence and stupidity. This is shown when Maleficent flies into a rage and attacks them with her magic upon realizing that, over the last 16 years in their search for Aurora, they were only looking for a baby, not realizing in their idiocy that Aurora would be growing up.

Ursula: Known for her dark reputation as a sea witch, Ursula was banished from Atlantica by Triton. She explains in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” that she uses her magic to help merfolk attain their deepest desires and only imprisons them if they can’t keep their side of the bargain. However, after she takes Ariel’s voice away and turns the latter into a human to try and win Eric’s heart, Ursula reveals she has no intention of letting Ariel follow through with kissing Eric to remain human. She proves herself to be a tyrant because all she really does is backstab the merpeople with whom she makes deals in order to ensure that only HER desires are met! When she bargains with Triton so he will surrender himself to her in exchange for Ariel’s freedom, Ursula steals his crown and trident, then grows to giant size, declaring herself the ruler of the entire ocean.

Jafar: Unbeknownst to the Sultan of Agrabah, his Royal Vizier Jafar plots to take control of the kingdom, and he needs the Genie of the lamp from the Cave of Wonders to pull off this feat. Once the lamp is in his possession, Jafar succeeds with his first to become sultan. But after Jasmine and her father refuse to bow to him, he wishes to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world to have an even greater amount of power. During his brief reign, Jafar proves himself to be a tyrant by turning Agrabah into a dystopian wasteland, dressing the Sultan as a living marionette and allowing him to be abused by Iago, and making Jasmine his own slave girl.

Tyrants-Turned-Heroes

The Beast: From the time he is cursed and until he finally starts to soften, the spoiled behavior the prince had before his curse remains. He is aggressive, rude, impatient, and frequently and easily loses his temper when something annoys or irritates him. Primarily due to his short temper, the Beast acts like a tyrant towards his servants because he is mean and cruel to them as he gives them orders, which makes them deeply afraid of him. Only on some occasions do they openly rebel against him or talk back to him, such as Mrs. Potts ordering the Beast to act more like a gentleman around Belle, and both her and Lumiere deciding to feed Belle despite being told that she was not allowed to eat unless she ate with the Beast.

Kuzco: In the beginning, Kuzco is very arrogant, lazy, selfish, and self-absorbed, viewing himself as superior to all simply for being the emperor. He rules his empire completely without the best interest of his people and always seeks to have his way, never showing any concern over the chances things could turn out badly for other people involved. This is shown when he sets his sights on building his summer home of Kuzcotopia on the top of the hill where Pacha, Pacha’s family, and other villagers reside. Since the plan will only benefit himself, Kuzco shows absolutely no care or concern that destroying Pacha’s village to build Kuzcotopia will render the residents homeless.

Would-Be Tyrants

Gaston: From what I described about him in “Bride and Prejudice” with his growing obsession with Belle and his low, inferior views of women, there is no doubt in my mind that, had Gaston succeeded in marrying Belle and starting a family with her, he would have run his household like a tyrant. He would be very controlling to the point of being physically abusive to his wife in order to get her to obey every single one of his commands and orders. Like many of the tyrants I listed above, Gaston would undoubtedly use fear and intimidation to keep his wife in her proper place of being beneath him, and he would instill these same feelings on to his own children.

Yzma: Her ire drawn after Kuzco remorselessly fires her, a furious Yzma decides to kill him so that she can take over the empire. While Kuzco is initially selfish, callous, and uncaring towards his staff and people living in his empire, he learns to change his ways by the end of the film. Had Yzma succeeded in her goal, she would have been far more of a selfish, ruthless tyrant than Kuzco was at first. This is evident during her introduction scene, which is one of many times she governs the empire whenever Kuzco is not present. As a peasant complains to her that he and his family are suffering from limited food sources, Yzma spitefully says his problem is of no concern to her, and that the man should have realized this ahead of time.

Hans: While taking over as temporary ruler of Arendelle in both Elsa and Anna’s absence, Hans wins the hearts of the people by acting as a kind, caring, benevolent ruler during the harsh conditions brought on by Elsa’s magical winter. Though he reveals his true, dark nature to Anna and his plot to take control of Arendelle, the fact that he earned the trust and respect of the Arendellians suggest that Hans could truly have been a very worthy ruler. However, now that we have Frozen II and it revealed that Runeard was actually a malevolent tyrant behind the same kind of benevolent facade that Hans used, there is no doubt in my mind that had he succeeded in stealing Arendelle’s throne, Hans also would have become a ruthless, power-hungry, selfish tyrant in secret.

[writingonesdreams]

Reading update

He maybe I could keep these up every week.

I gathered another 20 books (help why am I collecting them) to choose from. Probably cause they are ebooks and I can't read them before I get them. Starting with the first chapter is proving more reliable than reviews. I'm still not sure how much to give a book before deciding to dropping it. 50 pages? 100? I'm keeping 20% if I really like the premise or idea behind it. If the first chapter doesn't catch me I'm moving them on the waiting list (only has about 126 books in there).

Reading

Scythe - I love the writing and the characters. But it's such a heavy topic to be following executions by enlightened Jedi like people who think they are doing something noble. Killing people so needlessly. It's too heavy and I couldn't make myself read this for 5 days. I'm sorry book, you are really cool. The next books seem to focus more on new characters and some kind of god like AI? I don't like AIs acting alive, it's a personal taste thing. But I may have something for vigilant characters.

Way of shadows - This is ironically way too much about death and brutality to be a relief book. But at least the people don't act like they are super noble when they kill, they suffer and kindness is even more precious. The deciding factor was really that I wanted to read the first chapter and breathed out after chapter 5. XD That's a very good sign. Also there is magic and a fake friendship with a noble noblekid and the assassin in training. I love these unlikely friendships.

Unlikely escape of Uriah heep - The premise about reading characters into life. It has brothers as central characters. The first chapter was amazing. Start with conflict 👌.

Promise of the wolves - Wolf packs and wolf pov? War and peace with humans and forbidden friendships? Wow. Loved the first chapter so far.

Through wolf's eyes - About a girl raised by wolves, right with very nuanced interaction and communication with words. The pack relationships and dynamics are so cool! The only minus are the switches to some human povs looking for the girl cause she is some kind of heir. Ohh the annoying humans. So boring.

Interested

Mr Fox - writer process and writer life with an OC visiting an author. The first page is amazing but didn't get further yet.

Library of the unwritten - Books converting into characters and running around trying to escape to shake their writers into finishing them. This concept is too hilarious.😂

Midnight library - alternate lives. Philosophical beginning.

Half a king - Prince with only one good hand who has to use his intellect instead of fighting skills. Starts with his family dying. A bit cliche beginning. Supposedly had good found fam though.

Declaration of rights of magicians - starts with tragedy after tragedy against mages, being enslaved or hurt in various ways. Gripping for sure. Didn't get to a central character yet cause it keep switching.

Jade City - Godfather about a young crime family in a city controlled by trade of magical jewel. Just stick brothers and magic somewhere and I'm reading.

Blood song - This is my backup if I didn't like Way of shadows. I like it, so it's a backup after it's finished.

Emperor's soul - didn't start yet but it's about reconstructing the human spirit of a dying emperor. And it's Sanderson. I want to read a book from him where no one dies. Please.

Grace of kings - Ruthless noble and carefree thief form a friendship, overthrow a government and then become enemies. I'm not sure if this has a happy ending.

Age of assassins - prologue was more interesting than the first chapter so I'm pissed off. But competent characters instead of endless learning arcs is a fresh change.

Rage of dragons - Revenge story. Interesting start but then a prologue again! Damn I liked these characters.

Waiting

Crown duel

Midnight thief

All the starts and teeth

Name of the wind

Falling kingdoms

Lady of Rivers

Addie LaRue

Magic bites

[jokidden]

My disgustingly long essay presented by me Part 1

After watching the Old guard, my biggest emotion was yeah this is how it should always be! And in my enthusiasm I didn’t even notice the scale of how different this movie is until I actively started to look at how it differs from other superhero/mainstream movies. In a good way. The list could be endless but in this long ass essay I will try to show some of it. (I think this is the main reason why so many lame people found the old guard shitty and wrote negative reviews.) So buckle in folks.

What should we expect normally from a movie like this:

· A strong male lead.

· Strong male characters in all the leader positions.

· Real manly men with perfect buff bodies, no weaknesses or vulnerability, cocky, kinda aggressive, having a female love interest and at least a kiss at the end of the movie.

· Females being emotional compared to the Very Brave, Emotions Are Weaknesses bros and, in a bad case, poorly developed.

· The number of ladies are extremely low.

· Females being „badasses” by beating guys up in tight clothes and heels. Also sexy bods are a must. Nice ass, good legs etc. etc.

· Women die sometimes

· Lotta white people

· Basically non-existent non-white people who are killed off most of the time and also has very little important parts much less being main characters

· Villains shown in a sympathetic light

· Ah yeah also no homosexuals. It’s all Bromance, they aren’t In Love don’t try to insert your sick fantasies here there is no proof!!! (Well it is Time To Choke On Evidence Suckers)

(Spoiler alert: None of the above applies to the Old Guard).

Everything else is under the cut. It's long. And there is more.

Now let’s look at THIS movie:

The two main characters are ladies, one being a (breathtakingly beautiful *heart eyes*) black woman. Team leader: Andy (a woman), she is respected, her team follows her into hell and back and while they don’t question her ability to lead, they do tell her when she is in the wrong (like with Nile). They are both very well thought out characters and very badass without the tight clothes and high heels and mainstream sexy bods.

Okay so let’s talk about Andy. As I stated above she is the team leader, main character, possessing all the ”””manly””””” characteristics. Trying to hide her vulnerability? (Even though she is literally the most vulnerable in the movie, cus, you know, she can die) Check. Not wanting to show weakness? Check. Beats shit up? Check. Aggressive? I mean, yeah. Killing guys with guns and with a double edge axe thingy all ruthless? Check and check. Plus, she also swears because it’s okay for women to swear too. But we still see her cry one little tear when she learns Booker’s reasoning, her trembling lips when she says goodbye to Booker, although she is faces away. She isn’t emotionless she just doesn’t like to show it.

Nile? Also main character. A SOLDIER!! There are women soldiers here guys. She also seems to be the leader among her little women soldier group I think, but maybe I’m wrong, not sure here. So then she dies. (But not really). Loses all her friends and her family. Gets kidnapped by a crazy lady who SHOOTS her when she doesn’t cooperate. And what she does? Fights this like hell, stabbing the crazy lady, trying to beat her up in her frustration and anger. (Can I just point out that she doesn’t freak out when she sees Bookers insides? I would have def vomited and fainted in her stead.) She should be freaking out, trying to leave because What The Hell, but instead she just sucks it up and saves everyone. She doesn’t like to show weakness all that much either, puts up this brave front instead. Also, cool clothes and hair.

The scientist woman. (Another leader position!!) I love her okay. She is the mad scientist kind, hurting, basically torturing human beings in the name of science, because „we could do so much good!” but I think she’s just enjoying seeing them heal after everything she does. Because remarkable. She also has zero „emotional” moments, she doesn’t go oh no poor things what am I doing this is so wrong!! I must help them instead!! Yeah, no. She doesn’t care. People suffering under her hands? Not impressed, but look, they are healing! Mad men do this all the time. Women doctors? Compassionate and kind. Well, not her. Plus she is the only women who could die, seeing that movies like to kill women all the time, but I don’t think she did. I mean, yeah, she fought with Nile and Nile could have killed her, but I think she just knocked her out. She was only unconscious, but that’s what saved her from being shot in the head.

The other two soldier lady are also awesome and even though they are side characters still have a distinct personality. (One of them has a shaved head!! And she is So Pretty. The two has no connection whatsoever I’m just gently horny.)

Now onto the men!

Let’s start with the team. 3 man 2 women, which later becomes 2 and 2 instead of whatever number of men and one woman. None of them is the stereotypical manly men here. No buff and perfect bodies which is such a heavenly goodness. Sooo good to see. They look like people who fight all the time and it keeps them in shape and that’s that.

So. Emotions. They aren’t showed as weakness. No, they are actually showed in a good light, because it is love, it is caring for each other, it is anger when someone hurts your loved ones, it’s being vulnerable and still fell safe. In the van scene Joe’s reaction definitely falls into the too emotional, unnecessarily dramatic box, but that’s STILL not a bad thing. That’s just who he is and that’s okay. Guys can cry while saying I love you in a 1000000 words long poem they just thought up on the spot and then be kissed for it.

[imagine-loki]

Ella

TITLE: Ella

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: One-shot

AUTHOR: breemaggs

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Odin throwing a ball, inviting all the young ladies of the realm to come to be chosen by Loki to be his future wife. (a bit like in Cinderella I guess?) Loki despises the idea, knowing all the women won't be interested in him, but just in the related power and wealth ... And to prove it, he tricks Odin by projecting an image of himself during the ball ( ...refusing every dance and every contact for obvious reasons...) while he disguises his true self in an ordinary ( but still handsome) young man. He tries to see if any of the girls would be interested in him for his personality instead of the possible power of match with the prince of Asgard. (Click to read the full imagine!)

RATING: M

NOTES/WARNINGS: Rated for language. This is very much AU. I tweaked the imagine a bit to fit the muse’s demands. Enjoy!

“...a ball the likes of which the Kingdom of Asgard has never seen!”

Loki rolled his eyes, not even bothering to hide his annoyance at this point. Such grandeur was right up Odin’s alley, but he found it in poor taste. And the reason for the ball? Simply archaic; Odin wanted to marry off his last prince and he figured that packing the castle chuck full of Asgardian noblewomen ought to be the perfect way to do it.

But Loki knew better than to kick up a fuss. It would only make Odin enjoy the entire process more. So he stayed silent, limiting his protestations to body language only. But it was difficult; he had to bite down on his tongue more than once to stay quiet and just let him carry on.

All he could think of was how dreadful it was going to be. Daughters of important dignitaries and nobles... He suppressed a shudder. The daughters were bad enough on their own, but the prize at stake was going to make them absolutely crazy. He could almost hear them simpering about how much they adored him and wanted to forever be in his favor. And the mothers... Fuck, best not to think about the desperate mamas seeking a match for their babies.

His only saving grace was his mother. Frigga kept casting concerned glances at her youngest son when the King wasn’t looking. He took comfort in the fact that his mother was on his side. She had always been on his side, even if it was often only in secret. And while she couldn’t completely keep the atrocity from actually occurring, she could keep it relatively under control.

It would have to be enough.

xoxoxo xoxoxo

Well, it wasn’t a complete atrocity, Loki thought as he looked across the ballroom from his hiding place. It was going well. Or at least, that’s what Odin must have thought as he watched Loki’s illusion interact with the silly debutantes. He was careful to keep his projection from touching anyone. It wasn’t difficult; he’d been playing with illusions since he was a child and he’d damn near perfected them. He didn’t even have to babysit them anymore.

It helped that his mother was running interference. He was sure that she knew it wasn’t really him on the floor. She was waving off the formal greetings for all the women who were trying so hard to even graze against him. He loved her all the more for it.

And he was having his own fun, proving his personal theory correct. He knew none of these women wanted him for who he was. He wasn’t stupid and neither were they. Love matches were exceedingly rare. These women were out for blood; they wanted to align their families with royalty. They wanted the endless pampering and wealth that came from a marriage to a prince.

So he’d cast a glamor over himself, creating a new identity. No one paid him any mind, just as he had expected. It was fun to experiment, though. No one was interested in anyone but the prince. Woman after woman had turned down his deep bows and offers of a dance. He’d taken it well enough, but a hint of annoyance was beginning to creep in.

Fucking nobles. They were all the same. Money hungry and utterly ruthless in their attempts to better themselves.

Deciding he’d seen enough for the moment, he headed towards the library, shedding his glamor as he did so. There would be no need for a disguise in his favorite hiding place. It was his sanctuary. It was where he went when he needed space to breathe.

And he definitely needed some space to breathe tonight. He loosened his collar and let out a long sigh as he approached the closed doors. He threw them open and was well on his way to his favorite nook when he realized that he wasn’t the only person in the room.

He stared in shock as the loveliest woman he’d ever seen, scrambled to pick herself up off the floor from where she’d been sprawled out reading. She had auburn curls that were escaping their pins, sending her hair into disarray around her heart shaped face. Her green eyes were a bright contrast to her perfectly tanned skin and they were pleading with him as she looked up at him.

“Shit! No, um.” She fumbled for words. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I’ll go, okay? Please, please don’t tell His Highness that I was trespassing!”

At that, he laughed, charmed by her mouth and the way her lips shaped her filthy words. “I promise you that I will not tell on you, my little trespasser. Your secret is safe with me.��

She gave an audible sigh of relief and her shoulders sagged with it.

“I am curious, though. Why is it you are in here and not out there-“

“Oh, please. Those blathering idiots.” She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t be caught dead vying for the hand of a prince. The only reason I accepted the invitation was to see the library.”

He cocked a brow, but let her continue as he watched her eyes sparkle with enthusiasm.

“This library is the stuff of legends. Noble women aren’t encouraged to read or, in all honesty, have much of a brain. My father thought that was stupid and made sure that I had the best private tutors and teachers.” She trailed a hand down the spines of the books on the shelf closest to her, her eyes faraway and a small frown forming on those damnable lips. “But that all changed when he passed away. My stepmother didn’t agree with him. She thought he was indulging me and filling my head with nonsense.”

He opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. She turned towards him and gave him a grin.

“She’d shit her pants if she knew I was wasting this opportunity in the Royal Library.”

He laughed again and was rewarded with a true smile from her. She stepped away from the shelves and put her hands on the desk in between them, leaning forward just enough that he could see the barest hint of cleavage. But he was raised a gentleman and yanked his eyes away from temptation and met her amused ones. She graced him with a smirk as if to say that she knew exactly where his thoughts had gone.

“So, what about you? Why are you hiding in the library when there’s such a wonderful party going on? Too much competition from the prince, huh?”

It was at that moment that he realized she had no idea who he was. She didn’t know he was the prince. She thought he was just another guest in attendance. And that filled him with relief. Finally. Someone who wasn’t after him just for his title. Someone who could hold an intelligent conversation.

“Something like that,” he affirmed with a shrug, pulling out the seat in front of him and sitting down at the desk.

She took the hint and pulled the chair on the other side so that they were sitting across from each other. “I can’t imagine you having trouble finding a date,” she admitted, propping her elbows on the desk and cradling her face in her hands.

He smirked. “I find that their company is extremely lacking,” he confessed.

It was her turn to laugh and he immediately loved the sound. It didn’t grate on his ears the way most women’s laughter did; he supposed the fact that her laughter wasn’t forced or faked had something to do with it.

“I can’t say I blame you,” she agreed with a soft sigh. “They’re all bitches, if you ask me.”

That. That right there. He loved that. What would she say next? He had no clue. It was a constant surprise. He had known her all of twenty minutes and he was already enchanted. She was so different from any woman he had ever known and that was so very appealing to him.

He lost track of time as they swapped stories about their childhoods and shared interests. And there were a lot of shared interests, they found as they continued talking. It wasn’t until she was yawning in front of him that he realized that it had grown late.

The clock chimed midnight and she started in front of him.

“Fuck! Is that clock right?” Before he could answer, she was up and out of her seat. “I have to go. If I don’t beat my stepmother home, my life is over. This was fun! We should do it again!”

Her last words were toss over her shoulder as she raced out of the room. He took chase, calling after her. He couldn’t lose her now. He’d only just found her.

“Wait!” How did she run so fast in those fucking heels? “I don’t even know your name!” And I never told you mine.

She looked over her shoulder, surprise written all over her face. “It’s Ella!” And mine is Loki. Prince of Asgard.

And then she was gone, tearing through the gates as if the very hounds of Hel were on her tail. At least he had a name. Ella.

Now he just had to find her. And then tell her that he was the prince.

He’d have to figure it out.

xoxoxo xoxoxo

It had been a week. A very, very long week.

He was frustrated. He was smart. He was resourceful. He was multitalented. And he had still been bested by a woman. A woman who had seemingly vanished into thin air. Ella. She’d said she’d gotten an invitation to the palace for the ball, but he couldn’t find her name on the guest list. And he’d checked it more than once.

To make matters worse, his father was insisting that he should abandon his search and marry one of the many other girls that had attended. His mother had stepped in at that point; she knew the entire story as she was the only person Loki had trusted enough to confide in. She’d urged Odin to let him find his mystery woman. Odin had reluctantly given in to his wife’s request.

Loki knew that wouldn’t be the last conversation on the matter, but for now, the subject was closed and he was free to try and find her. He poured all of his time and energy into finding her. He pulled the previous year’s census report, but because he had no surname, it wasn’t any help.

He was exhausted and beginning to lose hope. So he decided to go back to where it all started; his safe haven, his favorite place. The library. He did his best thinking in there anyway, surrounded by books that held years of knowledge.

With a heavy heart, he yanked the doors open and was, once again, shocked to find someone already using his space. His heart leapt into his throat as he took in the form of a woman patiently restocking the shelves. She slowly turned around at the sound of the door and his heart began a wild rhythm in his chest.

Ella.

She shot him one of those smirks he had so enjoyed the night they had met. “Took you long enough,” she told him, setting the rest of the books down on the desk they’d shared only a week ago.

He frowned and crossed his arms. “If I knew all I had to do was return to the library, I would have done it a week ago,” he replied crossly, trying to ignore his leaping pulse.

She laughed. “Calm down, I wasn’t trying to insult your intelligence. Your mother said you spend a lot of time in here. I thought we’d have crossed paths before now, that’s all.”

His heart dropped into his stomach and his jaw dropped ever so slightly. He swallowed. He didn’t know what to say. This was uncharted territory. He’d prepared a speech to explain to her that he was, in fact, the very prince she’d been avoiding at the ball, but apparently she already knew. And his mother was in on it.

She laughed again at the expression on his face. “It’s okay,” she said with a soft smile.

She came around the desk to stand in front of him. She used her hands to uncross his arms and tangle their fingers together. She tilted her head and studied his eyes. What she saw in them, he wasn’t sure, but he found that he couldn’t look away.

“Loki,” she breathed and he bristled.

Assuming she knew who he was and having it confirmed were two very different things. And suddenly, he was very worried that she’d just played a very elaborate game to trap him. He didn’t like that notion. He finally dropped his eyes away from hers and fought the growing hurt.

But she wasn’t going to let him off so easy. She lifted his head with gentle fingers until their eyes were locked again.

“Let me explain. A week ago, I truly didn’t know who you were,” she told them and he could see the truth in her eyes. They were shining bright with determination. She wanted him to believe her. She wanted him to know that she wasn’t lying to him. She took a deep breath and the rest of her words came tumbling out of her mouth.

“But the day after the ball... The prince was all my stepsisters could talk about. They regaled me with tales about the prince’s soft raven locks and cool eyes. They told me about how polite and wonderfully handsome he was. With every description, I found myself thinking about how very similar you and the prince sounded. And then there were the posters...” She paused to frown, drawing a finger down his smooth cheek. “Stasja got her greedy hands on one of the promotional pieces for the ball... And there you were staring at me from my dining room table.”

She visibly swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment. He reached up and swept her unruly hair out of her face. He let his hand tangle in her hair. She leaned into his touch and he felt the knot that had formed in his stomach loosen a little. Her words rang true to his ears.

“I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to see you again, but I didn’t know how. The fact that you are a prince...” She winced.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, feathering his thumb across her cheek.

She didn’t seem to believe him and continued with her explanations. “You have to understand. My father came from a very noble and old bloodline. But my stepmother is nothing more than a leech. After my father died, she began treating me like dirt beneath her feet. I had to sneak out of the house to get to the ball. That’s why I ran out of here so fast.”

If I don’t beat my stepmother home, my life is over.

“Your mother caught me trying to sneak into the palace two days ago.” She smiled. “I thought was dead. Caught by the Queen. Fuck, I thought she was going to send me straight to the dungeon. But she seemed to know who I was.”

“That sounds like mother,” he agreed.

She sighed and finally lifted her eyes to his. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

She shrugged. “I get it. You’re used to the bitches at court.”

He laughed and tugged her against him. She wrapped her arms around him and returned his embrace. She felt so good against him. Better than he had ever dreamed. He pulled away ever so slightly and used the hand in her hair to angle her head back. And then he took the plunge and kissed the woman who had literally run away with his heart.

She kissed him back with a ferocity that surprised him, but shouldn’t have. She knew what she wanted and she went after it. It was in her nature. And she, apparently, wanted him. She wanted him for him. Not for his title. The thought lit a fire in him and he deepened the kiss, wanting her to feel the depth of his emotions in that kiss.

She whimpered against his lips and opened her mouth, giving in to his demand. Her hands were pressed flat against his back and she used them to pull him impossibly closer. His hand in her hair tightened and tugged while his other hand squeezed her hip.

When it became clear that the kiss was getting out of control, he broke away from her. It took everything in him to keep from kissing her again when he saw her lips that were swollen and wet from his kiss.

“Why did you stop?” she asked.

“Because I would hate for someone to catch me fucking you against the bookshelves,” he murmured wickedly in her ear.

He stepped back with a grin and watched as a blush spread up her neck and to her cheeks.

“But what if that’s what I want?” she shot back at him, her eyes flashing.

He smothered her devious laughter with another kiss. She would be the death of him.

He was looking forward to it.

[bombshellsandbluebells]

1, 2, 3 and 5 for the female characters top fives?

Thank you!! Okay, listed in no particular order and with short rant included because I couldn’t help myself. So this is long, prepare yourself!

1 - Protagonists

Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean) - 

I love her so much. She’s so stubborn and won’t put up with anyone’s shit and is ruthless and is more of a pirate than Jack Sparrow. I love that she longed for the sea and learned about pirates in secret as a kid and then got her own ship and crew and became Pirate King!! And that her story was always about freedom and she got it in the end. I love that Elizabeth doesn’t wait around for Will to save her, but goes out and saves herself and makes her own destiny.

Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket) - 

Tohru’s proof that kind/compassionate characters are not boring or less complex. Tohru feels so real; the way she ignores her trauma and grief and hides her issues to try to always appear perfectly selfless and happy is so human and relatable and her journey is really, really interesting. She’s so kind but still has so much room to grow and I honestly see a lot of myself in her.

Emori (The 100) - 

I mean most of you already know how much I love Emori, but I LOVE EMORI. She’s such a fun, interesting, unique character with a really interesting backstory and unique challenges to face. I love how smart and manipulative and conniving she is. I love how she doesn’t know how to trust people and has to slowly learn how to be part of a group. I love how insanely loyal she is once she’s found that group. I love that being one part of a romance story didn’t fix all her issues, but finding community and acceptance helped her grow even further. I love that she still loves herself despite what society says about her. I love her look even if the shape and size of her tattoo keeps magically changing.

Annie Edison (Community) -

I love how Annie is ruthless, and I love how that contrasts with the sweet/innocent/naive stereotype she appears to be at first. The more you see of her the more you realize that Annie Edison will steamroller over literally anyone in her path to get what she wants, Jeff included. The hints we get about her backstory and family life are also really intersting, even if the show never really goes into it - probably because it wouldn’t really stay comedic. 

Lucretia (The Adventure Zone: Balance) - 

It is my mission to get more people to give TAZ a try. It has so many great characters and Lucretia is one of the best. She’s so complicated. Your outlook on her constantly changes. She goes from being a mentor archetype to possibly the antagonist to a tragic hero. She did something terrible to the main characters for good reason and you see the awful affects of it but it’s also made clear why she did it and just how awful she feels about it. She’s such a tragic character and every time I relisten my heart breaks for her more and I just love her. 

Also she has some amazing lines like “Hot diggity dog, that is a baller cookie” so how could you not love her.

2 - Villains

A.L.I.E. (The 100) - 

She’s probably my favorite villain ever. Every season I want them to bring her back. I’m still bummed s5 didn’t take the PERFECT opportunity they were given. She would be my one weakness to start watching the show again.

Azula (ATLA) - 

Azula’s far more threatening than Ozai ever is, and she’s so flawed in such interesting ways. One of my favorite moments of her is the scene where she says, “Are the tides the captain of this ship?” because at first it seems like such a badass, in-control moment, but it honestly reveals just how much Azula’s pride and arrogance hinder her. That’s such a foolish, reckless thing to think, that what you want is above the forces of nature, but Azula is foolish, prideful, and arrogant, even if she is incredibly talented and smart. I think it’s also really interesting how they parallel her decline with Zuko overcoming his trauma, because for most of the series it seemed that Azula only benefited from their upbringing, and then you realize she’s just as messed up from it, just in different ways.

Bellatrix LeStrange (Harry Potter) -

I don’t have a rant for her, she’s really not that complex, she’s just such a fun, terrifying villain and Helena Bohamn Carter plays her to perfection.

Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter) -

I mean I don’t like her at ALL but we all collectively DESPISED her and that’s just proof of what a great villain she is. When she showed up again in Deathly Hollows I remember just feeling rage as I read it. I was like, her??? AGAIN???

Last one below the cut because major spoilers for Fruits Basket!!!

3 - Superheroes

Nebula (MCU) -

I really love her journey in the MCU from villain to hero. The best parts of Endgame were getting to see her find a group of her own that supported her and learn to have fun and smile.

Natasha Romanoff (MCU) - 

I don’t always love how the MCU handled her, but I do like the character the MCU ultimately created, if that makes sense. She’s snarky and kind of dorky and it’s such a contrast from the shallow femme fatale cliche she started as and is usually portrayed as. I love that we get to see some of her weaknesses and fears over the series. I think they screwed up with her narrative a LOT, but I still enjoy the character they ultimately created.

Pepper Potts (MCU) -

Badass business lady turned occasional badass superhero when her husband’s in trouble. I really love her visceral fear of the superhero business and her hatred of it for most of the movies. It makes sense and makes her human that she doesn’t just go along with it. 

Raven (Teen Titans) -

Raven was one of my favorite characters as a kid. Apparently I like characters who are isolated but crave community and slowly learn to love others and let that love and acceptance in, because that’s part of what I love about her. 

Carol Danvers (616) -

I don’t like Carol in the MCU because of writing/directing reasons, but I love Carol in the comics. I love her “fuck you” attitude that is so at odds with most superheroes and her stubborness and her tendency to punch first, talk later, even when it gets her into trouble. I love that she named her cat after Star Wars and makes really corny jokes.

5 - Queens/Empresses/Royalty

Apparently I don’t watch a lot of shows with queens/royalty, so I’m going to do a grab bag of five other great female characters that come to mind.

Aqua (Kingdom Hearts) -

KH isn’t great at handling it’s female characters, but she’s the one exception. She’s a keyblade master who tried to keep her friends safe and stop the main villain, and she failed! She sacrificed herself trying to save one of her friends, letting herself get trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and the tragic part is that she didn’t even save him. So then she wanders the RoD for 10+ years, alone, being haunted by her fears and doubts and regrets, slowly losing herself. She eventually gets saved and gets a happy ending, but the part of the series exploring her endless wandering is so interesting. She’s a protagonist of a series aimed for kids, but she fails, and she has flaws and doubts and she has parts of herself she doesn’t want to face, and she’s just cool.

Echo (The 100) -

Because I didn’t list her in protagonists. I really fell in love with Echo in s4 when we saw her internal struggle between what was right/just and what was required to protect her clan. She was a great antagonist because we still saw so much of her humanity and now she’s a great protagonist with flaws and desires and self-doubt. And she’s a badass.

Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist) -

Another really interesting, flawed, complex lady. Riza is a soldier who fought in war and her actions during it still haunt her and drive her to push for a better world and country, even if she fully expects and accepts that a better world will punish her for her actions. She’s so interesting.

Judy & Jen (Dead to Me) - 

They’re by no means favorite characters of all time, but I do really love both of these characters. They’re just well written and interesting and the conflict between them is really interesting and I just want to include them for being cool female characters.

Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road) - 

What an awesome character. Her design is cool. Her actress is amazing. Her risking her life to get the wives to safety is fantastic. The way the movie slowly humanizes her more and chips away at her harsh exterior to show the emotions underneath is so good. She’s got a disability and fights around it. She’s great.

Villains (Cont.) below the cut ; spoilers for Fruits Basket

Akito (Fruits Basket) -

I put this under the cut because people are just starting to get into Fruits Basket for the first time and the fact that Akito is even a woman is a major spoiler, because she was raised as male her entire life because she was head of the family. Akito is so unlikeable at first and so awful and manipulative. She takes joy in hurting other people. She has a hand in most of the other characters’ trauma. And then you start learning more and more about her and realize she’s a traumatized, lonely, hurt person and is lashing out. It doesn’t forgive what she’s done, but it humanizes her. She’s a great parallel of Tohru in that they went through very similar trauma and experiences but Tohru had a loving mother who taught her the importance of love and kindness and Akito’s mother was awful and abusive and she learned that the only thing that mattered was power and control. She’s a really interesting character and I honestly still don’t know to feel about her most of the time.

[whenyouarereadingabook]

Lettori e lettrici, siamo riemerse! Ci siamo prese un po’ di tempo per riprendere fiato e organizzare le parole ma eccoci qua con la nostra prima recensione.

Il primo libro di questa già dichiarata trilogia è nel complesso all’altezza delle aspettative. In particolare come sempre colpisce la bravura della scrittrice nella caratterizzazione di ogni personaggio, rendendolo unico e amabile nelle sue qualità ed imperfezioni.

Il personaggio di Tiberius spicca per il suo particolare modo di vedere il mondo che lo rende diverso da tutti gli altri. Un piccolo, a primo impatto distaccato, ma profondissimo genio. Anche Mark spicca, con la s maiuscola, per tanti motivi: il suo carattere, il suo modo di parlare, le sue scelte, le sue orecchie a punta eccetera eccetera eccetera. La lista è infinita. Inoltre c’è di nuovo che grazie a lui abbiamo finalmente ottenuto un’esplorazione più profonda del mondo delle fate, che nei libri precedenti non aveva avuto modo né occasione di essere, se non per la regina della corte Seelie aka LA troublemaker.

Bellissimo il rapporto tra gemelli, che fino ad ora Cassandra non aveva proposto, così come il rapporto tra tutti i fratelli Blackthorn in generale. Di fratelli ne avevamo già letti, i Lightwood nella fattispecie, ma in questo caso il legame indissolubile e profondo dei Blackthorn, di cui se ne ha prova in più di un’occasione, fa da tela per le pennellate di questa trilogia.

Di legami già visti c’è ovviamente quello tra parabatai, che però questa volta, diversamente dalle altre, ha una sfumatura un po’ disperata, potremmo dire tragica, e fa presagire dei risvolti importanti nel secondo libro e soprattutto nel finale. Per quanto Julian ed Emma siano personaggi interessanti, l’aspetto dannato di questo loro rapporto così forte e travolgente, li rende in qualche modo maledetti, ma un maledetto noioso, soprattutto se si considera la grandiosità del personaggio di Julian, una grandiosità che ci illumina d’immenso. Julian, Julian, Julian. Amante dell’arte, introverso, tormentato per aver ucciso il proprio padre, affranto per aver perso i fratelli maggiori e costretto quindi a farsi carico di un’intera famiglia, perdendo parte della sua fanciullezza, e a diventare adulto e responsabile ad un’età in cui avrebbe potuto godersi la spensieratezza tipica dei teenager (cosa che comunque gli shadowhunter non hanno, dal momento che non si perde tempo in giochi e si viene spediti all’accademia prima di perdere tutti i denti da latte). Julian è una contraddizione vivente. È fragile e forte, delicato e spietato. Una figura che riesce sempre a prenderti in contropiede, a lasciarti a bocca aperta, e ci riesce con tutti, anche con la sua amata Emma, convinta di conoscerne le profondità più oscure e a cui io dico You know nothing, Jon Snow.

Emma dall’altra parte è una combattente. Badass sì. Con i controcazzi e una spada invidiata da tutti sì. Ma troppo e incontrollabilmente innamorata del suo parabatai. Crediamo che il suo enorme potenziale come personaggio sia dolorosamente oscurato da questo fatto.

Detto questo, tornando al legame parabatai nella coppia Emma-Jules, non si può fare a meno di fare il confronto con il legame Jace-Alec, perfetto e sviluppato in tutti gli aspetti, vissuto nel bene e nel male, nella sofferenza e nella gioia, ma più che altro con IL legame parabatai per eccellenza, quello che ci ha stravolto dalla testa ai piedi e che ci è entrato nelle vene, il duo William-James. Qualsiasi legame a confronto impallidirebbe, ma quello che fa stonare ai nostri occhi l’amore tra Emma e Julian è proprio questo fatto di sciupare un “collegamento” tra due persone che dovrebbe renderle due corpi e una sola anima, parti di una cosa sola, nella più assoluta purezza del legame. Inoltre quando prima questa connessione rafforzava la caratterizzazione dei personaggi rendendoli ancora più interessanti, in questo caso toglie loro qualcosa, indebolendo le loro particolarità. Invita a riflettere questo confronto, anche considerando la differenza di epoche, società, modo di pensare.

Anche questa volta comunque c’è un’accoppiata a nostro parere irresistibile, quella Mark-Kieran, i miei personaggi preferiti della saga (Linette), nata all’interno dello scenario gelido e sanguinario della Caccia Selvaggia. Kieran è un personaggio estremamente affascinante, un principe delle fate, irresistibile nei suoi modi regali di dire e fare qualsiasi cosa, innamorato follemente di Mark e incapace di lasciarlo andare perché non ha nessun altro al mondo (rumore del cuore che si spezza). Ovviamente alla Clare non piacciono le cose semplici ed ecco che compare Cristina, la gentile, adorabile e graziosa Cristina, che non ha pregiudizi su Mark, non si aspetta niente da lui e, senza nemmeno dirlo, ne rimane folgorata. Kieran non è d’accordo, e nemmeno noi, ma ecco che si crea questo familiare e straziante triangolo che fa storcere il naso. Fortunatamente Cassandra Clare è tutto fuorché prevedibile e l’odioso triangolo subisce dei risvolti a dir poco interessanti. Noi continuiamo a storcere il naso perché crediamo che l’amore che lega Mark e Kieran sia forte e genuino e che non sia semplicemente un ‘bisogno’ come suggerisce erroneamente qualcuno. Quello di Cristina è un amore giustificatissimo, lo condividiamo in pieno, e anche l’attrazione di Mark nei confronti di lei, ma non crediamo possa essere intenso come quello che ancora prova per Kieran.

Che dire di Kit? Un Herondale perduto ergo tutto ciò che una persona potrebbe desiderare. Il suo rapporto con Ty e Livvy è a dir poco adorabile, un trio assolutamente sublime.

Infine, la storia. Non infine ma a nostro parere in questi libri la storia è il tetto, mentre i personaggi sono i pilastri portanti. E che pilastri. Il tetto è molto ben costruito ma soprattutto grazie ai pilastri. Il primo libro ha un finale. Annabel apre gli occhi sì, ma si potrebbe definire un finale alla Città di vetro. La storia sembra chiudersi ma in realtà.. la voglia di continuare c’è ma non per finire il tetto quanto per continuare a concentrarsi sui pilastri, vedere se reggono o se si crepano e crollano. O almeno questa è la sensazione che abbiamo avuto.

Ma bando alle cance, adesso vogliamo sentire voi! Scatenatevi qui sotto con i commenti! Mi raccomando, solo Lady Midnight, niente spoiler! (Le prossime settimane parleremo degli altri due) Dear readers, we are back on the surface! We took some more time to catch our breathe and think through but here we are with our first review.

The first book of this declared trilogy overall lived up to our expectations. As usual the writer’s striking skill is the characters’ characterization, the ability to make them unique and lovable in their qualities and imperfections.

Tiberius’ character stands out for his peculiar way of looking at the world that makes him different from everyone else. A young, aloof at first, great genius. Mark stands out too, with a capital s, for different and many reasons: his personality, his way of speaking, his choices, his pointy ears and so on.. the list is endless. Moreover what’s new is that thanks to him we finally get a deeper exploration of the Fairy world, which in the previous books didn’t really get any chance of being, except for the Seelie Queen aka THE troublemaker. 

The twins bond is wonderful. It’s the first time that Cassandra deals with it. As wonderful is the bond between all the Blackthorn siblings. We’ve already read about siblings, the Lightwoods, but in this case the Blackthorns’ unbreakable and deep bond, experienced in more than one situation, is the perfect canvas for the colourful brush strokes of this trilogy.

Talking about well known bonds, there’s the parabatai one. This time though, conversely to the other parabatai couples we got to know, it has a more dramatic shade, almost tragic, and it foreshadows unpleasant consequences in the following books, especially in the last one. Even though Julian and Emma are interesting characters, the cursed side of their relationship makes them damned beings, damn boring, especially considering the greatness of Julian’s character, a greatness that m’illumina d’immenso. Julian, Julian, Julian. An introverted artist, tormented for the murder of his father, overcome by the loss of his two elder siblings and thus forced to take care of his entire family, losing a part of his youth and becoming adult and responsible at an age that would have let him enjoy the lightheartedness typical of your average teenager (obviously ‘average teenager’ is a concept unknown in the shadowhunter world considering they are expected to attend the academy before they lose all their baby teeth). Julian is a living contradiction. He’s delicate and tough, gentle and ruthless. A person that always takes you by surprise, leaving you speechless. It’s something he manages with everyone, even with his beloved Emma, who’s so sure of knowing the darkest sides of him and to whom I say You know nothing, Jon Snow. 

Emma on the other hand is a fighter. Badass for sure. Strong as fuck and with a sword that’s basically the envy of all. But still, she’s uncontrollably in love with her parabatai. We believe that her huge potential as a character is painfully overshadowed by that absolute fact. 

That said, back to the parabatai bond between Emma and Jules, we can’t help but compare it to the Jace-Alec bond, perfect and developed in all kind of ways, experienced in the good and the bad, in pain and joy. BUT more than that, you CAN’T not compare it to THE best parabatai bond, the one that fucked us up from head to toe, that now flows in our veins, the William-James duo. Every other bond would pale compared to it. What makes the Emma-Jules bond hit the wrong note in our opinion is not their love per se but the fact that it spoils a “connection” between two people that should make them two bodies and one soul, parts of the same being, in its purest form. Moreover while this connection is often used to strengthen the characterization of its characters, making them more enjoyable, this time it deprives them of something, weakening their peculiarities. This comparison makes you ponder, considering the differences between the two time periods, societies, ways of thinking. 

Even this time anyway there’s a pairing that in our opinion is definitely irresistible. Mark and Kieran, my favorite characters of the trilogy (Linette). A relationship born in the cold bloody set of the Wild Hunt. Kieran is an extremely charming character, a fairy prince, irresistible in his regal way of talking and being, madly in love with Mark and incapable of letting him go because he’s all alone in the world (heart breaking noise). Obviously Clare doesn’t like things simple and here we have Cristina, the gentle, kind, adorable and gracious Cristina. She doesn’t have any prejudice against Mark, doesn’t expect anything from him and, without another word, (in fact) falls helplessly in love with him. Kieran doesn’t agree with that, neither do we, but here it comes the familiar and agonizing triangle that makes one grimace. Fortunately Cassandra Clare is everything but predictable and the unpleasant triangle withstands very interesting implications. We go on grimacing because we believe the feelings that tie Mark and Kieran are strong and genuine and real, not just the product of a simple “need” like someone erroneously suggests. What Cristina feels for Mark is absolutely valid, we accept that, as is the attraction Mark feels for her, but we don’t believe it can be in any way as intense as what he feels for Kieran. 

What about Kit? A lost Herondale: everything a person could ever wish for. His relationship with Ty and Livvy is absolutely adorable, they form a stunningly sublime trio. 

Last but not least the plot. Not least but in our opinion in these books the plot is the roof and the characters are the load bearing pillars. And what pillars. The roof is so well designed thanks to the pillars. The first book has a certain finale. Annabel is awakened but you could call it a City of Glass finale. It looks like everything is solved but.. the will to keep reading is there not to see the roof complete but to focus on the pillars, see if they are able to hold it up or if they are destined to crumble and collapse under the weight of it. This is the feeling we got. 

But that’s enough now, we want to hear what you think! Go all out down here with your opinions! Beware, just about Lady Midnight, no spoilers! 

Linette, Ke Jian Ming e Tris 

[mafiabosstsuna]

Think of this!! Dino, Enma and Tsuna keep on humiliating this clumy maid that works really hard because it reminds them of their old self but after noticing their work eithic and optimism fall in love

COMPLETE

Dino

How this new maid managed to get hired was beyond him. He couldn’t understand how she was able to pass the physical exams required for all of the staff members at the Cavallone HQ

She trips. A lot. It’s especially worse when she is handling fine china and cutlery. It drives him nearly insane.

If there’s a crash in the distance, he knows that 9 times out of 10 it will be her fault. He knows it, Romario knows it, everyone knows it.

So what if he sometimes makes her job harder by leaving behind crazy messes? And yeah, sometimes he’ll intentionally throw his trash on the floor of his office just as she’s finishing cleaning up.

He can’t help it. Looking at how clumsy she is makes him feel wrong. Like he’s looking through a time machine and seeing his pre-Reborn days.

He hates it.

But why the hell is she so forgiving?! “It’s okay, Don Cavallone, I’ll clean that up.”  “No worries, I’m sure you didn’t mean to drop those stuff, Don Cavallone.”

Not once has he ever heard of her missing a day at work. He’s always seen her around, working to clean messes made by the inhabitants of the mansion and the messes she makes out of her own clumsiness.

Dino knows she works overtime too. He’ll sometimes catch her asleep on the stairwell with cleaning supplies around her late at night, far beyond any staff member besides the skeleton crew stays late.

(He later found out she had just finished doing a double shift and had offered to cover for a sick night staff member.)

He covered her sleeping form in one of his less nicer jackets he wore, telling himself that while he didn’t like her at all, Reborn would kill him if he found out he had left a lady out on the cold without helping.

It took her leaving his jacket on his bed, folded and dry cleaned, with a note saying her thanks for letting her borrow it and for hiring her to realize he was slightly enamored with her.

“Shit,” he mumbles under his breath as he sees her walking his way to start her duties. “Since when was she this pretty?”

“Did you say something, Don Cavallone?”

“I said you look shitty.”

Enma

He was so fucking sure that Adelheid would fire this clumsy idiot of a girl the moment she drops the extremely expensive fine china all over the dining hall

So why the hell did his Glacier guardian instead ask another staff member to help the maid clean up the mess? Did he enter the damned Twilight Zone or something?

The Don Shimon has never seen this maid not covered in bruises and bandages. It’s either from tripping down the stairs, burning herself in the kitchen, cutting herself on shards of china she dropped - the number of injuries were endless.

Looking at her makes him feel like a teenager again, all bumps and bruises and band aids. Pathetic, weak, helpless.

He hates her jokes and puns. Enma is positive she has made it her mission to say at least one pun around him whenever she works.

Enma privately refers to her as his No-Good Maid, despite knowing Tsuna would tan his ass for bringing that nickname back up. He only says it out loud when he’s alone in his office.

He gives a great loud laugh whenever she messes up in front of him. His laugh is harsh and mocking, causing her to flush in embarrassment.

It’s adorable how she always apologizes and spazzes out as she tries to clean up her mess. She’s always smiling through it all.

The maid is a hard worker, he’ll giver her that. She hasn’t used any sick days nor asked for any vacation time. He hears praises from the other staff members about how ready she is to help her coworkers.

“Don Shimon, is something the matter? Did I do something wrong?”

She’s looking at him now, a worried look on her face. Shit, was he staring that much at her?

The hand on his forehead is cool to the touch and causes him to blush lightly. He fights it off the best he can but loses when she sends him a smile. “No fever, shall I get you something to snack on?”

The fact that he was in love with this maid hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew, then and there, that he fucked up.

Tsuna

He absolutely hates the new maid with a fiery passion. She’s reminds him of his No-Good days, and he hates being reminded of those times. He’s better now, a lot better.

Everything he did back then, she’s just as bad, sometimes worse. She trips (will it kill her to tie her shoes?) and slips (for fuck’s sake, watch where you’re going) and drops everything she touches (a portion of that is going to be docked from her paycheck).

Why the head butler keeps her around is beyond his imagination. He cannot stand seeing her in the Vongola mansion, he wishes she would just disappear.

Tsuna intentionally has women he chases come home with him the nights before it’s her shift to attend to him. He feels a thrill, seeing her blush in the morning at his and his partner’s nakedness.

He keeps the woman of the night around longer during these times, using the new maid as a form of entertainment to laugh at with his partner. Tsuna is ruthless in pointing out her faults to the woman in his arm.

What angers him the most is how the maid not only takes it all, but even decided to crack jokes at her expense. It’s then that she smiles at their laughter at her, despite knowing full well they are not laughing with her.

The man later realizes that she’s a hard worker, a jack-of-all-trades around the Vongola mansion. She covers for any staff member that is absent - the cook, the maid, the gardener, and so on.

It’s impressive, really. It’s even admirable, he admits to no one.

Despite her desire to help, accidents also follow her wherever she goes. A minor kitchen fire, the plates are dropped, the weed killer is mistaken for pesticide, and the list goes on.

For every positive action, there is a negative reaction. An almost cycle of good and bad surrounds her work. If he didn’t require the most extensive and ridiculous background check on his staff members, Tsuna would think she was an enemy spy sent in to passively attack him from within.

But she smiles and smiles and laughs and laughs though it all. The maid just bounces back from these accidents. She cleans and helps repair the kitchen, she cleans up the plates and goes out to fetch new ones, she plants new flowers in the garden.

It’s when she becomes sick from working herself too hard and fiels for sick leave does Tsuna realize that he’s grown used to her antics. Through this time, he’s anxious and nervous and antsy, making sure to keep in all inside.

When she returns to work with her smiles and jokes and accidents, Tsuna feels a huge relief wash over him. For the first time since she was hired, he smiles back at her, surprising both of them.

“Shit, I’m in love.”

[musical-chick-13]

unpopular opinion: cersei isn't a villain that's going "mad," she's a woman that (just like her brothers!) grew up abused and has severe untreated mental illness and alcoholism (+she's more similar to tyrion than she thinks)

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

YES I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT CERSEI (The usual warnings for discussions about ableism, domestic abuse, and mentions of inc*st, which is why I’m putting the rest under a cut).

People really do just. Love to call a woman "crazy" for having one (1) unpretty emotion and hating things that happened to her. Doubly so if she isn't A Combat Fighter™, and triply so if she actually suffers from mental illness.

Is she trending toward a mental breakdown at various points in the narrative? Yes. But that doesn't make her "mad." During her childhood, she was ignored by her father, who constantly underestimated her and saw her as a pawn and not a person; was always belittled and refused any sort of genuine help or positive reinforcement (including from said father) due to simply not being a guy; was told as a child that every single thing she ever wanted or worked for would be taken away by a younger and more beautiful woman (which, wow, that's a constant fear, and also speaks to the ageism and discarding of women who don't fit certain standards of attractiveness), that all of her children would die before her, and then that she would be violently killed by her sibling; and then as a teenager, married off to a man who refused to even give her the barest courtesy, belittled her every chance he got, and straight up domestically abused her. With the amount of shit she's seen and dealt with, no wonder she has a cynical worldview and views everything and everyone as an enemy.

The thing about Cersei is that she understands how cutthroat and unfair and utterly brutal the world she lives in is. And the only thing she can think of to do to survive it is to be the most powerful person. She views that as the only way to give her life meaning, the only way to keep herself safe, and the only thing she can do to fight the fate she thinks she's destined for; if she becomes untouchable because no one dares harm her, she can live her life in peace and keep her children alive. I fail to see how this makes her "crazy." Tragic? Relatable? Sympathetic? Self-destructive? Yes. But considering that all of those feelings--the need to be "perfect," (in her case, perfectly terrifying and perfectly in power), the extreme distrust that anything will ever work out, the certainty that specific things will no doubt happen even if there isn't concrete evidence, her assertion toward the beginning that she's only staying alive for a few people who need her, her difficulties with emotional regulation, and her tendency toward choices that don't actually help because she doesn't know how to cope--are all very common symptoms and experiences of people suffering from mental illness, labeling her as simply "mad" is a very inaccurate description, and one that reeks of ableism and misogyny.

Does she do terrible things? Yes. But everyone in this fictional universe does. And, honestly, I don't understand where this idea that the things she's done are So Much Worse™ than everyone else comes from. Blowing up the sept? Dany set a religious location on fire, too when she faced a future with the Dothraki. (And I've seen a lot of sympathy for her decision to burn down King's Landing, too. If we can extend understanding for her in regard to a comparable act, why not Cersei? Please make it make sense.) Dealing with internalized misogyny? The Greyjoys have an entire culture based on toxic masculinity/devaluing femininity. Murdering and manipulating people to keep her and her family safe and wanting to obliterate people who hurt her children? Those things apply to the Stark family, too. And Olenna. And Davos. Hell, even Tywin to some extent. The incest? Then why is Jaime a fan favorite and the biggest ship war between which female relative Jon should end up with? Everyone in this story has done sketchy if not outright horrible things to survive. Everyone has blown past and disregarded what we consider to be necessary moral precepts in the modern world. I do not understand.

And. Yes. Cersei and Tyrion? Very similar. They're both ostracized by society for things they can't control (Cersei for her gender, Tyrion for his dwarfism). They both cope by drinking and/or ill-advised sexual encounters. They both feel very deeply. They both care about Jaime (though obviously in...very different ways). They both have a vengeful streak and are masters at manipulation (rather than gaining their power through combat/swordsmanship/what have you). They both view politics as a game and get an at times disconcerting amount of fulfillment at "winning" and successfully deceiving/duping someone else. They both think they're Above It All™ and that everyone is stupid, predictable, and not worthy of their time, even though--despite their intelligence and terrifying influence--even though they're still victims of the same indiscriminately vicious system. This dynamic is one of the most fascinating in the entire series because they really could be such a great team, but there's too much fear and anger bad blood for that to be a reality and honestly IT'S SO SAD.

Anyway, TLDR: Cersei is my forever girl, and people need to stop with their ignorant, ableist takes.

[beneathathousandskies]

Hello!

We’re days away from the start of September and the launch of Self-Published Fantasy month (Website| Twitter), so I thought that I would compile my TBR for the event.  It was hard to narrow down the ones I wanted to include as I have a large backlog of indie fantasy that I want to get too, and I keep adding more to the list, and I am hoping that I will be able to read a few more than the ones mentioned here throughout September but decided to keep them as bonuses and focus on this TBR.

However, in addition to these ten I will also be participating in blog tours for ‘The Skald’s Black Verse’ by Jordan Loyal Short and ‘The Jealousy of Jalice’ by Jesse Nolan Bailey so please keep an eye out for those tours.

  THE TBR

  1) Paternus: Rise of the Gods (The Paternus Trilogy #1)- Dyrk Ashton

  Book Summary:

Even myths have legends. And not all legends are myth.

When a local hospital is attacked by strange and frightening men, Fiona Patterson and Zeke Prisco save a catatonic old man named Peter—and find themselves running for their lives with creatures beyond imagination hounding their every step.

With nowhere else to turn, they seek out Fi’s enigmatic Uncle Edgar. But the more their questions are answered, the more they discover that nothing is what it seems–not Peter, not Edgar, perhaps not even themselves.

The gods and monsters, heroes and villains of lore—they’re real. And now they’ve come out of hiding to hunt their own. In order to survive, Fi and Zeke must join up with powerful allies against an ancient evil that’s been known by many names and feared by all. The final battle of the world’s oldest war has begun.

***** *****

2) Blade’s Edge (Chronicles of Gensokai #1) – Virginia McClain

  Book Summary:

Mishi and Taka live each day of their lives with the shadow of death lurking behind them. The struggle to hide the elemental powers that mark the two girls as Kisōshi separates them from the other orphans, yet forges a deep bond between them.

When Mishi is dragged from the orphanage at the age of eight, the girls are unsure if or when they will find each other again. While their powers grow with each season-cycle, the girls must come to terms with their true selves–Mishi as a warrior, Taka as a healer–as they forge separate paths which lead to the same horrifying discovery.

The Rōjū council’s dark secret is one that it has spent centuries killing to keep, and Mishi and Taka know too much. The two young women have overcome desperate odds in a society where their very existence is a crime, but now that they know the Rōjū’s secret they find themselves fighting for much more than their own survival.

***** ****

3) The Heresy Within (The Ties that Bind #1) – Rob. J. Hayes

  Book Summary:

As any warrior will tell you; even the best swordsman is one bad day away from a corpse. It’s a lesson Blademaster Jezzet Vel’urn isn’t keen to learn. Chased into the Wilds by a vengeful warlord, Jezzet makes it to the free city of Chade. But instead of sanctuary all she finds is more enemies from her past.

Arbiter Thanquil Darkheart is a witch hunter for the Inquisition on a holy crusade to rid the world of heresy. He’s also something else; expendable. When the God Emperor himself gives Thanquil an impossible task, he knows he has no choice but to venture deep into the Wilds to hunt down a fallen Arbiter.

The Black Thorn is a cheat, a thief, a murderer and worse. He’s best known for the killing of several Arbiters and every town in the Wilds has a WANTED poster with his name on it. Thorn knows it’s often best to lie low and let the dust settle, but some jobs pay too well to pass up.

As their fates converge, Jezzet, Thanquil, and the Black Thorn will need to forge an uneasy alliance in order to face their common enemy.

***** *****

4) Song of Shadow (Ballad of Emerald and Iron #1) – Natalya Capello

Book Summary:

They said she was out of her mind. The dark truth will shake the foundations of the fae realm…

Lorelei refuses to believe her wild visions mean she’s insane. But despite her royal sidhe heritage, she’s banished to a remote priory to prevent her causing trouble. So when a priestess of the Elemental Order urges her to join a risky pilgrimage, she flees her prison and sails headlong into danger.

Traveling to an ancient land imbued with volatile magic, she chokes back her disbelief after unearthing evil sorcery that shouldn’t exist. And now that Lorelei holds the forbidden secrets, she fears it’s only a matter of time before the powerful Elphyne Empire silences her permanently. If the fae church’s ruthless assassins don’t hunt her down first…

Can Lorelei expose the sinister conspiracy before darkness falls forever?

Song of Shadow is the captivating first novel in the Ballad of Emerald and Iron epic fantasy series. If you like strong women, potent magic, and non-stop adventure, then you’ll love Natalya Capello’s enthralling tale.

***** *****

5) The Wrack – John Bierce

  Book Summary:

Plague has come to the continent of Teringia.

As the Wrack makes its slow, relentless march southwards, it will humble kings and healers, seers and merchants, priests and warriors. Behind, it leaves only screams and suffering, and before it, spreads only fear.

Lothain, the birthplace of the Wrack, desperately tries to hold itself together as the plague burns across it and its neighbors circle like vultures. The Moonsworn healers would fight the Wrack, but must navigate distrust and violence from the peoples of Teringia. Proud Galicanta readies itself for war, as the Sunsworn Empire watches and waits for the Wrack to bring its rival low.

And the Wrack advances, utterly unconcerned with the plans of men.

***** *****

6) A Wind from the Wilderness (Watchers of Outremer #1) – Suzannah Rowntree

  Book Summary:

Hunted by demons. Lost in time.

Welcome to the First Crusade.

Syria, 636: As heretic invaders circle Jerusalem, young Lukas Bessarion vows to defend his people. Instead, disaster strikes.

His family is ripped apart. His allies are slaughtered. And Lukas is hurled across the centuries to a future where his worst nightmares have come true…

Constantinople, 1097: Ayla may be a heretic beggar, but she knows one thing for sure: nine months from now, she will die. Before then, she must avenge her father’s murder–or risk losing her soul.

Desperate to find their way home, Lukas and Ayla join the seven armies marching east to liberate Jerusalem. If Lukas succeeds in his quest, he’ll undo the invasion and change the course of history.

But only if he survives the war.

Only if his enemies from the past don’t catch him.

And only as long as Ayla never finds out who he really is.

***** *****

7)  Cradle of Sea and Soil – Bernie Anés Paz

  Book Summary:

The Primordial Wound has festered with corruption since the birth of the world. The island tribes have warred against its spawn for just as long—and they are losing.

Burdened by the same spiritual affliction that drove the first Halfborn insane, Colibrí lives in exile with little more than her warrior oaths and her son. But when Colibrí discovers corrupted land hidden away by sorcery, those same oaths drive her to find answers in an effort to protect the very people who fear her.

Narune dreams of earning enough glory to show that he and his mother Colibrí are nothing like the Halfborn that came before them. Becoming a mystic will give him the strength he needs, but first, Narune will need to prove himself worthy in a trial of skill and honor.

Together, Colibrí and Narune must learn to become the champions their people need—and face the curse threatening to scour away their spirits with fury.

***** *****

8) Blood of Heirs (The Coraidic Sagas #1) – Alicia Wanstall-Burke

  Book Summary:

Lidan Tolak is the fiercest of her father’s daughters; more than capable of one day leading her clan. But caught between her warring parents, Lidan’s world begins to unravel when another of her father’s wives falls pregnant. Before she has time to consider the threat of a brother, a bloody swathe is cut through the heart of the clan and Lidan must fight, not only to prove her worth, but simply to survive.

Ranoth Olseta wants nothing more than to be a worthy successor to his father’s throne. When his home is threatened by the aggressive Woaden Empire, Ran becomes his city’s saviour, but powers within him are revealed by the enemy and he is condemned to death. Confused and betrayed, Ran is forced to flee his homeland, vowing to reclaim what he has lost, even if it kills him.

Facing an unknown future, and battling forces both familiar and foreign, can Lidan and Ran overcome the odds threatening to drag them into inescapable darkness?

***** ****

9) Smoke and Stone (City of Sacrifice #1) – Michael R. Fletcher

  Book Summary:

After a cataclysmic war of the gods, the last of humanity huddles in Bastion, a colossal ringed city. Beyond the outermost wall lies endless desert haunted by the souls of all the world’s dead.

Trapped in a rigid caste system, Nuru, a young street sorcerer, lives in the outer ring. She dreams of escape and freedom. When something contacts her from beyond the wall, she risks everything and leaps at the opportunity. Mother Death, a banished god seeking to reclaim her place in Bastion’s patchwork pantheon, has found her way back into the city.

Akachi, born to the wealth and splendour of Bastion’s inner rings, is a priest of Cloud Serpent, Lord of the Hunt. A temple-trained sorcerer, he is tasked with bringing peace to the troublesome outer ring. Drawn into a dark and violent world of assassins, gangs, and street sorcerers, he battles the spreading influence of Mother Death in a desperate attempt to save Bastion.

The gods are once again at war.

***** *****

10) A Sea of Broken Glass (The Lady & The Darkness) – Sonya M. Black

Book Summary:

Secrets have a price.

After enduring weeks of torture and being convicted of witchery, Ris escapes, only to discover the Darkness and the Lady are hunting her. They need the magic that sings within her.

Creator of all, the imprisoned Lady needs Ris, her last vessel, to find the Heart of Creation. The Darkness seeks to corrupt the vessel and retain his hold on the Lady, and with it, the world.

Ris finds help from a pair of Paladins of Light who aid her in cleansing the evil taint from the lands. As her power grows, so do her questions. How can she restore balance to the world and free the Lady? Should the Lady be trusted or is she as much at fault for the evil in the world as the Darkness? With powerful demons War, Ruin, and Plague at her heels, Ris struggles to stay alive as she tries to unravel the secrets hidden within her before it’s too late.

Secrets that may cost Ris her soul even if she does succeed.

**

Let me know if you’ve read any of these, if you plan to read them and any recommendations (because if I put a dent in the tbr, I have to fill it again – that’s the rule).

Rowena

Self-Published Fantasy Month TBR Hello! We're days away from the start of September and the launch of Self-Published Fantasy month (

[greer-chester]

You Better B-lieve it

To say that B-movies are wonderful might seem counter-intuitive. Surely all the talent, ideas and money flow uphill to Hollywood, right? The cream rises to the top and the resulting films are the best we should hope for, right? RIGHT? Unfortunately, as with many things in life, this is not the way the film industry works. For many reasons, Hollywood can't or just doesn't make films about certain things.

Government regulations, societal constraints and the established process of film making all contribute to the kind of films Hollywood make. Especially in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, issues like the Hays Code (which limited the depiction of violence and scenes of an adult and sexual nature) constrained much of what mainstream cinema could show. Because of the conservative mindset that ruled (and still arguably rules) Hollywood, and the sources of financial backing for films, the rapidly advancing social frontier of the post-war Western world just couldn't be dealt with in big budget studio productions.

Instead, out of the murky depths of shaky props and slightly stilted acting rose the B-movie. So named because it's stars were less than A-grade, this genre of films often featured sexy ladies, outrageous plots and thinly veiled social critiques disguised as science fiction. The result however, is better than you might think. These movies are above all fun. They delight in their silliness, aren't constrained by issues like having to make sets and situations look real, and a lot of them dealt with controversial social themes in ways mainstream cinema at the time just wasn’t allowed to do.  

In these days of interwebs and camera phones, low budget movies are enjoying something of a resurgence, so we here at YH! World have decided to compile a list of the best B-movies from their heyday. Warning: overexposure may lead to lifelong devotion…

Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

From the first scene of this Russ Meyer cult classic, you know you're going to be in for a hell of a ride. What's not to like about two minutes of uninterrupted, unexplained go go dancing torsos? Made three years before the Hays Code was eventually abandoned, the film pushes some serious boundaries. The plot revolves around three go go dancers; ditzy blonde Billie, seductive Rosie and their viscous leader Varla. The girls are joy riding around the Nevada Desert in between dancing gigs when they encounter a young man and his girlfriend. In the drag race that ensues, the boyfriend ends up dead and the girlfriend their hostage. She then becomes key to their plot to trick a lecherous wheelchair-bound man and his two sons out of their fortune.

Why We Love it

Whilst the scantily clad girls might have been mere eye candy in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, Meyer turns the trio into a deadly swaggering troupe of girls who are smart and independent - to the point of being ruthless. The male characters in the piece are all pretty horrible, save for one of the old lecher's sons, and so even though the girls are murderous money grabbers, they aren't truly condemned for their actions. Which, in the early 60s, was pretty controversial. Also the girls are well fit.

The Thing From Another World (1951)

An Air Force crew and team of scientists at a remote Arctic research location discover, and then have to fight an evil alien plant-monster. Yes! This idea was so popular that it spawned two remakes: one in 1982 and another due for release later this year. And why not? It has all the classic thriller themes. The ominous presence of the as-yet undiscovered monster in a block of thawing ice found in a spaceship wreckage, the eventual revelation as 'The Thing' reveals its strength, the misguided scientist who ends up doing more harm through good in his professional curiosity. Although 'The Thing' and its offspring are eventually vanquished, the movie also has the classic chilling it-could-happen-to-you factor, as reporter Ned 'Scotty' Scott files his amazing report and warns radio listeners to Tell the world. Tell this to everyone, wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies."

Why We Love It

When the film was released in 1951 it went on to be incredibly popular. The classic monster story combined with science fiction tapped into elements that were so popular during the Cold War and the space race, and the iconic final line of the film later inspired the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 2001, the US Library of Congress decided that the film was 'culturally significant enough to warrant it be preserved on the National Film Registry. It seems everyone loves a bit of Alien Plant Monster action.

Attack of the 50ft Woman (1958)

As a woman of more than average height, I may be slightly prejudiced towards this film. No matter. It is still a hilariously brilliant example of the shonky effects that B-movie producers refuse to let stand in the way of a fantastical plot. Nancy Archer (Allison Hays) is a wealthy heiress who, after a terrifying encounter with a giant being, finds that she too has grown giant. Already blighted by a fondness for drink, mental instability and a husband with a wandering eye, she escapes her oversized prison and goes on a rampage through the city to find her unfaithful spouse.

Why We Love It

This B-movie makes the list because its concept is original and brilliant. Although it may not seem it now, after endless take-offs in popular culture from The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror to 80s pop song Call Me by Go West and iCarly, the idea of a giant woman scorned, trashing the streets in search of her husband's mistress, was completely unseen in 1958. Yes, the film does have a pretty outmoded attitude to women, but considering the roles available to women at the time, charging about the town in a super sized pair of lingerie (which mysteriously grow with Nancy while her outer garments do not) is pretty darn badass in anyone's book.

Horror of Dracula (1958)

This experiment in lurid technicolour was one of the first films British horror production company Hammer Horror ever made. A sometimes overlooked portrayal of the classic vampire character, Christopher Lee's turn in this film was popular enough to warrant over six more films with him as the lead. The best part of this film franchise is arguably the relationship between Lee's Dracula and Van Helsing as played by the unflappable Peter Cushing, whose earnest goodness contrasts brilliantly with Lee's arch villainy.

Why We Love It

Not only is this film British rather than American, it spawned a whole genre of its own - the sexy, gory Dracula tale rebooted in bright colours and full of maidens with heaving bosoms. Something for the whole family right there. The B-movie horror film has rarely been done with more joi de vivre throughout, and the acting is actually pretty good for what is essentially a bit of light hearted schlock. If you like this, you'll love the endless sequels both those with and without Cushing and Lee in the lead roles.

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I know this is an unpopular opinion. And I know this is a Personal Thing(TM) and probably doesn’t apply to anyone else. But I want the world to know how much it means to me that a multifaceted, severely imperfect woman who canonically struggles with mental illness got to fall in love with someone who accepted everything she was and did and chose to go back to and care for her. At long last, the character who was like me, in whom I saw myself and my struggles, got to have the Grand Sweeping Epic Love Story. The Hot White Boy Fave chose her. He could have chosen anyone else, but he went back to the woman everyone hated and derided as “crazy,” the woman with so many personal issues, the woman that everyone told me I was terrible for liking and relating to, the woman everyone screamed deserved to be unloved and alone and miserable. And, I’m ngl, that’s going to carry me and fill me with immeasurable power for probably the rest of my life.

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Happy Valentine’s Day to Cersei Lannister, the love of my life and the only significant and consistent romantic attachment I’ve ever really had.

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What a great day to remember that I love BBC Sherlock’s incarnation of Irene Adler and that she is an extremely smart, remarkable, and worthy character in her own right.

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GUYS

GUYS!

GUYS!!!!!

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New rule: if you hate Cersei or think her only defining quality is “evil” (or “incestuous”), you can’t talk to me about Game of Thrones (or ASoIaF).