#feather reviews

[masezace]

little off topic for my blog, but i started watching a new show since a friend mentioned it was good and i'd heard positive things about it, so i just wanted to talk about it a little bit (probably never again after this since this isn't a fandom blog, but it's the only one i have rn so idc it's going here)

the show is Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, and just going on looks alone, despite my love for dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park franchise i never would have considered it. it appears to be very much for kids, and as i'm in my late twenties now i'm not particularly interested in especially kiddy media. however a friend my age enjoyed it and mentioned it has a canon lgbtq+ couple in it among the main characters, so of course i just had to watch it. i had already been hearing that despite its initial appearance and premise, it was surprisingly good for a kids' show, so i had already been curious, but i was even more keen after knowing there were queer characters, and not even the adults, the kids themselves (in a kid's show?!! what a time to be alive), so i finally sat down and watched it.

[spoiler warning, both minor and major, for the rest of this post btw, so continue reading at your own risk if you haven't seen it yet/are still watching]

the show overall

okay so firstly, i am coming at all of this from the perspective of a writer, so my observations are from a technical standpoint more so than just as a fan of the show. and honestly, it really is a well-written show as a whole. is it geared towards kids? definitely. there are plenty of jokes/gags in it that just don't appeal to me as an adult, but beyond that, there was plenty to appreciate as an adult.

the writing is actually phenomenal? there were several points in the series where i just sat back and mulled over the way a scene went, what the thought process behind writing it was like, how well it was executed, and how important it was to the characters and overall plot.

the suspense is spot on, nothing gets dragged out too long, and i will admit there have been a few scenes throughout that actually got me; i jumped! it's actually scarier than i expected a kid show to be, but i'm so glad they went where they did because it really elevated the experience.

the pacing overall is very good, adequately engaging for kids' short attention spans (and us adhd adults 🥲) but not too short either to a point where things felt abrupt or unfinished. plot arcs are well developed and tied up nicely. also, as a bit of a dinosaur nerd, the array of dinosaurs in the show is super broad and satisfying! very fun stuff.

character element

imo the real gem of this show is the character development. honestly it's just *chefs kiss*

the characters grow and change so much and so realistically over the course of the show, it's honestly so much better and more satisfying than the character growth in most adult fiction/media recently.

the growth in ben (who btw was def my favorite character by the end of s1) and kenji in particular were my favorites and, in my personal opinion, the most interesting. the way ben started out anxious, cowardly, and rule abiding to a fault, then grew into a brave, confident, adventurous little pyromaniac gremlin, then had that stint later in the series where he regressed a bit-questioning himself-until eventually ultimately striking a great balance and really coming into himself was just... peak character writing.

kenji started out overconfident, lazy, and overly concerned with money/status. but that arrogant overconfidence and laziness slowly turned into responsibility, and a desire to protect his found family, and the realization that it's the people in your life that really matter most.

honestly what i mentioned only scratches the surface in terms of those two characters, there's certainly more that can be said about them (as well as all the others) but i'm not really in the mood for a deep dive character analysis atm. just trust me tho when i say these characters are so well done and each one of them have arcs that are super satisfying to watch play out.

queer representation

and as for the queer couple? yasmina and sammy are PERFECT. it was so beautiful watching their relationship grow from one-sided to mutual friendship, to loyal devotion, then to love. they were set up incredibly well and incredibly naturally. i have like, no complaints when it comes to them. i don't even know if there's anything i can say that would add to things, they were just a really awesome couple to watch become canon, they're the beautiful and painfully needed representation we all beg for in tv and movies.

shipping, chemistry, and intent

but oh goodness... probably my only real complaint about the entire show would be how benji (ben x kenji) and kenji x brooklyn (kenlyn? brookji? idk and idrc) were handled. because for all that this show did SO much beautifully right, they really screwed the pooch here, sadly.

i'm gonna start by saying that the writing in this show, as with most, is deliberate. what i mean by this is that despite having no clue who it would be because my friend thankfully did not even spoil me as far as the genders of the queer couple, i clocked yas and sammy as the would-be queer couple as early as season one (actually it was between them and benji, but more on that later). i could already see the chemistry, because it was deliberately written in.

shipping is subjective. anyone can ship any character, and in most cases it's pretty easy to see how there could be (romantic) chemistry between fan pairings based on their personalities, their arcs, etc. and that's okay! ships don't even have to have any canon support to be valid, because shipping is for the fandom, and it's for fun (i have a few rarepairs and crack ships across different media that i just love).

but onscreen/written romantic chemistry is a lot less subjective (to clarify, it is subjective whether or not the chemistry is good, but it's not subjective about whether or not it exists). there are literally scenes written with the sole purpose of building the romantic tension and/or chemistry between planned couples (some of which even have absolutely zero plot relevance, which usually is not advised tbh, and most of which are the cliches/tropes you see in literally any romance ever written, some are just disguised a little better than others. but make no mistake, it's all the same set of cliches. there is nothing new under the sun), as well as intentional, key moments within scenes that have other purposes. they are essential to establish romantic pairings.

and typically, the foundations for these couples are laid VERY early on. always within the first or second season (well, at least they are when the writer actually knows what they're doing and has at least a rough plan/outline for the entire series & characters. this is usually a large part of what separates the good chemistry from the poor chemistry. an author who knows who the couples are going to be and has a plan from the beginning to build them up is going to be more successful in creating a believable relationship with good chemistry. one who does not plan, or makes last minute plans will almost certainly fail, and the couple is just going to suck). when the set of characters you're working with are going to stay the same for most or all of the story, you start immediately.

i don't mean to toot my own horn, because i think it's because i'm a writer so i just pick up on narrative patterns very easily, and pretty much always clock the planned couples within the first few episodes of any series, and by the end i am right like 9 times out of 10.

that being said, do you know whose deliberately written chemistry i also clocked in jwcc? ben and kenji's.

kenji and... brooklyn?

no offense to people who like/enjoy kenji and brooklyn, you are free to love them, but the way their romance was written is... quite possibly the weakest point of the show. it felt like they were just trying to appease the upsetto heteros in charge, because there was definitely another het pairing that had a lot more potential than kenji and brooklyn (hello darius x brooklyn aka darilyn, you would have actually made sense because your relationship had amazing buildup and multiple standout scenes from s1 on. dgmw, i love that we got a m/f strong, supportive, purely platonic friendship out of them, i live for those and we really need more of them. but we could have had that with kenji and brooklyn, or darius and sammy, or ben and yas, literally any other pair instead).

kenji and brooklyn as a couple came out of absolutely nowhere. i honestly think they decided to shove them together last minute, and had no actual plan for them until they were working on s4. because their development barely started at the VERY end of s3 (the abruptness of him caring about her being held hostage so much more than literally anyone else in their group despite them having like zero buildup to that point gave me whiplash), but honestly didn't really even become "meaningful" development until s4, over halfway through the series. the two spend the first 3 seasons basically not particularly gaf about each other individually, only as part of the whole group and on an equal level with everyone else. they otherwise have no deliberate narrative foundation. it just starts in s4 with no prior hinting. which makes their development rocky and difficult to believe. the funny thing is their characters literally have dialogue (in s4) trying to draw comparisons/parallels between them to say that they especially have a lot in common and like??? no? they really don't? not any more so than any other two kids in the group. their relationship just, really falls flat.

it was disappointing to see it take such a massive spotlight in the series for almost all of seasons 4 and 5, overshadowing the friendships that have been the focus of the show and should have remained so, to the point where at times it just felt like i was watching some stereotypical het highschool romance. genuinely, it made s4 & 5 more of a drag to get through. yasammy and ben and yas' growing bond (which by the way was so sweet, it had the strongest queer solidarity vibes good lord, i sure wonder why yas chose ben out of everyone to come out to first, hmmm) were some of the few things that kept me invested, otherwise i would have dropped it if it had leaned much farther into becoming the kenlyn show than it already was. especially when it was that pair so much of the focus was given to, even though we had so readily and perfectly available, the pair that could have, should have been: benji. which finally brings me to:

ben and kenji

benji's foundation was laid in s1. their interactions, the situations they found themselves in, were deliberate (on the writers' part). i'm even gonna go out on a limb here and say the pairings were fully established in s1e3, even with parallels between yasammy and benji (sammy clinging to yas and ben clinging to kenji throughout the episode), and darilyn gets the beginning of their development too.

even though they bicker a lot in the beginning, they clearly care about each other? kenji protects/helps ben multiple times, and there are definitely some looks ben gives kenji at times. at the end of s1, the one who seems the most deeply effected over ben's "death," other than darius (understandably since he's the one who failed to save him), was kenji! immediately after it happens, we get two close up shots, darius and brooklyn then yasmina and sammy. after which, we go back to the whole group with kenji in center frame, the focus is intentionally on him. it is only kenji who drops to his knees at the loss, and then we get a close up of just kenji. he was saved for last, and he was alone in frame (tbf bumpy was in frame too, but i'm talking humans here), which implies his feelings are especially important in this moment. that is the reason for solo close ups.

after ben's "death," kenji takes to always wearing ben's fanny pack, and up until bumpy--who ben cares VERY much about--got separated from them, kenji was the one who (however briefly) took over her care, ensuring she got off the monorail with them, and he's extremely distraught, more than pretty much all of them, when they can't find her, and he's last to leave when they decide to accept that ben's gone. even when they do leave, he's distant and distracted and his mind is clearly still on ben.

other than darius, kenji is the only one (if i'm remembering correctly) to mention ben/say his name after they lost him, upset because he was actually trying not to think about him. he has clearly thought about ben, probably a lot, because it's hard not to be reminded constantly when you wear something that belonged to a deceased loved one. and frankly, he appears to be the only one who dwells on him that much.

when ben reappears alive (which btw he found the group again because of kenji's butter knife, hello), the frames literally purposely focus on kenji's reaction. he's the one in the foreground every time they show him and brooklyn in that scene. he is the first one to say ben's name, the first one to go to him and hug him, and the scene takes special care to highlight kenji's strong emotions at ben's reappearance, lingering on his teary face as the focus for a bit even after brooklyn enters the frame to hug ben (because she is not at all an important element in the scene at that moment). just like when ben "died," the way this scene is written and shot HEAVILY suggests that ben holds significant importance to kenji, specifically. because again, the focus here is on kenji and ben almost exclusively, with brooklyn as only an afterthought lol. and quite frankly literally everyone else's reaction to him being alive was pretty lackluster compared to the special attention they gave to kenji on this.

and then in s3 we have the infamous hat scene, where darius and ben are in the limo and ben sees and mentions kenji's sailor hat, looking sad and sounding like... longing?? then directly after we switch to kenji realizing he forgot his hat?? the scene has no real significance tbh other than to draw a connection between ben and kenji. like, it acts as a transition to switch to the pov of the group on the boat, but it was entirely unnecessary? why not just have darius say something about the others and then show them on the boat? if there were no special relationship between ben and kenji, it would have made far more sense if they really wanted it to be ben to say something, that he sees the hat, and sadly says something along the lines of "i hope the others are okay/doing better than we are right now/etc" which implies that the hat made him think of everyone, their whole group. rather than what we got... which very much implies that he was mostly just thinking about kenji 💀 and then kenji thinking about the hat at the same time ben's looking at it and thinking of kenji. like, this is.... a very blatant connection being made by the writing/directing here.

all of that. so many deliberate connections made between ben and kenji, they had a very solid foundation laid for a romance to develop, and by all intents and purposes one already WAS developing according to the show's own subtext. which was why up until s4 obliterated the idea, i was positive the queer couple in the show was either going to be yasammy or benji. it was extremely obvious imo. but as soon we started getting the typical, loud, cliche "we are going to pair off these characters" scenes for kenji and brooklyn, i knew we were getting yasammy and not benji (to be clear, i'm not at all upset about yasammy, they're beautiful and i love how their relationship was done, i wouldn't have had it end any other way for them. but i do personally prefer benji, i just like their personalities and dynamic more. and i feel they had so much potential that got wasted to make way for a far less interesting pairing between kenji and brooklyn. why can't we have 2 queer couples, huh? and if we really needed a minimum of one hetero pairing to appease whoever needed appeasing, darilyn was right there).

but then??? their like entire bond just gets dropped (honestly ben himself gets pretty heavily sidelined for almost all of the last two seasons, which is criminal imo). mostly so that a rushed kenji x brooklyn can be established. like there are still a few small moments here and there in early s4, and one episode in s5 (ep 10), but from early s4 till pretty much the end of the series we hardly see them have any meaningful conversations or interactions, meanwhile literally every other combo in the group does.

it's so weird? why build up benji so deliberately over the course of multiple seasons just to like, fully discard it for a pairing with far less chemistry, even after the chemistry-building scenes they shared, some of which literally had no other purpose than to affirm their connection? even though they were very sparse, the moments benji had were just so blatant (kenji leaps into the rock crevice right onto the back of a saber tooth to save ben?!!?? like he literally was just willing to exchange his life for him like that?? he basically says that he wasn't really thinking, he just did it. so he moved out of what, emotional instinct, that's what we're meant to intuit from that series of events? implying that he specifically has strong emotion and doesn't think things through when it comes to ben? because he doesn't do that kinda stuff for any of the others in the group! even better, this parallels when sammy jumped on the nothosaurus to save yasmina. and then the way benji look at each other after it's over??? hello??? and then how kenji pulls both brooklyn and ben in for that hug a couple minutes later... side eyeing the writers for that choice. they knew what they were doing there and they were evil for it). i just can't see any reason to have dropped them like they were, after all the development they shared for 3 seasons. confounding. biggest disappointment of the series.

i know this probably reads to some as just "wahh, my ship didn't become canon" nonsense. but that's not why i'm bugged. this wasn't just a ship i liked and wanted canon despite no actual narrative support, as most ships tend to be. this ship did have narrative support. there was intent behind many of their scenes together, lingering looks and little things that matter narratively and are always used to signify a stronger/special connection. and it led nowhere, for no good reason. that bothers me. writing that implies and promises something, but never delivers on it. like a person who never finishes their sentences (think Dr McPhee from Night at the Museum). ultimately it's not a HUGE deal or anything, at the end of the day it's just a ship and just a kids' show. but as a writer, it's just irritating to see something like that be done. what can i say 🤷

conclusion

even despite the wasted potential between certain pairings, and even though i do think the first three seasons were superior to the last two, overall i really enjoyed the show, and for what it was, it was really well-made. the overarching focus was of course on found family and friendship before anything else, which i absolutely love, and it was masterfully done. out of 6 kids, all of them had at least one or two meaningful bonding moments one-on-one with another in the group, so every possible combination had their moment to build strong, believable friendships with each other. i'm just so surprised by how good it was as a whole honestly, good enough to binge over the course of a week. i will happily recommend jwcc to anyone willing to give it a watch regardless of age, because i definitely think there's no age limit for a good story, no matter the medium it's told in. :)

[stoshasaurus]

i still cannot fucking draw feet and refuse to learn.

anyway, more work with poses and an experiment with cell shading and some half-tone brushes i have. this one actually turned out decent, the hands most of all.

[corvid-language-library]

Ughhh I've just realised:

My classes start at 4pm tomorrow

Because it's Summer School, I have to be in the classroom and have my login completed at least 1 hour before classes start, which means I need to be in the classroom before 3pm

It's a 30 minute train journey and a 10 minute walk to the classroom

There is a train that departs at 14:22. Assuming it's on time, I would arrive at the classroom at 15:02. I'd say I could run, but it will be 32ºC tomorrow. Additionally, that train is frequently 3-5 minutes late, and I'd have to start up the tablet and wait for the login page to load, which can take up to 5 minutes sometimes. So basically, it's a no-go.

The train before that departs at 12:16. This means I'll get to the classroom at around 12:56.

It will take me roughly 30 minutes to prepare for my classes

I will finish my classes at 19:40. There is a train at 19:48. It will take me at least 15 minutes to clean up and lock up. The next train is at 20:44.

This means I will have approximately 3h 53m to sit on my arse doing nothing. Add the train ride to that, I will have almost 5 hours where I'm just waiting around doing not an awful lot

Gotta figure out how best to utilise that time, I guess!

[isfjmel-phleg]

but is it even possible to write a review of an early PGW book without comparing it (unfavorably, of course) to Jeeves and/or Blandings (the only books this man wrote!) and affectedly mimicking Woosteresque slang?

[softenedsunbeams]

still thinking about this rain world review i found once

bro missed the entire point of the game. this isn't dark souls if you wanted something like that go back to dark souls

[oldshowbiz]

1962.

Leonard Feather versus Jackie Cooper.

[anadorablekiwi]

… I wanna make an Amber cosplay

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

As Emily Dickinson put it, ""Hope" is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -" I still sometime stope hearing the tune. I still become enveloped by the abject pain of hopelessness. But hope is singing all the while. It's just that again and again I must relearn how to listen.

John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed (Harvey)

[climbdraws]

anyone have reccs for good interactive cat toys? I need to do a purge of the ones I have bc there's a lot they don't play with & want to replace them with something more fun

[poppletonink]

TRACK REVIEW: Feather - Sabrina Carpenter

★★★★★ - 5 stars

"I feel so much lighter like a feather with you off my mind"

Sabrina Carpenter's Feather, - the 14th track of her 2023 album emails i can't send fwd - is an enchanting fusion of dance pop, synth and angelic harmonies that captures the listener's soul within every second of its cheerful beat. The cascading piano notes feel like a stairway to serenity as Carpenter describes the feeling of getting over someone and realising your self worth - that it's truly their loss rather than yours. The freedom of moving on is expressed in every word, using a feather as a symbol of the lightness and tranquility that arrives when you leave someone behind who was dragging you down. With its brutally honest lyrics: "You're signals are mixed, you act like a bitch / You fit every stereotype, 'Send a pic'", Feather is practically a free therapy session. Carpenter's relatable lyrics feel like a verbal expression of the thoughts nobody can quite put into words, making it extremely cathartic to sing along to. This is the perfect pop hit to scream along to when you finally get over the toxic ex or seemingly neverending crush and will definitely have you blithely dancing around the room.

[rayssion]

So in the last 24h I read:

Ms ice sandwich by Mieko Kawakami.

Grief is the thing with feathers by Max Porter.

Night by Elie Wiesel.

Small things like these by Claire Keegan.

Letters to a young poet by Rilke.

Crush by Richard Siken.

The tell-tale heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

And it's safe to say that I'm in an emotional rollercoaster, I don't know how I'll be sleeping tonight.

[jessequinones]

Dragons and Skylines: Book 1 Feathers and Gold Review

This book was interesting for me. It was an easy read and the moment a certain someone appeared you could tell they were a villain and once you figured that out, you’d figure out the rest of the story as well.

While I wasn’t a fan of the fish out of water trope with Grith, and I couldn’t care less for Chris, once more, I successfully guessed the entire plot of the story within the second chapter...it was a good read. Best book I’ve read so far this year.

Once the plot gets going, it doesn’t stop, I find it funny this entire story takes place over three, maybe four days.

Ashley was the best character for me, and everyone was well-written.

For any male readers who might be uncomfortable reading this book, especially during the first five chapters, I recommend you stick with it. What happens in the beginning is a prevalent thing for women and if that makes you uncomfortable, good. It’s supposed to. Just keep reading and keep yourself aware of these things. The more we read and talk about those kinds of events, the more aware we’ll be as a society.

I think in all, despite it being the best book I’ve read so far this year, I can only give it a B rating and that’s because of the trope with the villain organisation at the end. I can’t talk about said trope because of spoilers, but it’s one I really don’t care for and it’s filled with a lot of negative stereotypes. If you read the book then you’ll most likely already know which trope I’m referring to. If you want to know how to avoid using it, I highly suggest speaking with Jewish writers on the subject matter.

But yeah, the cons for me was that I couldn’t care for Grith being one of those fish-out-of-water characters. I figured out the main villain the moment they appeared, and I don’t like how the villainous organisation was handled...it was still a pretty good read. B out of S tier, not bad, will be reading book 2 in the future but knowing the villainous organisation is gonna keep playing a role in the overarching story, I can’t see the rest of the books getting higher than a B, but we’ll see.

[suzuran777]

Review: Angel's Feather (Blue Impact)

Years after watching the Angel's Feather OVAs I finally decided to try the visual novel, and it's... pretty good, I wonder why I never tried playing it before? Angel's Feather was released in 2003 by Blue Impact, the BL branch of Studio e.go. There's also PS2 port, but this review is about the PC version only!

Synopsis

A clan of people with white wings lived in a land far away from the human world. Peaceful times suddenly came to an end when a mutation caused individuals with black wings to be born. Those with black wings were also able to use magic, which was eventually used to take over the kingdom of the white-winged clan, who didn't have the ability to use magic.

Meanwhile in the human world, Shou Hamura, the winner of the national kendo championship, is transferred to an all-boys private school. He soon realizes his younger twin brother Kai also studies there, though he doesn't seem to remember him. Soon after his enrollment, a series of strange events take place within the school, and black-winged individuals start attacking Shou and his friends.

Visual novel elements What is pretty unique about this game is that the visual novel parts of the game often let you pick which character you want to play as. At first you can only play as the protagonist Shou, but after that you can also pick Anri, Kurisu (…should I just call him Chris?) and eventually Kai. Because of this, it's also possible to pair up almost every character with whoever you want. Later two other characters, Shion and Sena also join the team.

Even though there are a lot of romance options, the game is very story-heavy and pretty much all romance is optional. I do think it's impossible to unlock all romance scenes in a single playthrough because even if you re-load your saves, some scenes later in the game won't unlock if your character hasn't previously interacted with them. To unlock all CGs, you probably need to re-play the game many times which might get a bit… tedious, so I recommend just picking a pairing you like in advance.

I do personally think it's not necessary to unlock all these scenes because most of them are short and the r18 scenes also aren't voiced. I'm not sure if that's always the case, but I applied the 18+ patch and those were the only scenes that weren't voiced (the game's all ages, but they did release an official patch which adds NSFW scenes).

Which reminds me... because the system is rather old, there really aren't a lot of save slots either. When you load your saves, they often make you replay the entire scene rather than the exact location you saved at. It wasn't a big problem, but it just surprised me a little bit.

RPG-like elements Like other older BL visual novels such as Ouji-sama Lv1 and Teikoku Sensenki, this game combines the usual visual novel gameplay with RPG elements. Occasionally you'll be able to walk around the school, but it's only limited to a few specific areas. Almost all enemies in the game are random encounters, making it impossible to avoid them unless you run away. I do recommend fighting them because they drop useful items and it's also easy to level up. Especially during the second part of the game, you'll spend a lot more time walking around and fighting enemies, so these items and experience points will be useful later.

The game doesn't really explain how the gems, elements, or even items work, but to be honest the gameplay was not super difficult so I didn't have much trouble finishing the game, even if I admittedly had no idea what I was doing sometimes. Also, most boss battles aren't ridiculously hard and they usually only know a few different attacks.

Plot and overall impression The game mostly focuses on battling the black winged characters and discovering why there's a conflict between the white winged clan and the black winged clan. There are not that many big plot twists, but it's a pretty fun fantasy story and I enjoyed playing it! Sometimes I was a bit confused if the main characters even knew they were part of the white winged clan, because they suddenly grew wings but didn't always… seem surprised by it?

There are several side characters in this game who have pretty well-developed personalities too, so I had fun trying all kinds of choices and talking to different characters. I'm also a big fan of older BL game artstyles, which is another reason why I wanted to try playing this game. When I looked at the artbook and some of the extra content the company released, I learned that all the art was originally hand-drawn and later scanned to turn them into the game CGs, which I thought was really cool.

I also had a bit of trouble with the in-game music because the noDVD patch somehow removed all of the background music. So if you can, I recommend not using this patch (you can either insert the DVD disc or use a tool like Daemon Tools to mount the ISO file before you play), because the soundtrack is also pretty good!

Kohaku no Hitomi The game also has a shorter sequel game, which takes place after the events of the main game. It's split into two different chapters, with the first one focusing on a new character called Kaoru, who's the child of the family that used to live next to Shou's family.

Chapter 1: This part mostly consists of the RPG-like gameplay style, until you beat the final boss. The battle system is mostly the same, but it does look a bit different this time. Instead of the pixel art they used in the first game, this time they used sprites for the main characters and the enemies. You can also only use 3 characters at the time, but you can switch them out anytime. All characters still gain experience points even if they're not in the team you're using. I must admit, the first part of this game is a bit... grindy, you have to visit 6 different areas and the level of the enemies increases quite drastically sometimes.

Chapter 2: After fighting the final boss of the story, the characters all return to their school. This part of the game is just normal visual novel gameplay and you can choose which characters you want to hang out with during the school festival. The plot isn't super serious, but I thought it was pretty fun! This time it's pretty easy to unlock all kinds of different scenes with all the characters, so it's easier to check out different pairings. There's some pretty funny scenes, for example the characters reenacting Romeo and Juliet, or a scene in which you can pick which character crossdresses.

In my opinion playing the second game is completely optional, the new character did have a lot of backstory but it's also nothing too different than what the characters in the first game experienced. The second part of the game was my favorite because there's a lot of funny scenes I enjoyed. There was actually also supposed to be a third Angel's Feather game, but unfortunately the staff left the company and no information about it was ever posted again.

Overall, I had lot of fun playing both games! I watched the OVAs a long time ago and had no idea what was going on, so it was really interesting to finally play the games 10 years later. The OVA added characters that aren't in the original game and also suddenly ends after only a few episodes, so I'm not surprised it made absolutely no sense to me back then. The games are unfortunately only available in Japanese, but you can use machine translation tools like Textractor if you really want to play!

[pipperoni32-blog]

A Feather So Black

by Lyra Selene / 5 stars

Wow. Where can I start with this one? I'm sad I'll never be able to experience reading this book for the first time again - and so excited for all the people who are going to be picking it up for the first time!

Fia is a changeling, left behind on the night Eala was stolen, the girl she's grown to think of as her sister. While furious at first, her queen mother did something unexpected - unlike everyone else in the castle, she came to love Fia. To love her the way only a mother could, her, the girl made of rot and thorns and ruin.

Coming into the thirteenth year since Eala was taken, they've finally stumbled upon something. An opening, a way to get into Tir na NOg and finally find a way to set Eala and the other swan maidens free from the geas they've been bound to. To bring them home. Fia is willing to do whatever it takes to save her sister, even if it means her life. Even if it means watching her wed Rogan, the only boy she's ever loved, the one who was never meant for her.

Set over a course of 13 full moons - the one night the gateway is weak enough to permit them entrance to the fae realm - Fia and Rogan will need to work together to find the girls and a way to free them.

Wow. There is so much I want to say about this book. I feel like I've already been talking about it forever to fellow book lovers, and there just aren't enough words to convey how special this one is. How magical, and dark, and hurting, and hopeful. Wow. This one is good.

Thank you so much to the publishers through NetGalley for the ARC!!

[machinavocis]

amazon & all other ecommerce product-plus-customer-ratings-type sites (but especially amazon) need a parallel review-rating system that works like that "helpfulness" thing (x percent of users found this review helpful; here is a side-by-side view of most helpful positive & most helpful negative review, you know, that sorta thing)

except instead it's the "is this reviewer too stupid to live" factor.

like...all i want is a button to filter out the opinions of anyone who buys a piece of ikea-style assemble-from-illustrated-guide furniture & leaves a one star review like "umm product immediately returned; it was literally impossible to assemble because it contained Two Different Lengths of Screws that were not interchangeable & frankly i'm offended as a consumer that i was expected to understand this."

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall

5/5. Releases 4/11/2023.

For when you're vibing with... Queer romance, gender nonconformity, general hilarity and hope, found family vibes, and people who rarely get shine from historical romances taking center stage.

Peggy is in a tight spot: Arabella, her childhood friend and the woman she's in love with, has asked for her help to woo Orfeo, the famous castrato soprano visiting London. Unable to deny Arabella anything, Peggy complies--only to find that rather than resenting Orfeo, she's captivated with them. Just like Peggy, Orfeo is doesn't conform to gender norms, living on the edges of society. And in them, Peggy could find more than just attraction--but a soul-deep connection.

Man, this one was fucking something. Really daring, hilarious, sexy, and emotionally touching. Alexis Hall keeps making me happy as a reader, and I wholeheartedly adore this book.

Quick Takes:

--I've always been fascinated by the history of castrati, in part because there is a lot of ambiguity in the subject. Most (?) castrati were forcibly castrated or coerced into castration as children. While stories of accidents and illnesses were often given to justify the castration, usually the choice was not theirs--but undeniably, there were doors open to castrati, some of which, like Farinelli (who's referenced in this book) became famous, wealthy, and adored for their incredible voices. They also lost the ability to sire children, became seen as freakish or odd to some, and lived in this sort of... gray area of a very binary (on the surface) society. Alexis Hall doesn't shy away from all that Orfeo has suffered, and there's a lot of trauma going on, clearly. But he also doesn't make Orfeo this sob story of a character, this self-loathing nonbinary person. Orfeo is gorgeous, physically and emotionally, and they love their art. They clearly didn't have a choice about it--but that doesn't make the love any less valid, and Peggy does not pity them, does not turn them into some "half-man". She adores them, as she should. And they adore her.

--Peggy's gender identity is (though she uses she/her pronouns) fluid. The connection that she and Orfeo make, neither one of them a man or a woman, is really profound and something you don't often see in fiction. It's that camaraderie they have, not only with each other but their entire circle of friends (not a straight person in sight) that makes the novel so magical... Aside from the absolute gut punch of a romance that lingers between Orfeo and Peggy. Their connection is instantaneous (Peggy literally faints when she hears Orfeo sing for the first time, and Peggy is not a swooner) but it's not insta-love. Their bond grows over time, and even after it becomes physical, there's some real emotional work that has yet to be done.

--One thing I was concerned about going into this book was whether Orfeo's status as nonbinary (I've seen them specifically referred to as agender in other reviews, but I'm not 100% sure about where Alexis stands on this) would feel.... clumsily-done. In other words--is Orfeo only NB because they were castrated against their will? My interpretation, ultimately, was no; but the conflict this causes Orfeo is not avoided. They ask these questions themself. Were they always meant to be this way, or are they this way because of what happened to them? Does it matter? I personally saw Orfeo's identity as something that was a very literally a combination of who they are within (their soul) and how society has shaped them. And I think Alexis Hall confronted that conflict and reality very sensitively. But I say all of this as a cis woman, and I would be interested to see how people who aren't cis feel about it.

--I have an issue with how the romance community sometimes deals with past relationships and the conflicts they can naturally cause. You often see reviews that give actual trigger warnings for "OW/OM drama" and that just... It's fine to not like that, but acting like it's a trigger is a bit much--and I think that if we shun past loves and the conflicted feelings they can give characters, even when the relationships were toxic, we lose a lot of nuance.

Something Spectacular is a great example of why that kind of past can be important in romance. We see past relationships as issues for both Peggy and Orfeo, and they deal with them in very different ways. One of the most heart-clutching, gut-wrenching moments of the novel involves this kind of "drama". I think there's a lot of emotional honesty in this book, testifying to the chokehold that exes--or not-so-exes--can have on us, whether the relationship is healthy or not. And this drama does lead to one of my favorite romance novel reunions ever. There's RAIN DRAMA.

--The world of the book is delightful, consciously anachronistic and fun and full of cool people lazing about, seducing each other, attending operas like they're rock concerts, and having rather hysterical poetry slams that turn into.... other things. Alexis Hall writes with zero sense of pretentiousness or self-consciousness, and I think that's what we need more of in historical romance. I imagine it would be hard to come away from this book without wanting to read more of Alexis's novels, and certainly Something Fabulous.

--Not to spoil anything, but... This book confronts the concept of queer families, especially in the context of its world, in a way that I didn't expect and don't see a lot of in romance. I fucking loved it. That's all.

The Sex Stuff:

This is a sexy book. (She ain't called Peggy for nothing--name is destiny.) As soon as Orfeo and Peggy begin interacting, the sparks are real, and their sex life is quite literally bangin'. Alexis Hall does a really good job of writing sex scenes in a way that is explicit and romantic without getting bioessentialist or describing bodies in a way that is super gendered. Peggy is sensitive about her body and goes back and forth about how she feels about her breasts, and that's brought up. There's a wonderful scene of dialogue around how Orfeo, with their somewhat unique body makeup and history, experiences pleasure and how they've often been expected to "serve" rather than taking fulfillment themselves. (Peggy's reaction to this is gorgeous.) It's also just really hot. And the final sex scene in this book? Is crazy good. Hot hot hot. Something I have quite literally never read in a romance before, not in this exact form.

Here's the thing--you can write romance novels about marginalized communities and people who've experienced trauma without depriving their love stories of joy and humor and sex and swoony romance. Alexis Hall underlined that with A Lady for a Duke last year, and he did it again with Something Spectacular. Read it.

Thanks to Montlake and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. My opinions are all my own.