#flesh & false gods trilogy

[romajuliettemai]

Is it concerning that I dreamt that I was reading vilest things last night

[bubbeshfk]

My favourite part of Immortal Longings discourse is witnessing people getting confused and angry when they slowly realise that Calla is not the revolutionary girlboss TM they thought she was and then call the book bad for it

[lilibetbombshell]

[chloegong]

The king's games are over, now the palace games begin.

PRESENTING THE SEQUEL TO IMMORTAL LONGINGS, AND BOOK 2 IN THE FLESH AND FALSE GODS TRILOGY... ✨VILEST THINGS✨ coming September 10, 2024.

it's filled with angst, it's off the walls insane, and it's driven by toxic love and power-hungry politics... all the juicy stuff necessary for something inspired by Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, of course, and I'm so excited for you to read it RAHHHHHHH

Brace yourself for both US and UK covers to be revealed (truly out of this world gorgeous) and preorder links are slowly making their way out but you can add to Goodreads in the meanwhile to prepare for the drama to come <3

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She serves now as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.

Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.

Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive, and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a years-long coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy… even if their empire might be better off burning.

[typingwithmyhandstied]

The one (healthy) thing to ship in the Flesh and False Gods trilogy is Anton Makusa x Therapy.

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Ok but Anton now being in a position where he’s pretending to be August is really interesting both within the context of Anton and Calla’s relationship and the wider context of Chloe Gong’s work. Calla has pretended to be the real Calla for so long that she doesn’t even remember her real name, and now, Anton is also in a position where he must masquerade as someone else in every aspect of his life. Just like Anton was the only one who realized that Calla wasn’t really Calla, it seems like she’s going to be the only one who realizes he’s not really August.

This is especially interesting within the wider context of Chloe Gong’s work as role reversal is is used a lot. With romajuliette, we had the lover and the liar. With benmars, Ben was originally the one who saved Marshall, but in OVE, Marshall is the one who looks out for Ben from the shadows. With high tide, it was originally Rosalind who was being wielded as a weapon, but in FHH, Orion is the one who genuinely becomes nothing more than a tool. With olivercelia, Celia pushes Oliver out of the way of a bullet, angering him because he doesn’t accept her willingness to value his life as she values his own. Then in FHH, he sacrifices himself to keep her safe, angering her because she doesn’t accept his willingness to value her life as he values his own. With philas, it was Phoebe who was the liar and protecting everyone from behind the scenes then it was Silas. (Arguably, they fit pretty well into the lover and the liar too but that’s not the point right now.)

Then outside of the context of romantic relationships there’s more. With the London trio, it was originally mostly Orion and Phoebe looking out for Silas because he felt horrible all the time in London, then by FLF Silas is constantly trying to look out for Orion and Phoebe in the aftermath of their family scandal. With Alisa and Roma, Alisa was the one watching from the shadows who had to be found in the original duology, but in FLF, it’s Roma who’s waiting it out and trying to find the right time to contact her.

Ok there are probably a lot more, but that at least illustrates how much of a running thing this is. It usually forces the characters to better understand each other. It’s generally a very interesting way of playing with which character has what information or what degree of agency in the narrative while never allowing it to be constant. And what does thins mean for Anton and Calla in Vilest Things and in the rest of the Flesh and False Gods Trilogy? Who knows? Maybe Anton will understand Calla better after taking on a role so similar to the one she has played her entire life? It will certainly further complicate the power dynamic as they are both now the only people who know that the other isn’t who they say they are. And what about Otta Avia? She won’t know that the person she recognizes as August is really Anton, and she knew something that August didn’t want to get out.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb:

Power plays, spilled blood, and lethal romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller Immortal Longings, inspired by Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.

Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She serves now as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.

Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.

Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive, and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a years-long coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy…even if their empire might be better off burning.

Review:

The stunning sequel in the Flesh and False Gods series filled with even more betrayals, heartbreak, and vicious vile feelings. Calla Tuoleimi has killed the king, she's won the blood games, and is now the new advisor to the king's adopted son, August Shenzhi.... only her victory meant she had to kill the one person she was falling in love with, Anton Makusa... who just happened to body swap and jump into August's body at the last moment. To say Anton is mad that Calla killed him is an understatement and now that he is in the new king's body... he's going to make her pay. Anton was never meant to swap bodies but he somehow did and still fresh from Calla's betrayal he has no intention of giving up this new body or his new power. But things only take a turn when his first love, the beautiful Otta Avia awakens from a year long coma with a thirst for her own power and a personality that has him questioning if he ever even loved her at all. Anton is warring between his feelings for Calla despite her betrayal and the old feelings he has for Otta... she is up to something and he wants to know what. Yet when he discovers August's own secrets, how long can he keep up the act before someone figures out its him... and can he get his old body back before its too late and he's trapped in August's body? Calla knows Anton is in August's body and she wants to make amends, yet he gave her no choice when he chose Otta over her and she chose the kingdom over him... but with Otta back and scheming to put the kingdom in ruins, can August and Calla put aside their differences to long enough to prevent the ruination of their empire... or will are some betrayals too deep? Finding out that this was only the sequel in what I thought was a duology when in fact it was a trilogy makes it a very interesting read. I loved that we get to jump immediately into the events of the previous book and the fall out of the relationship between the main characters. This was truly a roller coaster from start to finish. You can understand both character's flaws and why they decided to act the way they did, yet when they are together it's an undeniable connection. I cannot wait for the third book and to see how this all wraps up. The political games, the betrayal, and the romance were just so much fun to read in this book and I definitely think this does not fall into the sequel slump many books tend to do when they are in a trilogy. Its got such a fun "enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers again" vibe and I can't wait to read the conclusion!

Release Date: September 10,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

Author Info: Website

Book Tour: TBR Beyond Tours

*Thanks Netgalley, Saga Press | S&S/Saga Press, and @tbrbeyondtours for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review and being part of the book tour.

[teartra]

FLESH AND FALSE GODS IS A TRILOGY??!?!

[gremlinshatephilosophers]

2023 reading list!

I read 148 books this year and managed to go to all 78 public libraries in my county network!

Hell Bent [Alex Stern: 2] - Leigh Bardugo

The Golden Enclaves [Scholomance: 3] - Naomi Novik

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi [Amina al-Sirafi: 1] - Shannon Chakraborty

The Hunger Games [The Hunger Games: 1] - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire [The Hunger Games: 2] - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay [The Hunger Games: 3] - Suzanne Collins

Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling

One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Priory of the Orange Tree [The Roots of Chaos: 1] - Samantha Shannon

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake

Atalanta - Jennifer Saint

The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure - Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee

Daughter of the Moon Goddess [Celestial Kingdom: 1] - Sue Lynn Tan

A Day of Fallen Night [The Roots of Chaos: 0] - Samantha Shannon

Heart of the Sun Warrior [Celestial Kingdom: 2] - Sue Lynn Tan

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson

The Sleepless - Victor Manibo

Kaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel

Exo [Exo: 1] - Fonda Lee

She Who Became the Sun [The Radiant Emperor: 1] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Rosewater [The Wormwood Trilogy: 1] - Tade Thompson

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

Book of Night [Book of Night: 1] - Holly Black

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

The Secret Book of Flora Lea - Patti Callahan Henry

The Only Survivors - Megan Miranda

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn [The Library Trilogy: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Red Rising [Red Rising Saga: 1] - Pierce Brown

Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Törzs

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Clytemnestra - Constanza Casati

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Choksi

Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki

Salt Houses - Hala Alyan

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell

The Unbroken [Magic of the Lost: 1] - C. L. Clark

The Shadow of What Was Lost [The Licanius Trilogy: 1] - James Islington

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

The Last to Vanish - Megan Miranda

All the Dangerous Things - Stacy Willingham

All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

River Sing Me Home - Eleanor Shearer

The Jasmine Throne [The Burning Kingdoms: 1] - Tasha Suri

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson

Spells for Forgetting - Adrienne Young

Velvet Was the Night - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Trust - Hernán Díaz

Dust Child - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Our Hideous Progeny - C. E. McGill

Golden Son [Red Rising Saga: 2] - Pierce Brown

The Henna Artist [The Jaipur Trilogy: 1] - Alka Joshi

The Art of Prophecy [The War Arts Saga: 1] - Wesley Chu

The Attic Child - Lola Jaye

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Whispers - Ashley Audrain

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur [The Jaipur Trilogy: 2] - Alka Joshi

The Oleander Sword [The Burning Kingdoms: 2] - Tasha Suri

Immortal Longings [Flesh & False Gods: 1] - Chloe Gong

The Sea Elephants - Shastri Akella

Morning Star [Red Rising Saga: 3] - Pierce Brown

Honor - Thrity Umrigar

The First Bright Thing - J. R. Dawson

The Genesis of Misery - Neon Yang

An Echo of Things to Come [The Licanius Trilogy: 2] - James Islington

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? - Crystal Smith Paul

Last Exit - Max Gladstone

Masters of Death - Olivie Blake

The Final Strife [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 1] - Saara El-Arifi

Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu

There There - Tommy Orange

A Master of Djinn [Dead Djinn Universe: 1] - P. Djèlí Clark

The Battle Drum [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 2] - Saara El-Arifi

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson

The Will of the Many [Hierarchy: 1] - James Islington

Independence - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 1] - RJ Barker

Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

City of Last Chances - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Blacktongue Thief [Blacktongue: 1] - Christopher Buehlman

The Fifth Season [The Broken Earth: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

Forged by Blood [Tainted Blood Duology: 1] - Ehigbor Okosun

Even Though I Knew the End - C. L. Polk

The Bone Shard Daughter [The Drowning Empire: 1] - Andrea Stewart

Empire of Sand [The Books of Ambha: 1] - Tasha Suri

A Memory Called Empire [Teixcalaan: 1] - Arkady Martine

The Way of Kings [The Stormlight Archive: 1] - Brandon Sanderson

He Who Drowned the World [The Radiant Emperor: 2] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Empire of Exiles [Books of the Usurper: 1] - Erin M. Evans

Call of the Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 2] - RJ Barker

Ashes of the Sun [Burningblade & Silvereye: 1] - Django Wexler

Summer Sons - Lee Mandelo

The Ninth Rain [The Winnowing Flame Trilogy: 1] - Jen Williams

Foundryside [The Founders Trilogy: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Surviving Sky [The Rages Trilogy: 1] - Kritika H. Rao

The Light of All That Falls [The Licanius Trilogy: 3] - James Islington

Threads That Bind [Threads That Bind: 1] - Kika Hatzopoulou

The Sword Defiant [Lands of the Firstborn: 1] - Gareth Hanrahan

The City We Became [The Great Cities: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

The Chalice of the Gods [Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 6] - Rick Riordan

The Tiger and the Wolf [Echoes of the Fall: 1] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Justice of Kings [Empire of the Wolf: 1] - Richard Swan

The Fragile Threads of Power [Threads of Power: 1] - V. E. Schwab

The Deep Sky - Yume Kitasei

City of Stairs [Divine Cities: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance [The Stormlight Archive: 2] - Brandon Sanderson

Foul Heart Huntsman [Foul Lady Fortune: 2] - Chloe Gong

The Water Outlaws - S. L. Huang

Under the Udala Trees - Chinelo Okparanta

A Desolation Called Peace [Teixcalaan: 2] - Arkady Martine

The Celebrants - Steven Rowley

Translation State - Ann Leckie

Godkiller [Godkiller: 1] - Hannah Kaner

The Art of Destiny [The Wat Arts Saga: 2] - Wesley Chu

The Mimicking of Known Successes [Mossa & Pleiti: 1] - Malka Older

Shorefall [The Founders Trilogy: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai

Red Sister [The Book of the Ancestor: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Empire of Silence [The Sun Eater: 1] - Christopher Ruocchio

Sisters of the Lost Nation - Nick Medina

Dead Country [The Craft Wars: 1] - Max Gladstone

The Bone Shard Emperor [The Drowning Empire: 2] - Andrea Stewart

The Bear and the Serpent [Echoes of the Fall: 2] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ancillary Justice [Imperial Radch: 1] - Ann Leckie

Six Crimson Cranes [Six Crimson Cranes: 1] - Elizabeth Lim

A River Enchanted [Elements of Cadence: 1] - Rebecca Ross

Realm of Ash [The Books of Ambha: 2] - Tasha Suri

The Obelisk Gate [The Broken Earth: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The World We Make [The Great Cities: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The Stardust Thief [The Sandsea Trilogy: 1] - Chelsea Abdullah

All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda

The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Silver Nitrate - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell

City of Blades [Divine Cities: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Bone Ship’s Wake [The Tide Child Trilogy: 3] - RJ Barker

Locklands [The Founders Trilogy: 3] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Oathbringer [The Stormlight Archive: 3] - Brandon Sanderson

The Judas Blossom [The Nightingale and the Falcon: 1] - Stephen Aryan

The Faithless [Magic of the Lost: 2] - C. L. Clark

One Word Kill [Impossible Times: 1] - Mark Lawrence

[romajuliettemai]

You can't hurt me. I read Chloe Gong books.

[adrien2501-blog]

Lankhmar and the Origins of Adventure Fantasy

Fritz Leiber’s Lean Times in Lankhmar is a sword and sorcery short story that is part of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. The Series had a huge impact on the development of the Sword and Sorcery Genre and the term for the genre itself comes from Lieber. The story is set in the city of Lankhmar, a metropolis full of scheming factions and false gods. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser begin the story by arriving in the city of Lankhmar and split apart as their friendship has fallen apart over a disagreement of loot splitting. Both find new routes in the city with Gray Mouser entering the service of Pulg, a mob leader who gets money from the small religions of the city.Fafhrd became an acolyte for the church of Issek of the Jug. Mouser eventually has to rob the church Fafhrd works and the two reunite as opponents but eventually things resolve with Fafhrd attaining apotheosis, becoming a living god, and Pulg ends up serving Issek  The two eventually leave with the money. 

Lean Times in Lankhmar serves as a sword and sorcery template for novels such as Alyx by Joanna Russ and Michael Moorcock’s Elric Series. Most significantly, Leiber’s work was a major influence on Dungeons and Dragon, With TSR putting out adventure supplements set in Lankhmar and the world of Nehwon. This influence creates an image of fantasy that has bled into the mainstream perception of fantasy literature.  Leiber writes in an immersive style, much of it sounding like descriptions of a D&D scenario, this is seen with the naming conventions of characters such as Gray Mouser, Muulsh the Moneylender. These names evoke images and associations that stick in the mind and immerse the reader as it makes the character sound as if they are a part of the world and have a reputation. The immersion is also seen in the allusion to another Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story in referencing the Year of the Feathered Death, giving a sense of continuity to the stories and sewing the plots into the fabric of the setting. This sense of immersion plays into a reminder of DnD as it reminds readers of the shared connected worlds and stories of the role playing game. It also adds immersion as it allows the reader to speculate on what the Year of the Feathered Death was if they’ve never read that tale similar to the allusion to the Clone Wars in the original Star Wars where there was nothing but the allusion until the  Prequel Trilogy fleshed out the Clone Wars. Leiber’s approach to immersion is akin to throwing you into the world and letting the reader figure it out rather than using exposition to accomplish this. Depending on the reader, the show not tell approach can be an effective tool for immersing the reader but for other readers this can pull them out of the narrative. Leiber’s characters also set up archetypes that are seen within Dungeons and Dragons, Fafhrd being the large northern warrior who is honorable and brave, Gray Mouser is the sly rogue who uses wits and deception to achieve success, both of these are common character types in fantasy and within Dungeons and Dragons. The competing priests and faction also plays into this as characters like Pulg can easily be seen as quest givers. These character tropes have even bled into the characterization of characters within Dungeons and Dragons lore and novels such as the Dragonlance Chronicles series, with Fafhrd being very similar to Solamnian Knight Sturm Brightblade. Leiber’s work here can be seen as cliche but only in that it is an origin point for the development of these fantasy conventions and tropes. Leiber’s originality might be overrated now but it lays the groundwork for much of the fantasy genre and Lean Times in Lankhmar contributes much to what we owe to Leiber.

[wondereads]

Upcoming Book Releases (July 2023)

I mostly read YA, fantasy, and sci-fi, so that's predominately what this list will be made of. This is not an exhaustive list but rather a list of potential books to look out for.

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

YA Contemporary Romance (keywords: summer camp, disability, coming of age)

Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best

YA Science Fiction (keywords: space opera, lgbtq)

A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow

YA Science Fiction (keywords: space opera, multicultural)

The Prince & the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell

YA Romance (keywords: end of the world, modern day prince, road trip)

Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria

Fantasy Romance (keywords: fairy tale, feminism, epic fantasy)

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Science Fiction (keywords: afrofuturism, lgbtq, space opera)

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Fantasy (keywords: portal fantasy, bisexual, demigods)

The Carnivale of Curiosities by Aimee Gibbs

Historical Fantasy (keywords: circus, victorian london, gothic)

The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Pinaranda

Fantasy Romance (keywords: mythology, vampires, trials)

The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley

YA High Fantasy (lgbtq, slow burn, apothecary)

The Legacy of Yangchen by F. C. Yee (Chronicles of the Avatar #4)

YA High Fantasy (keywords: origin story, spirit world, prequel)

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

YA Horror (keywords: suspense, paranormal, lgbtq)

Splintered Magic by L. L. McKinney (The Mirror #4)

YA Magical Realism (keywords: fairy tale, coming of age, siblings)

The King Is Dead by Benjamin Dean

YA Thriller (keywords: scandal, twins, lgbtq)

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong (Flesh and False Gods #1)

High Fantasy (keywords: antony and cleopatra, deadly games, aapi)

Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham (The Kithamar Trilogy #2)

High Fantasy (thieves, epic fantasy, adventure)

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Science Fiction Thriller (keywords: dystopian, space travel, feminism)

One of Us Is Back by Karen McManus (One of Us Is Lying #3)

YA Mystery (keywords: suspense, psychological thriller)

Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto (House of the Dead #1)

YA High Fantasy (keywords: necromancy, rival families, star-crossed)

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington (Their Vicious Games #1)

YA Thriller (elite school, deadly games, bipoc)

The Legacies by Jessica Goodman

YA Mystery (keywords: murder mystery, friendship, suspense)

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig (Sisters of the Salt #2)

YA Fantasy Thriller (keywords: creepy, romance, scary)

The Valkyrie's Shadow by Tiana Warner (The Helheim Prophecy #2)

YA Fantasy (keywords: norse gods, lesbian, reluctant allies)

Gryphon in Light by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon (Kelvren's Saga #1)

High Fantasy (keywords: sword and sorcery, assassin, collection)

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown (Red Rising Saga #6)

Science Fiction (keywords: survival, mars, dystopia)

The Court War by Violette Malan (The Godstone #2)

Fantasy (keywords: military, alternate history, steampunk)

[rantswithhannah]

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy

my first thoughts after finishing the shadow and bone trilogy. (ps I wrote this with the intention of being the only one to read it, I’ll try to make my next few thought posts more organized).

I’m comparing this to throne of glass - I can’t not, it’s the same genre (adventure fantasy YA fiction) - and I think the one thing it lacks is character povs, throne of glass does this really well. But also, it’s a lot less dramatic, in a way that I’m not sure is better? I like it a lot though. It’s so good. I like how the plot starts off slow and slowly builds to a fast-paced one. I really like Mal, and his character development. I love LOVE Alinas character development - the writing style changes with her changing, the narration starts off timid and bland, focused only on Mal, filled with unconfidence and insecurity, but then it grows as she uses her power, and it really fleshes out who she is as a person. I like the devolving of her and Mal’s relationship - it mirrors Calaenas and Chaols but in a better way, it’s done more gradually and with a lot less drama. Aelin, of course, was super dramatic, and powerful, but there were times where I was annoyed with her. Alina isn’t annoying, she’s kind of a reader insert character at the start, but then she develops a lot better, you get to understand her need for power in a way that doesn’t make her seem like a bad person, just someone who’s been downtrodden all her life and finally has something to live for, to breathe with, to fight back with. I like the development of the characters around her - they’re not flashy and dramatic and witty like the Throne of Glass ones, but more realistic, and there’s a lot less fan service (which I didn’t really like in Throne of Glass. There was too much fan service). I have to say, this makes it a lot less likely that the reader will fall in love with your characters, but it makes for a more realistic read. The politics are real, and aren’t as confusing and easily won over by a fight like in Throne of Glass. In terms of pacing, there are parts that are skimmed over where I feel like there could’ve been developed, but I think that since this is a trilogy, it did really well with the spacing out of events so the important ones are highlighted. I really like the world building, and the aesthetic of a bleak world overrun by this Shadow Fold. I like that Alina isn’t overpowered, and that she’s confused and needs someone to help her, but she’s also amazing and she gets jealous and she’s strong at the same time. I like the character of the Darkling, and Nikolai, but I especially like Mal. The boy best friend trope - one that everyone else is drawn to - really speaks to me. I like his development along the series as well. It makes sense, and just ughghghg, I love reading so much. Also, I like how three “love interests” are introduced without making it seem too forced. I feel like they all like her for different reasons (childhood friendship, like calling to like, a sense of camaraderie and heroism). I think that this definitely could’ve been stretched out to make it more in-depth, and it’s definitely not as traumatically dark and flashy and dramatic as Throne of Glass, but it’s got a subtle dark and defeated tone to it that I like. If throne of glass was about fire and rage and explosions (basically Aelin as a character), shadow and bone is like Alina - subtle anger, and darkness and light shining through. When Alina gets dark, it’s in a low key way, not like Aelin gutting and quartering people, but more like a breaking down of who she once was as a person. Also, I like how she’s very anti-confrontation, and unlike Aelin, who makes friends with everyone she meets, Alina has about three friends, the tentative allies that she feels responsible for, but also would fiercely protect her, I think it’s more realistic. The dilemmas it mentions - people following a false god, worshipping the wrong king, looking up at something with power with idealism - all make sense and I love how it’s tackled.

Overall: 8/10

[maxwell-grant]

Downfall of a Dark Avenger Part 1: El Sombra

Having finished reading Al Ewing’s El Sombra trilogy and having had enough time to digest it, I’d like to talk about the trajectory of it’s titular protagonist, the character and series’s relationship with it’s influences. Relating to The Shadow and Zorro and general pulp archetypes, and also the way it incorporates Astro Boy’s Pluto into the mix. My interest in Pluto’s imagery led to me reading Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto, and I will go into the correlation between all of these seemingly random sources coming together. 

But before we can talk about what El Sombra becomes, we must talk about what he is, and where he starts.

The very first chapter of El Sombra is dedicated to establishing the happy scenery of the village of Pasito, as a big wedding is drawing the entire town together, eager to see one of it’s greatest heroes marry his sweetheart. We get a great description of said hero Heraclio...and then the reveal that the character we’re gonna be following for the rest of the story is not Heraclio, but instead his loser brother Djego, a morose, slow-witted poet largely considered a joke by the village, currently being rejected and beaten by the love of his life, which is just about the 2nd worst thing that happens to him that day, followed by winged Nazis storming the village, murdering scores of men, women and children, killing Djego’s brother as he watches helplessly, and then said brother cursing Djego with his dying breath as Djego just barely escapes into the desert, with nothing but a sword and a wedding sash in hand. Djego is probably the last man in the village anyone could have possibly expected to become a hero (which may be part of why he ended the way he did). 

Cut to 9 years later, Pasito has been transformed into a mechanized nightmare, a clockwork city of endless toiling and suffering ruled by Nazis, freely enacting their every dark whim on it’s population, revealed to be little more than just a large-scale experiment conducted by the Nazis to increase workforce enough to match Britain’s. After two agonizing chapters with little more than Nazi atrocities to occupy our time, we get our first look at the intrepid hero, Djego. And how does El Sombra introduce himself? Through laughter.

The laughter. Rich and strong, echoing around the square, freezing the milling workers in their tracks. An awful laugh - a terrible laugh of hope and joy and strength! A sound that had not been heard in the clockwork-town for nine years.

as the sound of laughter echoed across the town, the men shuddered and glanced at each other briefly, as though hearing the first sounds of an approaching storm.

The smile on the creature's face was powerful and confident and utterly unafraid. To Alexis, it seemed like the smile the devil might have in the deepest pits of Hell.

For the most part, El Sombra is heavily modeled after Zorro. He’s got Zorro’s swashbuckling fighting style, wields primarily a sword, his main outfit is styled partially after Douglas Fairbanks’s costume, he can be quite friendly and charming and peppers an “amigo” at every sentence. His name is the same as Diego’s minus one letter, his main enemies specifically consist of tyrants who rule over his town, and his mission of vengeance gradually turns him into a rebellious, inspirational figure for the city he strives to liberate. El Sombra is Zorro vs Nazis and it delivers on that.

But nothing is ever quite as it seems in this trilogy, and the first installment of El Sombra goes to great lenghts to establish that El Sombra is a long, long way from being the pure and heroic fantasy that Zorro embodies. He doesn’t live in a world where problems can be solved with guile, luck, good swordplay and a good smile. He doesn’t live in a world where he can show up, humble imperialists and get the people behind him. He lives in a world where the only recourse available to him, to even stand a chance, was nine years of an extended fugue state trip through the desert, ingesting hallucinogens, having his soul shattered and then repaired into something much, much darker. And it’s in those moments that we start to see why exactly his name is El Sombra.

There was something in his voice as cold and unyielding as a gravestone.

"Djego is dead, Father Santiago. He was useless and stupid and pathetic. And he died and left good flesh behind. So I took his place." The eyes behind the mask met Santiago's then, and the priest breathed in sharply. There was nothing of Djego in them. There was nothing human in them.

Something bigger had lodged there, something stronger and faster than a man, something with a laugh that could shake mountains and a spirit like hot iron and fire. Something better.

"I am his shadow. El Sombra."

Atop of his inhuman speed and agility and skill at combat and murder, Djego repeteadly demonstrates skills and traits that, not only did he not have prior, but he couldn’t have picked simply in his desert sojourn. He knows how to apply advanced first aid, he speaks German, in Gods of Manhattan he is able to get the drop on Blood-Spider with a textbook Shadow hypnotic trick, and for all of those, the only explanation he gives is a shrug and “I picked it up somewhere”. Djego had the same trip to the unknown that defined The Shadow and so many other pulp heroes, except Ewing never provides any explanation for El Sombra’s advanced skills other than what the character says. Because there is no explanation. El Sombra is bigger than that. 

El Sombra has to be, because a mere man with training and skills and strength and inspirational heroism isn’t going to cut it against what he’s up to. His brother had all of those things, and he died in the first chapter. Like The Shadow, El Sombra has warped himself to address calamity upon mankind, and morphed into something bigger and darker than just another vigilante. 

In that moment, El Sombra knew himself to be no longer a man. He was, instead, what the ticking clock had made of him. He was a monster.

In fact, with the devil imagery Ewing grants upon El Sombra at points, and the reocurring “itch in the back of the skull” prelude to crucial moments, you can pinpoint exactly the points where El Sombra’s character traits would later manifest in Immortal Hulk, with Ewing’s reinvention of the Hulk plumbing the darkest possible alternatives for said character by digging into the greater horror roots of the character. This will be more relevant when we get to Pluto though.

But to put it plainly, Djego may be Zorro in every aspect at his surface. He may desperately strive to be Zorro, and it may be his Zorro traits that allow him to truly save Pasito. But Djego is not Zorro. He is El Sombra, as illustrated most in the following sequence. The moment where he pulls the most Shadow-esque destruction of a Nazi ever since The Shadow convinced a Nazi general to gut himself with his own sword.

The chained man began to laugh. Softly at first, then louder, the sound rolling through the quiet, cold room like the skeletons of winter leaves in a chill and bitter wind. It was not a laugh of joy, or of hope, or of strength, or of anything associated with sunlight and clean air. It was a laugh that belonged in these dank and fetid conditions, a snide chuckle, a sneering, contemptuous snicker. A laugh like a thousand beetles marching across a sheet of glass.

It was a sound that would have been sickeningly familiar to anyone who had once been a guest of the Palace Of Beautiful Thoughts. The old man started back, looking at the features of his chained captive, breathing in sharply as the handsome face of the terrorist became foreign and strange, warped by the noise emanating from it. He recognised the sound too, recognised the dry, hollow chuckle. And it chilled him.

The chained man turned his head, as though on aged bones, and smiled, a dry and sinister grin. And then he spoke. And the voice that came from his throat did not belong to El Sombra at all.

The chained man spoke with Master Minus' voice.

The chained man's smile froze him in his tracks. It promised terrible cruelty, a mephistophilean love of manipulation, and the eyes sparkled with fire from the depths of Hell itself. The old man sucked in another breath scented with sickly yellow and looked desperately away, to find himself staring once again at the mirror, at the face that was surely not his own...

The old man, who suddenly felt neither old nor a man, raised his hands, fingertips touching the aged, wrinkled face with the unfamiliar eyes. Could he fool himself that his fingertips travelled across soft, worn flesh, lined with years of service? Or was he feeling sterile plastic, soft, loose latex? He shuddered, the motion travelling up his spine, his hands shivering and twitching as he tugged ...

"Take off the mask."

... and the old, wrinkled, false face was torn away, coming off in long strips, pulled away bit by bit to reveal another face underneath. His eyes were wide, unblinking, unable to close as he stared at the face underneath, the face that had been there all the time.

Behind him, the thin beetle-voice spoke once more.

And this is what it said:

"APRIL FOOL! Quién es el hombre? Quién es el hombre? I'm the hombre! I'm the hombre! Now all I need are some pants."

El Sombra grinned down from the vertical rack at Master Minus, slumped on his knees in front of the blood spattered mirror, staring without eyelids at the remains of his face. He had succeeded in tearing all of the flesh from it, and all that remained were a few scraps of muscle clinging to a crimson, bloodstained skull, with two grotesque eyeballs gazing mercilessly at their own reflection. El Sombra smiled and did the voice, again while he made another attempt to work his left hand free of the shackle that held it in place.

"Creatures of the night... what music... they make... I vant to suck your blooood... yeah, you keep looking, amigo. Intense shame boosted by mind-warping drugs, hey? That's very original, I wouldn't know what that's like at all... ah, these bastard cuffs!" He was babbling, a result of the endorphin rush from the intense pain and the thrill of victory. 

The yellow mist coursing through his veins - the mist Master Minus relied on so heavily - had been counterbalanced by the Trichocereus Validus already in his system, the desert cactus that had destroyed and rebuilt his mind. But while El Sombra was in a stronger position than the torturer realised, Master Minus was weaker than he knew, far too used to the easy victories the mist brought him, not realising that his own exposure to it made him ripe for psychological attack. The old man had spent years claiming that he was immune to the yellow mist, but nobody had ever been in a position to test that claim - until now.

In the end, El Sombra is able to drive the Nazis out of Pasito, and he’s succeded in ultimately inspiring the population to rally against them, eventually winning not because of said darkness granting him power, but by turning said darkness into a tool of good. The true victories of El Sombra are not in the violence, but in selfless heroism, in actions big and small. And in the end, He’s given even the opportunity of a happy ending, to settle down in the town he’s wanted so long to rescue. And if this were the story of Djego, the poet turned hero of his hometown, that’s where it would end. 

But this is not Djego’s story. It’s the story of a man who’s destroyed himself to be rebuilt as an avenging force of nature. Someone who’s subsumed as much of his humanity as he could, who now can see and done things much beyond the scope of ordinary man, and now must pay the price of said terrible gifts. Who will pay much, much bigger prices for them in the future. It’s the story of El Sombra, and it’s only just begun:

It was too bad about Djego. El Sombra regretted little, but he regretted denying Djego that one small chance at happiness. But it couldn't be helped.

Until Adolf Hitler was dead, El Sombra could never rest

The man walked west, towards the sinking sun.

[ilosttrackofthings]

A comparatively brief rundown of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (because I love it and need to babble but also it is looong and no one will read it so you can all read this instead):

Book 1: Out of the Silent Planet

spoi|ers: we’re the Silent Planet

this dude named Ransom is taking a proper English walk and hears sounds of distress

he discovers some random escaping from our two villains and helps him get away

no good deed goes unpunished and he’s captured in the random’s place

the villains drag him on their spaceship and blast off into space

they all spend a few months just chilling because it’s a long trip to Mars and the whole kidnapping issue is gonna have to wait

the villains wanna make nice with the Martians and need Ransom to be their human sacrifice to the Martian god to really solidify this new interplanetary friendship

Ransom, not wanting to do any of that, escapes when they land

turns out there are lots of different kinds of Martians and he chills with the really tall otter people for a few months

also Ransom is a linguist and learns to speak their language because he’s cool like that

at one point he sees a little kid talking to their imaginary friend and tries to do that adult thing where he pretends to talk to him too

and the kid is just like “...what?”

because it’s not an imaginary friend

it’s an angel eldil

Ransom convinces his otter buddy to stay out on the lake fishing even though it’s time to come in and otter buddy dies because this was a sin and Ransom feels SUPER GUILTY for corrupting his bro and getting him killed

man, sin is harsh

Ransom ends up leaving for reasons and goes to deal with our villains, who are still running around on Mars somewhere

he has more adventures, one involving a cave that is described in minute detail because it’s a MARTIAN cave, don’t you care just so much?

all the Martians think Ransom’s cool

the ~advanced ones the villains wanna deal with make a frieze depicting Ransom’s adventures

all the humans on the frieze look like Ransom

everyone gets to meet the god of Mars

who is not a god, he’s another angel eldil, he’s just in charge of Mars/the spirit of Mars

he also thinks Ransom’s cool

Ransom is allowed to take the villains home so they won’t cause Mars anymore trouble

they naturally plot to murder him

one of them dies, the other escapes, and Ransom goes off to enjoy normal Earth things like sandwiches and tea and beds

Book 2: Perelandra

that’s Venus

because Ransom is so cool, and also the only human being who’s not a villain and has been off of Earth, he’s sent to Venus

they’re still at the Eden stage and it’s time for the snake to show up and make his offer

Ransom basically gets in a glass box and is carried through space by the eldil

he’s all sunburned on one side and ~Eve laughs her ass off when she meets him

Venus is all oceans with floating islands like that island of insanity in Life of Pi

[that was literally the only part of Life of Pi I liked and this connection is why]

all the animals are super chill because there’s no sin yet

Ransom ultimately realizes that he might have to die to stop Venus from Falling

he decides he’s cool with that and also recognizes that his name is appropriate like he’s a character in a story

such a nerd

I love him

he does not die

Venus does not Fall

it’s all good

Book 3: That Hideous Strength

new main characters!

professor who just wants to be in the cool clique at work and his wife who’s having second thoughts about this marriage

the wife freaks out one morning when she sees a picture of an executed murderer in the paper because she had a dream about him the night before

there is a LOT of stuff about how the professor’s college has this pretty little wooded area that they’ve sold off secretly as part of some mundane-sounding measure and it’s all gonna be torn up even though people LIVE THERE and the town goes into chaos but it’s too late, the damage is done

the professor is taken out of town by his new friends, who all work for the people who bought the land

they say they’ll give him a job, tell him to write up some blatantly false propaganda for them to keep the little people thinking the way they want

he starts to realize that this fancy new job is too good to be true

also they’re not paying him

whenever he tries to leave, the harmless figurehead stops him

he makes sure to leave when the figurehead is occupied in his office inside, no way he could get in his way

he barely makes it out of the house before he sees the figurehead, not inside, but in the distance, coming across the lawn

it is not even the creepiest thing

the Creepiest Thing is the head

ohmygosh the head

the head of the executed murderer, removed from his corpse, hooked up to machines to put saliva in the mouth and air in the throat and to make it talk

this is how they communicate with demons their outerspace friends

the head is a stepping stone to their ideal person: no body, just a mind, free and untethered by silly wants and needs and UGH I’M STILL THINKING ABOUT THE HEAD IT’S SO GROSS

sidenote: THE MOOOOOOOON

the moon is inhabited

aliens live under the surface

the ones on the dark side are cool, they’re like any of the other neato aliens we’ve met

the ones on the side that’s locked facing us have been corrupted by humanity’s sin and they’re so disgusted with their own flesh that they build robots of themselves so that moon-husband doesn’t have to have sex with his moon-wife, he can have sex with her robot double instead, clearly way less gross

they’ve already perfected the whole body-free thing and they’re trying to force it on their non-corrupted moon-brethren 

anyway

back to the story

the professor’s wife has been doing her own thing

she’s trying to deal with these ~weird dreams~ she’s been having but the only help she finds is in some kinda awkward people and no one wants to hang out with that

only then their sleepy little town becomes a warzone because of the destroying the land and the professor’s propaganda and also the people her husband is with send someone to kidnap her so yeah, she’ll take the awkward people

at this point we’re like halfway through the book and there’s been no space stuff and no Ransom and you’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything but it’s a really dense book so there’s really no stopping now

the wife ends up in a kinda weird house with a weird collection of people and also a bear

the bear is great

he is a puppy

a very tiny englishwoman bosses him out of her kitchen

the best

all of these people know about the bad guys the professor is with, some of them were displaced by the land being taken

they’re all here to help the guy upstairs

no, not God

literally the guy upstairs

who is Ransom

freaking finally

he’s kinda frail but also not? and he seems super young but also old?

basically his space adventures messed him up but not in a bad way

he is the New Pendragon

this happens a lot, Pendragons, the True Spirit of England having to be fought for and preserved

he’s not Arthur reborn, he’s just ... filling that role or whatever in these modern times

and also he is not a king

def. not

but he’s in charge and also we need to find Merlin

he’s buried in that quaint little wood the baddies are tearing up

and also the wife is psychic, that’s why she has the dreams

so they need her to tell them where to find Merlin

remember that this is the Space Trilogy?

everyone’s going after Merlin at once

he gets away by pretending to be a tramp

because he’s Merlin

he goes straight to Ransom because he knows what’s up

they do lots of cool magic stuff

the spirits of like three different planets come upon Merlin to infuse him with power and it’s just a really pretty section of the book with each spirit overflowing to briefly alter the emotional state of everyone nearby in really cool ways

Merlin goes off to fight the bad guys by freeing all their animal test subjects and setting them on them in a horrible massacre

the bear was also captured by the bad guys previously and is ashamed of his actions during the fight

it’s sad

Merlin dies from all the power

oh also the surviving villain from book 1 was one of the baddies here

he dies

the professor is saved

he and his wife reunite with a new outlook on their marriage

Ransom gets to go back to Venus because his work is done and he loved it so much there

and that is the Space Trilogy

where is the movie series?

[buzzdixonwriter]

Still More Non-Spoilericious Notes On THE LAST JEDI

#1:  There’s no point in arguing plot points re The Last Jedi.  The producers know the direction they want the films to move in, there’s no reason to suspect either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi are false steps.

Whatever comes next in Episode IX, it will represent the deliberate intent of the producers.

So what appears to be dreadful writing and direction in The Last Jedi may just be set up for Episode IX.

Mind you, the execution can still be dreadful even if the final chapter ends satisfactorily. 

But there’s no point second guessing it.

#2:  George Lucas, by and large, is not a lightweight film maker despite making some lightweight films. THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars are not lightweight stories despite be presented in the form of popular entertainment (The Indiana Jones movies, on the other hand, are indeed fluff).

Lucas was thinking through the full implications of his Star Wars universe as early as the immediate aftermath of the first film.  Splinter In The Mind’s Eye was intended as a low budget sequel if the original Star Wars did only passable business (luckily they were able to go with Plan B).  It focused less on Imperial might and more on the ramifications -- moral / ethical / spiritual – of The Force itself.

When Star Wars was a smash success, Lucas crafted a more grandiose plan.  Originally he planned for a series of four trilogies, with a standalone bridging film linking each trilogy to the next, for a total of 15 features.

While Lucas scaled his ambitions back considerably (first the bridging films, then the fourth trilogy went the way of all flesh), he did finish his conservatorship of Star Wars with an ambition for 9 films, 6 of which he’d seen to completion.

(Thanks to Disney, we may yet see the original 15 film plan -- and perhaps more -- before the series in finally laid to rest.)

#3:  Lucas is not a lightweight, whatever other flaws he may display as a film maker, and it’s clear he could see the implications of The Force through to their logical conclusions.

There’s only two ways for the Star Wars saga to end happily: Either kill all the gods, or make everybody a god.

The Last Jedi certainly seems to be leaning strongly towards the kill-all-the-gods camp (and by kill-all-the-gods I obviously mean to either eliminate or neutralize all characters capable of using The Force, since Force mastery results in near god-like power and ability).

Either Force users are eliminated from galactic culture, thus freeing the common citizen from either depredation or the corresponding need for salvation from Sith and Jedi, or everybody gains full and equal access to The Force.

Either choice results in freedom for all.

A future where some beings master The Force and others don’t is a future of blood and suffering for those who don’t.

From the initial success of Star Wars, Lucas knew the story would have to end badly for the inheritors of the currently projected middle trilogy.  The false glow-in-the-dark hope at the end of Return Of The Jedi only set the stage for an endless repetition of the (as then unfilmed) prequel trilogy, in which absolute power irrevocably leads to absolute corruption.

#4:  Despite his talents as a film maker, Lucas has a full measure of flaws, including a great deal of creative insecurity.

This is evident in the numerous revisions Star Wars went through before actual production began, with the story and concepts changing radically from draft to draft.  From his public interviews and from anecdotes related to be by witnesses, he appears very sensitive to any critique of his ideas, yet at the same time lacks to confidence in his own ability not to be affected by said critiques.

When he should listen to constructive criticism, he freezes it out.

As a result, the Star Wars saga is a massively self-contradictory construction, not really holding together in any substantial manner.

As has been noted, this is a problem inherent with all space operas, but some like Star Trek or Dune to a better job of keeping the issue off stage.

Star Wars constantly orbits around its inconsistency and, like a black hole, the inconsistencies can be pretty accurately mapped even if they can’t be seen.

#5:  The single biggest threat to the Star Wars universe is the money.

Lucas’ brilliant insight was in securing trademarks and ///everything/// in his movies.

Like the universes of Robin Hood, Batman, Sesame Street, Transformers, and G.I. Joe, Star Wars is blessed with a large, colorful supporting cast.

This is great if you’re trying to sell toys / t-shirts / tchotchkes.

It’s a mixed blessing at best if you’re trying to tell a coherent story.

Instead of following the story where it wants to go, you often find yourself shaping it to sell more stuff.

There’s an enormous amount of pressure on the current conservators of Star Wars to KEEP THAT MONEY TRAIN ROLLING!!!

There is virtually no pressure to do it right.

(And, no, “making money” =/= “doing it right”.)

The very thing that makes Star Wars so appealing as a merchandising brand also threatens the basic appeal of the brand.

Sooner or later the audience is going to look away and find something else.

It will be sooner if the brand is presented poorly.

Disney is sensing the Star Wars money well may not be bottomless.

Episode IX will need to thread a narrow needle: Not contradict or nullify any substantial part of either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi or the original trilogy or the prequels, but resolve all the story lines in a manner satisfactory to the original concept while at the same time leaving open enough potential to continue the series in a new-yet-similar direction.

 © Buzz Dixon