#hearts that cut

[elliepassmore]

Hearts That Cut review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: mythology, dystopian, mysteries, found family

Threads That Bind review

Big thanks to Netgalley, Razorbill, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was so excited to get approved for this ARC! I got the ARC of Threads That Bind and was obsessed.

This book starts with Io and Bianca on the road trying to track down the god at the end of the gold thread. I liked that the book took place entirely outside of Alante and that we got to see a bunch of different locations in this world. I definitely think it helped build out the world more, and it was a good way to give us a peek at how weird things have gotten since the murder of the Nine. The Wastelands seem to take up most of the continent (world??) and are comprised of wide open areas prone to natural disasters and chimerini attacks, interspersed with villages, towns, and small cities. The Wastelands definitely add to the dystopian feel of the book, and it was interesting to see how people adapted to living outside of the major city 'safe' zones. Io and Bianca also go to some of the villages, so we get to see the similarities and differences between there and the bigger cities.

After traveling through the Wastelands, the two eventually end up in Nanzy, the golden city. The descriptions of Nanzy are super rich and interesting, and I loved being there because there are so many different facets to it. For one, the entire city is built on and around the corpse of a long-dead leviathan. The inside of the body makes up tunnels beneath the city and the spine makes up protective walls. The areas outside the city center are subject to the floods that characterize this part of the Wastelands, and many of the buildings are built on floats or high stilts. This area is pretty similar to parts of Alante, even down to how they're gang-run. The city center, however, is what gives the city its name, and even Io is impressed by the splendor and loveliness of Nanzy's richer neighborhoods.

We also get to meet new otherborn, some of whom are descended from different gods than in book 1. It was really interesting to see the spread of powers across the otherborn, and I really liked getting a look at the different mythos and sibling pairs.

Io's goal is to find the god orchestrating this whole mess, figure out their motives, and how to stop them. Bianca, while she's teamed up with Io, is also determined to get vengeance on the one who made her a wraith and sees that as arguably the more important goal. The two of them have a good camaraderie and I enjoyed their friendship here. Bianca has a very no-nonsense attitude, and while Io does too most of the time, Bianca's sharpness is good at knocking sense into Io when she's in a mood.

Io does feel a bit more unsettled in this one and more unsure of where things stand, though honestly considering the ending of Threads, I think that's understandable. In book 1, she was dealing with and overcoming everything that Thais did, and now she has additional interpersonal relationships and problems that she has to sort out. The miscommunication trope is used once, and honestly I thought it was silly and unneeded, but Io does try to be the bigger person when it comes to the people in her life and imo has a fairly mature outlook on things. I liked that Io's detective skills were put to the use in different ways in this one, and I liked reading as she investigated and sleuthed.

I have to say, the conspiracy the group uncovers is crazy. I definitely did not see that twist coming and was definitely shocked when it was revealed. I really like how things played out and think it took things in a really interesting and unique direction.

Overall I really enjoyed this and think it's a great sequel and fantastic finale for the duology! Naturally I want more of Io and her friends, and I definitely think there's room for that considering the ending, but all the threads are also neatly tied off so the story is complete.

[nikoco11]

that datamined karlach design…..

[teaboot]

You need to make art that nobody else likes. You need to make art that speaks to you alone. You need to cradle a serpent that eats its own tail and you need to love it until it loves you back

[luxmoogle]

The return of "A sound of waves" ࣪ ˖✩࿐࿔~! An old unfinished project re-drawn and finished up..

Part one! // Part 2

[rendevok]

“Take my hand” pages 12-15

1 - 2 - day 3 - 💙free day❤️ - 4

[bluerosefox]

GHOSTS WITH HEARTBEATS

When Jason had been going to Gotham Academy, he had (for a good reputation for the media and to help him catch up on his penmanship, remember he had been on the streets and dropped out of school before getting picked up by Bruce for a while) signed up for a penpal project for 'less privileged people' to write to.

(Although Jason was annoyed the penpal project stayed within the states and only selected a middle of nowhere town, he knew the Richie Rich Elites would never subjugate their 'Heirs' to actual kids in need of learning how to read and write)

But Jason didn't mind his penpal.

Danny Fenton was a riot to talk, err write to in all honestly.

From his dry punny humor (and boy can he give even Dick a run for his money in the pun department but hey using some of them actually got Dick to warm up to him a few missions ago) and death jokes so many death jokes, to his nerdy love for space Jason enjoyed writing to Danny.

Even the short stories he would write about a ghost kid protecting a small town from other ghosts was interesting to read. He really liked the different kinds of ghosts there could be. Granted some seemed very OP like that Clockwork dude.

Jason liked writing to Danny, and even after the penpal project was over they had plans to keep sending letters, maybe even exchange numbers soon...

But then he died by the hands of the Joker.

The letters leaving Wayne Manor may had decreased but the letters being sent never did or at least until a few years ago.

Then Jason somehow returned to the land of the living.

Got taken by the LoA, tossed in the green waters and turned into their Pit Raged weapon for a while before leaving them behind and setting out for his revenge against the Joker and to force B's hand.

And becoming a Crime Boss for a while too. Can't forget that.

Point being with all this going on, the old warm memories of exchanging letters with Danny Fenton was pushed into the back of his mind and forgotten about for a while.

It isn't until one afternoon at Wayne Manor that while roughhousing with Dick, who had Jason in a brotherly headlock as they walked down a hall to one of the sitting rooms, that while Jason had slipped out of Dick's hold had stumbled into a hallway desk that had a few things on the top of it, one of the things being a small box that tumbled off when Jason hit it.

The box lid opened and out of it spilled out a good number of letters.

"Shiii-p, dang it Dick!" Jason said when he looked at the mess he accidentally made and stopped himself from swearing, the place might be named Wayne Manor but everyone knew this was Alfie's domain and no swearing was a rule within his halls.

Dick only laughed and teased only in a way a sibling can do "Hey not my fault your as big as a tank Jaybird! We should get you some caution signals if you keep bumping into things!"

Jason flipped him his favorite finger, thankfully Alfred only knew when they swore thus it did not summon him, and bent down to the letters.

His hands froze when he recognized the hand writing and the address it was sent from.

"From: Danny Fent Nightingale

Amity Park, IL"

To: Jason Todd-Wayne

Gotham City, NJ.

Wayne Manor"

And when Jason opened the letter. He really wasn't expecting what was written inside.

"Jason.

I'm finally leaving Amity Park. I can't be there anymore, not after everything. I'm too tired, and emotionally hurt. Everything is just to much. And I can't keep doing this to myself. My parents still can’t understand there is nothing ‘wrong’ with me or why I refuse to let them take care of Ellie, I refuse to let her live the way Jazz and I did, Jazz has to much on her plate already with her own life and college but she’s been hounding me to reach out to mom and dad, Sam refuses to listen to me when I tell her I want to be more than ‘Phantom’ in Amity Park, and Tucker is so busy trying to get into a good college and job we barely have time to talk nowadays. And don’t get me started on Vlad, that fruitloop’s been breathing down my neck since Ellie’s deaging.

Despite how much of a hellhole you like to call it, I think Gotham might be my, no mine and Ellie’s best bet of living some kind of life, especially now since the whole deaging she had to go through, she needs an ectoplasm rich city as well and since she has no actual papers because she was my clone and I remember you saying Gotham has people who can create new identities and-

I’m rambling again, to letter you again. I really need to stop it.

I can’t keep pretending you’re going to read these.

I know you’ll never read these. You’re gone. I can’t even find you in the Realms no matter where I look.

I’m sorry. For using you as, well, a way to vent my life for last couple of years. I shouldn’t had done it but it helped me.

Believing my friend was still alive and getting my letters I mean.

Again I’m sorry.

This will be my last letter to your ghost, pun unintended.

Goodbye Jason. Wish us luck in your city.

-Danny Fen-Nightingale...."

The sent date on the letter was roughly eight years ago.

[kbsd]

bucky egan // "free" by florence + the machine

the feeling comes so fast and i cannot control it i'm on fire, but i'm trying not to show it

[civetside]

sopping wet pathetic ass harrow out of context part 2

[smilelikeawolf]

It is fascinating how the Raven Queen’s vision was so different from the Dawnfather’s and the Changebringer’s. Yes, Ruidus is a threat to everyone, not just the gods, and it’s clear the gods don’t want to die and don’t want humanity to suffer a terrible fate. But whereas the Dawnfather’s message to Deanna was, “I returned you to life and granted you gifts, now you must aid me against this threat,” and the Changebringer’s message to FCG was, “something terrible threatens us all, walk my path and grant me your faith so we can defeat it,” the Raven Queen didn’t speak at all. Orym asked how the group could help and she didn’t speak on behalf of herself. She showed them what’s happening to Vax, her beloved champion, how he was stolen from her protection and trapped in endless suffering. She didn’t appeal to the greater good of the world. Her answer was, “Someone I love is suffering and I cannot reach him. Save him. Free him. Help me by helping him.” There is something beautifully, selfishly human in that.

[spooksicl-e]

do you guys think they h*ld h*nds

[sevinite]

sevenite sketchbook veteran theo makes his humble return to the public eye

[beescake]

oh to trust another troll w a sharp object against yr head

[thirstyvampyr]

Property of Ian Gallagher

[nobrashfestivity]

Hans Christian Andersen

Paper Cut collage

[diurnalvl]

seven years ago, vox was happy. almost.

1 / 2 / ?

[kingkatsuki]

Anyway, while I was gone I was thinking of this stupid idea with Bakugou (as usual)

Imagine your eighteenth birthday is when you find out who you’re bonded to, and this bond is created via telepathy. A connection opens between two souls, and you’re able to communicate with each other no matter where in the world you are. A connection that only becomes stronger as your relationship with your soulmate grows.

But of course, connections can be broken. The same way those dreamlike fantasies of meeting your perfect soulmate don’t always work— especially when your soulmate is Bakugou Katsuki.

The first time you try to communicate with him, he brushes you off. Telling you to “piss off”, that he doesn’t “need a fuckin’ soulmate”. It’s a time in his life that arguably he needs that connection with someone more than ever. But the feelings of inadequacy and inferiority he holds inside are at an all time high as he pushes everyone away, including you. Shutting the door on any hope you had of ever having a connection with him, of finding your soulmate.

You try again a few times after, watching all your friends develop their love and even meet their soulmates. Hating the green-eyed monster that appears when you realise how bitter you actually are— to be paired with someone that has no interest in you. Cursed to be one of the ones without a soulmate, to try and find a love with another broken person like you.

The conversations are always the same— his irritation for your very existence no match for the conversations you try to start. Making it abundantly clear to you that you’re a distraction, that he doesn’t have time for a soulmate. And yet amongst his complaining that you’ve opened the link at a bad moment, or that he doesn’t need you— he always answers.

So over time you find yourself starting to give up, wondering why you’ve wasted so much time on a man that clearly doesn’t want you. The connection going quiet as neither of you try to open the link.

Radio silence.

And what makes it worse, is your friends who have perfect connections pity you. One of the lost souls without a soulmate— which is why you’re prepared to join a special program. A program that can realign your connection— to tie your soul to another.

It’s unorthodox, an extreme measure that has an endless list of side-effects. You could end up with the more undesirable members of society, who’s connections have been severed before, or the ones that abuse the system for their own benefit— and if the second connection doesn’t work out you’re unable to claim a third. But craving that special bond with someone, picturing the perfect smiles and pickett fences it’s more than worth the risks. So you plan to do it— to sever your connection with your soulmate, and find a new one.

Someone who will actually love you.

But it isn’t until one night that you hear something at the back of your mind, barely a murmur as you shoot up in bed. Squinting as you try desperately to focus on the sound— another whimper. But you can’t seem to make out much else, as you realise that it’s the same connection that you thought was completely shattered all those years ago.

“Hello?” You feel almost stupid calling out, wondering if he even realised that you could hear him again— that you were there.

“Long time no talk, hah sweetheart?” He scoffs, a choked cough spills from his lips after as he winces in pain.

“You sound like shit— is that why you reconnected our bond at four am?”

“Must’ve called the wrong number, sweetheart.” He sneers, but you can almost hear the humour in his tone.

“Well luckily for you I’m going to break our bond.” You bite back as you’re met with silence on the other end, “So you won’t have to make the same mistake again.”

“You can do that?” He whispers.

“Yeah, they can reconnect me with someone else.” You murmur.

“They won’t be as good as me.” He manages to get out before another cough wracks through his body.

“I wouldn’t know, would I?” You scrunch your nose in irritation, “But at least they’ll want me.”

“Who said I don’t want you?”

It’s not until a month later that you find out the real reason he reconnected the bond that night. That it was the night that his heart stopped beating as he almost lost his life, his body shutting down as the only thing he could think to do was to call out for you.