#i also dearly love all of the 'crows' from the six of crows duology and grishaverse series by leigh bardugo

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 308

Adjective: Kind

Noun: Crow

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Kind: having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature; used in a polite request; (of a consumer product) gentle on (a part of the body); (archaic) affectionate or loving

Crow: a large bird with mostly glossy black plumage, a heavy bill, and a raucous voice; (derogatory) a woman, especially an old or ugly one; the constellation Corvus; the cry of a rooster; a sound made by a person expressing triumph or happiness; a member of a North American people inhabiting eastern Montana; the Siouan language of the Crow

[wintersmitth]

Ten books to know me

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like.

I got tagged by my amazing @mathomhouse-e and I am always down to have an excuse to talk about books.

HHhH by Laurent Binet.

Up until 2 years ago, I thought I would never touch anything related to real-life historical events, particularly anything related to WWII. Got burned badly by a historical novel when I was about 15. This book, however was on sale, and I think it is one of the best book-reading decisions I have done in a while. Completely rearranged my understanding of WWII, and also gave enough basis for better understanding of the current events.

2. Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo.

I have lots and lots of gripes with Bardugo writing, but not in this case. Bardugo wove a wonderful story, and I firmly believe it should not be branded as Young Adult. I couldn't put it down, and the story kept me on the edge of my sit.

3. Sherlock Holmes.

Look. It got nothing to do with Sh*rlock BBC. I do, genuinely, love Sherlock Holmes. I love that funky detective dude and his bestie, solving crimes and helping mistreated people out of trouble.

4. The Hunter and the Hunted by Ivan Bahrianyi.

And look, this Ukrainian book has even English translation. The original title actually translates to 'Tigertrappers'. It's an incredible story of man convicted for some bogus crime in USSR, his forced deportation, and the hunt on him. The book has an incredibly strong imagery and the vision of the train full of people compared to an angry dragon has stayed with me over the years, and has infused into my nightmares.

5. Overture: The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.

Perhaps to no one's surprise, Sandman is here. The whole comic series has kept me sane this year, but Overutre is especially dear to me.

6. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

Incredible. Incredible graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about her experience of growing up in a war-torn Iran. Read it during the lockdown, cried like a bitch. Poignant, important story.

7. Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.

I love Pterry dearly, and I often speak of any given Disc book as 'Oh I love this so much', but when I say that about Night Watch, it means I love it above all else. It is a very personal book, and it is also the only book I took with me when I left Kyiv last year for my then-undetermined exile.

8. The Thirteen's Tale by Diane Setterfield.

I read it years and years ago (my edition says it was published in 2009) and it still stays with me. A haunting story of people slipping through the cracks and weaving their own story.

9. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett.

Yeah, so I got two Pterry books here, and? I wish I had Tiffany Aching books growing up.

10. I would be a bad Ukrainian if I didn't name

Kobzar by Taras Shevchenko.

What a man. What poetry. He really experienced being a Ukrainian to his fullest, and insane how we still find his words topical, fresh and valuable.

I am tagging @tj-dragonblade @quillingwords @seiya-starsniper from Dreamling Nation, but also @saltforsalt @davinciae and @flaielis

[i-never-even-wanted-to-be-here]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks....

Hi and of course! This is a really difficult question to answer tho. There's so many characters I love. I won't bother ranking them because I doubt I could and technically I mentioned more than 10, I hope you forgive me...

Kyan Reki (SK8 the Infinity): He's super relatable to me and I'd love to be his friend. I think he could teach me how to have more fun and to skateboard without judging too hard when I make mistakes and in return I could be his unpaid therapist because the Lord knows he needs one. I adore ENFPs and he seems awesome to hang out with. I don't think I'd encourage his interest in S beefs because I'd be too worried about him or the others getting badly hurt. I wouldn't allow him to be around Adam either. I'd slap this bitch so hard istg

Aaron Minyard (AFTG): I think he's a very underrated character of the aftg trilogy. I of course love all of them and he isn't the most relatable character to me either (that would be Betsy, fortunately I can't necessarily relate to the Foxes) but I believe he's greatly misunderstood within the books. I don't approve of all his actions but he feels very real to me. Someone who is capable of development and change, even if at moments he's not exactly acting that great. He has so much potential and room for improvement

Wylan Hendriks (Six of Crows): He's my child, my son, whom I love dearly. I want to make him hot chocolate and sing him a lullaby. I basically slammed down the adoption papers as soon as he was introduced in the book. I didn't even know him, he could've turned out to be different than expected but I'm rarely wrong about characters (*pats myself on the back*) and I just fell in love with him immediately. I am incredibly proud of his development. Next to Matthias I believe he had the best one of the Crows. But obviously all of the characters are fucking amazing, it's so hard to choose favourites. But I have to mention Specht and Rotty being the MVPs of the duology. Without them nothing would've worked lol. I am beyond excited to see all of them on screen :)))

Khun Aguero Agnes (Tower of God): Ah yes, another smart, traumatised, morally grey, queer coded guy with a funky hair colour. What do you expect of me? In the same breath I could mention Killua (Hunter X Hunter). They're kinda similar, aren't they? They're very underappreciated in their respective verses, despite being fan favourites, and deserve a genuine Thank You from their protagonist bestie. But my favourite in ToG is actually Hockney (the painter aesthetic. There's just something about him that is extremely compelling to me, I think we'd get along)

Darcy (Heartstopper): Such a relatable character. So real and everything you'd wish to have as TV representation. Though I'm not a lesbian (I'm pan/demic) I really love her, and also Elle, so much. Heartstopper is just great in general, I doubt I have to explain exactly why and what I find so good about it

Vanessa (Black Clover): She's a witch with a big pointy hat who can change fate with a cute little cat. She's confident and despite her drinking habits still very responsible. Charmy is amazing too, can you imagine how much of your favourite food she could make you and you bet your fucking ass it'd be the most delicious thing you've ever eaten in your entire life. Luck is a cutie as well, despite being completely unhinged but why would that be important?

Morgiana (Magi): I mean, have you seen her? She's an absolute queen. Do I want her, be her friend or do I want to be her? The answer is yes. I know I didn't include a lot of female characters here. I blame that on the fact that they are often under developed, annoying or I relate to the male characters more for some weird reason. A character that reminds me of her is Emma (The Promised Neverland). They're strong female role models and act as big sisters sometimes. They're smart, athletic and powerful. You just gotta love them

John Murphy (The 100): There is something about this cockroach I am obsessed with. I hate cockroaches but a character who straight up refuses to die and is so cool about it? I'm gagging for it. The show itself, like many others, went downhills but I still enjoyed most of it. And Murphy was only amazing throughout all of it

Sukuna (Jujutsu Kaisen): A villain can't be missing from this list. The only thing I can say about him is that he's hot (I am, however, not attracted to Yuuji, I feel like that's important to say) and once in a while a villain doesn't have to be incredibly complex. He can just want to watch the world burn and kill everyone and that's okay. We don't always need reasons. Sure, I'd be terrified of him if I met him and he wouldn't even have to really move a finger to kill me but what an honour it'd be to get murdered by this man

Nanachi (Made in Abyss): Might be a weird one but this story got me really attached, it's quite tragic and Nanachi is such a sweet, yet sad character. She is a great help to the other two protagonists and what drives her is so dramatic, her story actually made me cry. All these kids are way too young to experience such terrible hardships. I'm so looking forward to more of them!

Everyone from Attack on Titan deserves an honourary place on this list. All the girls are awesome. Ymir, Historia, Annie, Sasha, Mikasa, and yes, you might hate me for it but even Gabi. I'm on nobody's side in this war so why would I hate a child for having been raised on propaganda? She killed one person, others killed many more. And the boys, oof, Connie has always been my favourite boy. He seems like fun but also really nice and respectful. Boyfriend material. Besides almost being willing to sacrifice a kid... But only almost, right? Of course there's Levi and Erwin but I think those are too obvious to even mention here.

(Fantasy) Animal companions: Idk if they count but Happy (Fairy Tail), Kirara (Inuyasha), Chopper (One Piece), Kuro (Blue Exorcist), Pina (Sword Art Online), Akamaru and Kurama (Naruto), fuckinuhhh Ryuk (Death Note)??, Appa and Momo (Avatar), Hayate (fmab), Yoyo and Doc Crock (Simsala Grimm), all monsters from How to Keep a Mummy, even fucking Pikachu. You name them. Always top tier characters.

Asking for only 10 was a horrible thing to do to me, do you know what this cost me? I need to do more honourable mentions so if you'll excuse me: Alluka, Meruem and Komugi (Hunter X Hunter), Yatora Yaguchi (Blue Period), Chika (World Trigger), Maki (Jujutsu Kaisen), Manbagi Rumiko (Komi can't communicate), Dabi and Hatsume Mei (bnha), Saiki (Saiki K), Crowley and Mika (Owari no Seraph), Scar and Roy Mustang (fmab), Alana Bloom (Hannibal)

Why would you even ask me this question? I'm only stopping here because I can't think of any more content and characters lmao

[firelxdykatara]

i’m actually, like, really angry?

like i won’t say it wasn’t well-written, it was, and it tore my heart to pieces. nina trying to bring him back, knowing she couldn’t, knowing it wasn’t right and she had to let him go... gods, yeah, that got me.

and i’ll admit that i had a feeling the other shoe was going to drop. the chances of the entire crew making it out of the second book alive were very slim. it couldn’t be kaz or inej who died--they were more central than the rest of the crows and i don’t think that’s a spoiler i would have been able to avoid from general fandom osmosis. i knew it couldn’t have been jesper or wylan, because not only would there have been an unavoidable outcry of ‘bury your gays’ (which would have merit, since they’re the only same sex ship in the duology), but their relationship just didn’t have enough focus to warrant this kind of plot point. it’s mostly a tertiary plot point for them in addition to their own (smaller) arcs, whereas both kanej and helnik were intricately woven between their relationships and their personal arcs and were given a whole lot more room center-stage.

that left nina or matthias. and matthias is the one who got shot in the heart at the end if six of crows, which he only survived because nina was dosed with parem at the time, and she was still a heartrender. which she isn’t in crooked kingdom. she’s something.... else. her powers affect the dead, not the living, which meant she couldn’t heal matthias again and i just... yeah. i felt the tension in my shoulder blades get tighter with every passing chapter, and then he was happily envisioning his future with nina, and i just knew. he got stopped on the street where no one was around to save him and i knew.

and yeah, it’s a tragedy. he had plans. he had a life he should have gotten to live. his entire life was stolen from him, he was a brainwashed child soldier, taught to hate and fear grisha, before he was finally forced to know one. it wasn’t just love that saved him, it was the realization that if his people were wrong about this one girl, then maybe they were wrong about everyone else, too. maybe grisha magic wasn’t the problem. and if that was true, then his people were wrong, and he wanted so badly to be able to make them see it.

maybe it was an impossible task. one man and one woman against an entire country built on hatred and fear? could they really have affected any real change?

but they could have tried. they could have had a life together. changing the world, bit by bit. and they deserved to have that chance. and i just can’t... i mean, clearly leigh’s got some sort of thing about enemies-to-lovers allowed to actually be happy and live their lives but... helnik would’ve been the perfect opportunity to just... let us see the after. we got to see nina and matthias in love, and it was beautiful, but i wanted to see them thrive. survive this city and take back the lives once stolen from them and live and i just...

yes, yes, this is what fanfic is for. but i really should’ve seen the writing on the wall, s’all i’m saying. and much as i love kanej (and i do, gods i love them so much), they don’t scratch this particular itch because they aren’t even remotely enemies, they’re more like friends-to-lovers with spice, which i dearly appreciate but i also just wanted the boy who’d learned his hate was wrong to be able to spread that message, to be able to spread love and light where once he’d only spread hate and fear because it was all he knew.

i wanted that for them. so badly. and i’m kind of really angry that they’ll never have that chance.

[peachcitt]

shadow and bone netflix series analysis

what up besties i said as a joke that i wanted to do an analysis post on the changes made in the s&b netflix series from the grishaverse books, and then i realized i wasn't joking and that i actually wanted to do that

it's finals season, i am an undergraduate english major, i have had about five hours of sleep within the past forty eight hours, and believe it or not i am doing this analysis as a fun reward for finishing a research paper. i am putting this out here for you so you can decide if these are the kinds of vibes you want right now.

structure of the analysis will be vaguely as follows:

changes made, in chronological order (or as best as chronology i can do under the circumstances and doing absolutely zero fact checking)

analysis of change when looking at the themes of the books which will include my personal feelings

personal theories (if any) derived from the change for the trajectory of the netflix series

so, like, long post warning. also spoiler warning for the netflix series as well as probably most, if not all, grishaverse books

now let's get this baby started

alina's appearance and shu heritage

so the series starts right off the bat acknowledging alina's shu appearance and the in-world racism and prejudice she's experienced because of it, which was not in the books. however i found alina's shu appearance to be completely in line with the book's themes. alina was already isolated at keramzin and the army because of her sickliness, and she's isolated at the little palace because of her power and her awkwardness. so purposefully making her shu was, i felt, a nice world-building decision as well as a new and interesting layer to her character. also, it's always nice to see diversity in media, so i have literally no qualms with this change

in terms of the rest of the series, the grishaverse is a very politically-motivated story. there's a lot of in-universe politics that happens in the shadow and bone trilogy and especially in the king of scars duology, and i think if the series chooses to extend into/include the king of scars duology story (which, i really hope it will), alina being shu (or at least part shu) will be very interesting to see considering king of scars and rule of wolves deal with negotiations and treaties with shu han. i think also having alina be shu and someone who has experienced countless amounts of in-world racism become a saint, seeing how she and the rest of ravka navigate her identity and identity politics will be really interesting. generally speaking, i just really hope the later parts of the series really delve into alina's identity, what it means to be a saint and also "look like the enemy," and the ravkan people's mixed feelings about her

alina's sickliness/childhood relationship with mal

in the books, alina is described as thin, always having trouble sleeping, hardly ever hungry, and sickly looking because, as we learn later, of her constantly unconsciously repressing her grisha abilities. this is part of the reason she's isolated at keramzin in the books; she's sickly and awkward and no one bothers with her except mal - because they're the same age and mal is strong enough to defend her from the older orphans at keramzin. however, the show doesn't really delve into the effects of what suppressing her abilities do to her except for a few offhand lines (alina angrily saying "im never that sick" when mal suggests she say she's stick to stop from going into the fold, mentions of her larger appetite when they're on the run in the woods). instead, the show kind of flips alina and mal's childhood personalities; mal is depicted as shy and easily picked on, and alina is the protector.

i'll just say it: this change fucks so hard. i love it. i think it says such wonderful things about their characters, and i like that alina begins the series as someone incapable of turning a blind eye to bullies and someone who cares very fiercely for the people she loves (not that that isn't the case in the books - i just think this change does a great job of looking directly at it in the way that shows have to). i think it's easy to root for her, and it's easy to see how she will become a saint to the people. in addition to that, i love what this is saying about alina and mal's characters and how they grow up; that separation from alina caused mal to have to face his own problems head on in traditionally masculine ways (because that was what ana kuya criticizes him in the show for; for always running from fights and being too soft, and i think it's really telling that our first view of mal as a kid, im pretty sure, is gingerly holding a bunny which portrays feminine caregiving and then we jump cut to mal fighting in a dirty boxing ring in the first army, something gritty and masculine). masculine ways that he had to be indoctrinated into and that may not actually be in his natural disposition.

meanwhile, separation from mal meant alina no longer had to be a dominant protector, and she does not connect with anyone in the first army as strongly as she connected with mal, so she doesn't really feel the need to be as aggressive as she was as a child. however, you can see that quiet protectiveness spark up at times - notably when people other than herself are picked on, such as at the food line when she claims not to know the others in the cartography unit so they don't get penalized along with her. i do wish, however, elements of her sickliness had been emphasized a little more in the show because of grisha theory, which i will talk about in another section.

first entry into the fold

okay i will be honest. this change is probably the one that scared me the most when seeing it in the trailers, and i am kind of still iffy on it now. in the books, alina's first journey into the fold and the inciting moment for the entire series is just luck and orders. everyone in the first army has to go through the fold at some point, and it just so happens to be alina and mal's time to go through. however, in the show alina is not initially assigned to go into the fold, but mal is, and alina goes out of her way to make sure that she gets on the skiff so that mal won't have to go alone/without her. there's this level of 'choice' (or at least the illusion of it) in the show in terms of alina and mal getting onto the skiff and going into the fold; at one point or the other they both try to tell the other not to get on the skiff and just choose something else.

the thing that irks me the most is alina's stubborn "i'll make it" line that she tells mal after she's on the skiff. it screams 'fantasy dystopian protagonist' (divergent is the first to come to mind for some reason) in a way that alina never comes across in the books. alina never chooses to make her life more difficult - she's always given two terrible options and has to take the option that fits with her morals or her perception of the power she needs to surivive and win the fight. but i know the only reason alina goes out of her way to get on the skiff is because she's separated from mal, which aligns nicely with the protective nature the show has inscribed on her.

the thing that redeems this change for me is that when alina tries to get just herself onto the skiff (by burning the maps to ensure that she has a purpose there), she ends up endangering the lives of her entire cartography unit. this keeps with the theme of a whole lot of alina's later decisions throughout the books affecting so many more people than just her, and i like that this is a lesson that she learns very early on. this change also seems to be a trade out for the final entering-the-fold scene, but i'll talk about that later.

alexei

here he is, the lynchpin himself. in the books, alexei is dry and rude in a funny way with alina, and they have this really great banter at the beginning of the novel, and then he's, like, the first to get carried off by volcra. very harrowing in the book, i loved it. in the show, alexei's character is a little (a lot) different - he's naive and blunt in a silly way, and he very obviously has a crush on alina. instead of being carried off by volcra in the show, though, he jumps off the skiff and runs blind into the fold - committing what we think at the time is an act of suicide - which was extremely harrowing to see in a completely different way, and i loved it. even if they changed alexei's personality i still love him (and his death) dearly

so as previously mentioned, alexei acts as the lynchpin between the six of crows plot and the shadow and bone plot; he manages to escape the fold alive, and makes it all the way to ketterdam to tell a select few people the legendary sun summoner is alive WHICH. okay ive just decided that's my next topic. anyway back to alexei.

his death in ketterdam is awful because of the personality change, which is why i don't mind missing bitchy alexei from the book; his hopeful little "if i tell you, you'll set me free?" that pulls at your heart and also tells you immediately that he is going to die as soon as he tells everyone what he say is done so well. i also like that through treatment of alexei, we get some characterization of the crows; inej immediately gives him water and glares at the mercher in quiet rage on his cruel treatment, kaz doesn't flinch when alexei is killed but inej and jesper do. i also thought it was interesting to have the mercher (dreeson was his name i believe) to be the one to get his hands 'dirty' and actually be the one to shoot alexei because in six of crows, there is always the sense that the merchers are cruel and conniving, but that they very carefully keep the death of the poor and the grisha off their own hands. im wondering if this hands-on killing is a dreeson-specific trait, or if this more hands-on cruelty will be explored more in other mercher characters we meet, like van eck.

sun summoner legend

this change is so?? i don't really know what to think of it. narratively, it makes sense in the show to have this legend be in place so that alina's importance is immediately recognized by people across the different countries.

however in the books, no one really expected alina. her presence wasn't foretold or divine (at first) or fate in any way. she became a saint because i think in part people weren't expecting her, and once they saw what she could do, they wanted to believe in her abilities so bad they made her divine. this change was also weird to me having just finished rule of wolves where zoya (i think) reflects on amazing things that have happened throughout the story and she notes that alina was not some sort of legend that people were expecting - none of what happened was. everything that happened from alina to nina's miracles in king of scars to zoya's expanded abilities by the end of rule of wolves to the "age of saints." all of those things were just chance people being in chance situations that all slid together in a strange, amazing coincidence. they got lucky.

and i think, at the center of the books, is this kind of purposeful disillusionment of the saints and religion, what with the main character of the original trilogy literally becoming a saint and yet never truly feeling saint-ly or being perfectly divine. the sun summoner legend the show brings up seems to depart from this. it'll be interesting to see what the show does with the legend and how alina feels about it as she fulfills it, and im honestly hoping that we'll find out later in the series that the legend was actually just some poor guy a few hundred years ago making something up to give people hope.

the crows timeline/characterization

in the books, the six of crowd ice court heist happens three years after the events of the final book of the shadow and bone trilogy. but obviously the timelines are smushed together for the show to create a new and different direction for their story and also, as we see at the end of the season, a new and different direction for alina's story as well

ive also seen bardugo say that because of the converging time lines, the grishaverse story will not take seven seasons (one season per book in the grishaverse) to get through. for this reason, im thinking that the parem story/ice court heist will begin if/when we get season 2. given that parem is a big part of kos/row, i see a crows and nikolai interaction happening in season 2 that sparks a beginning discussion on parem.

but back to the crows characterization! the crows are completely in character for me in almost every way, and i found the interactions between kaz, inej, and jesper to be very in character. however kaz's plan to capture alina doesn't work out almost at all which is something that he definitely wouldn't have let happen in the books. im chalking this up to the converging timelines - these crows are baby crows. they're young, a little less experienced, and they haven't gotten their groove on heists (and they don't have the rest of their crew) yet. but i anticipate seeing more crows-classic successful heists in season 2.

there are a couple of things i want to talk about each crow, so it's subtopic time

nina and matthias

perfect. their interactions were almost always word-for-word from the book. i can't remember if matthias had actually been the one to actually catch nina in the book, but if not, then it was a nice touch. it was interesting to see that both of them were so willing to be traitors of their country for each other in the show, because even when they're in a romantic relationship outside of fjerda and ravka in the book, they struggle with even the idea of betraying their country.

i like how they changed nina and matthias' "escape" from fjerda to ravka, and how nina explicitly betrayed grisha she knew to their faces. im interested to see how they'll integrate her back into the second army, or if they even will do that. also, i like that fedyor slowed matthias' heart to make him pass out before he sees the other grisha, so it was easy to understand how matthias could've thought it was nina deceiving him all along. their confrontation in the boat was (chef's kiss), and the horror on nina's face as she realized that this situation she put him in won't be as easily solvable as she thought was just wonderful.

jesper

perfect. i love him. and the coy little hints that he's a fabrikator were so good. also the line in the very beginning where he asks for a demo man, which foreshadows wylan was very nice. the only thing out of character is one time kaz asks him to be a distraction and show jesper claims that being a handsome distraction is not part of his talents. it literally is, why did they make him lie.

inej

literally so so good. i love that we meet her while she still has her oath not to take lives; we get to see her develop and learn that sometimes death is necessary, but that she still isn't yet comfortable with killing. on some level, she never will be, and i think that was a perfect place to start her character. however, i am confused about the show giving her a brother. where is he. is he going to be important?? why is he here???? i can't even make any solid predictions about him because inej having a brother came straight out of fucking left field. here's one flimsy prediction based on nothing at all: inej's brother is grisha and is an indentured servant. may also be involved in the parem plot, or works at the white rose where nina will befriend him and connect with the rest of the six because of him. who fucking knows

kaz

i already kind of went over their disaster plan that still somehow worked out for him, but i love literally everything else they did with kaz. the refusal to show his bare hands was literally art!! we got that tease in the first episode and the camera pans up as soon as the gloves come off. that was perfection - as well as the intimacy and trust portrayed between kaz and inej without them ever touching. i also loved the hints and nudges for his story with pekka - the way he always says his name with obvious distaste, and when we see him interact with pekka for the first time on screen. how he asks if they've ever made a deal before and pekka just goes "nah" and kaz just glares at him. perfect. and i also think the show really leaned in to the soft parts of kaz that inej sees in him, especially when he basically said she (and jesper) meant more to him than any saint?? oh my GOD. i kind of like this honest departure from kaz's book "greed is my god edgy edgy blah blah" especially when he's afraid he'll lose inej. i also think it'd be funny if we hear kaz say "greed is my god" and be edgy about it with us AND inej knowing that is superficial because of what he told her. that would be hilarious.

pekka, tante heleen, per haskell

these three aren't part of the six, but they are part of the original six of crows story and i still wanted to talk about my opinions on them, so they're going here.

i fucking loved pekka, how ruthless he was, and his irish accent. that was wonderful. because of how fucking hands-on and brutal he was, though, i wonder if they're going to keep the jakob hertzoon piece of kaz's origin story the same, because this pekka was so good at being violent that it was hard to picture him even pretending to be a benevolent benefactor to orphans. he is a dilf, though. i am not afraid to admit that.

my only problem with tante heleen is that her actress looked too nice. like she might bake me cookies and offer me a ride home from school. total milf as well but not in the scary sexy way that she was in the books. she had smile lines, she was so dainty, she seemed so genuine. i want to see her be a little more cruel.

per haskell, the actual gang leader of the crows, is not in the show at all. it seems as though the show made kaz the official boss of the crows while he is only second in command in the book. this makes me wonder how they'll handle or if they'll even include that fucking awesome scene in crooked kingdom of kaz earning the gang's trust over haskell. it would be weird to introduce per haskell in season 2 when he wasn't even mentioned in season 1, but it wouldn't be altogether terrible considering the crows spent very little time in ketterdam this season. however, this makes me wonder if, when kaz was away on his little saint pilgrimage (i am calling it that specifically because i know it would piss him off) someone else stepped in as "boss" of the crows. in the show, kaz also leverages the deed of the crow club in order to be able to take inej with him, and presumably the jewels alina gives him will solve that problem, but what would happen if any of the crows find out he made that deal? would he still have to earn the gang's trust back in a show of power and respect like in crooked kingdom? much to think about.

mal

back to the shadow and bone story, ive already briefly (not really briefly) gone over mal characterization alongside alina, but i want to mention how the show includes his perspective alongside alina's and how important that is. the shadow and bone trilogy is told entirely from alina's perspective, and alina is in some ways an unreliable narrator. she tends to think of her relationships and feelings as one sided unless her friend/love interest is looking her in the eye and telling her exactly how they feel about her. the one exception is genya, and that sort of bites her in the ass until it doesn't, but i digress. the point is, the only mal perspective we get in the books is alina's perception of mal, and the bonus content of the "lost" letter he'd written to her while looking for the stag in fjerda. granted, that letter says a lot about mal and how he feels about alina, so if you didn't take the time to read the letter when reading the book, chances are you weren't so hot on mal unless you have sexy critical reading skills like me (or just really love the childhood best friends to lovers trope).

getting all the gritty, messy details of how hard mal is trying to get back to alina in the show makes him so much more of a sympathetic character than he may have seemed at first glance for the majority of shadow and bone from alina's perspective. the show really stresses that the bond alina and mal have is mutual and powerful, and i think that's fucking perfect, actually.

this point was really driven home during the episode we see that mal has a matching scar on his palm that is related to alina, just like how alina has a mal-related scar on her palm. that scene in the brig was so good, especially when they ask each other what they're in for, and alina says "the usual," and after a pause, mal replies "the usual" as well. he could be lying because he knows she would feel bad if she was the reason he chose to stir trouble to go to the brig, but he could also be saying that he usually actively chooses to be sent to the brig for defending alina or because alina is usually already there and he wants to be with her. knowing that and then seeing alina have the scar on her palm erased was. fucking devastating (in a good-ish way), and im kind of hoping alina either chooses to have the tailoring removed so she can see the scar again or injures her hand in a mal-related injury so they can match again :(

i have more to say about mal, but i'll save it for the grisha theory/amplifier section

the darkling

overall, darkling portrayal was very spot on, but i didn't really like how he just. gave alina his name so early on. in the books im quite certain he doesn't give alina his first name until the third book? regardless, he doesn't give it to her until they've fought and been enemies for a while. theoretically, kirigan giving his real name to alina so early could be a manipulation tactic (like his moments of 'vulnerability' and 'weakness' with alina in the book), especially because we lose that 'heart to heart' by the campfire after the darkling rescues alina from the fjerdans where alina first starts to see the darkling as human.

i also thought it was interesting that alina kisses kirigan first - in the books they're actually having a serious discussion (i can't remember what about, but when she realizes the darkling is Not Good, she remembers the first time they kissed as a thing he possibly did to distract her from thinking her own thoughts), and the darkling interrupts her with a kiss sexy enough for her to forget what's going on. the show however chooses to do a girlboss she-can-move-on-if-she-wants-to moment which is pretty cool and let's be honest, if you like men and ben barnes is right in front of you giving you Sexy Eyes a whole lot, you are going to want to kiss him. that scene where they get interrupted during a steamy kiss, and they laugh and kirigan leaves the frame just to rush back for one last kiss? that nearly fucking converted me. that was really sweet actually. the show does a fantastic job of showing how captivating kirigan's interest can be.

last note about the kirigan for this section - isn't kirigan the name of the guy who owns the guilded bog for nikolai in kos/row? i can't be sure because i don't have my book with me and i refuse to look up information when i have gone this entire post without looking anything up, but if his name isn't kirigan it's pretty fucking close. i don't know what that means, but i don't think bardugo is the type to name characters similar names for no reason. we'll know for sure if/when the guilded bog is introduced.

zoya

most of zoya's portrayal is really in line with her character and her development throughout the shadow and bone trilogy as well as king of scars and rule of wolves. i think the show did a great job of showing how zoya was in the darkling/kirigan's favor for a while before alina arrived and how she resents alina at first for causing her to not be the darkling's favorite anymore. in addition to that, knowing we find out she is part suli in row makes her casting so much better, and i like that we get to see a little more of her personality in the show than we do in the book shadow and bone. of course we see more of her in siege and storm/ruin and rising, but it's nice to have her become a sympathetic character through the knowledge that she has family in novokribirsk and that she purposefully mans skiffs to see them before she fully sides with alina.

the one thing that made me. just confused was zoya calling alina a "half-breed" at the little palace?? it was so out of place (that particular part of the insult; im pretty sure the other thing she said was very much exactly what she said in the book. some insult about orphans i think), especially knowing that zoya herself is a "half-breed," so that didn't make sense to me.

however, i was glad to see alina immediately embrace zoya as an ally - because she knows from the start of zoya's alliance that she had family that kirigan killed. in the books, alina's parentage is not at all important, and their deaths are never specified to matter, but the show points out from the very beginning that alina's parents were swallowed by the fold. i think this makes alina's immediate compassion and forgiveness of zoya make sense, and it was also very sweet and a little funny to see alina pull zoya into a hug that she so obviously does not expect or want to express as something she wants. it was perfect.

east vs west ravka civil war

i don't have much to say about this except it makes kirigan's actions at the fold seem a little better. not great, not by any means, but knowing that the leader of a growing coup was right on the other side really cements in the idea that kirigan is doing this for what he thinks is the greater good of ravka. im pretty sure in the original trilogy, there was also some tension between east and west ravka, but none of it comes to a head until the events of kos/row. great set up for future ravkan tensions in future seasons.

david and genya & fedyor and ivan

before we get into the last meat and potatoes of this post, i want to talk about love because it's a little bit of a break. take this time to stop reading, stretch, relax your jaw, straighten your back, drink water, etc. you've been here a while. you deserve it

okay so first fedyor and ivan. in the books, fedyor and ivan are just bros (i don't even remember them ever really interacting?) but in the show it is heavily implied they are dating. this is so funny to me, and i love it so much. especially because ivan was in a het relationship with marie in the books (but because the show kills marie off before she dies in the books, obviously that is not happening), so they really just decided that ivan and fedyor were gay for seemingly no reason. except i think ivan died on the skiff during the final battle in the show which is kind of a bummer because he lives through to ruin and rising and has an... interesting arc. fedyor, i think, dies in the battle of the little palace in siege and storm, but i wonder what they'll do with this relationship in next seasons. maybe fedyor will take ivan's place as grieving boyfriend with ptsd, but im not sure. i honestly don't even know for certain if ivan dies in the show, so we'll see.

as for genya and david, i would just like to point out the little hints of mutual affection. in the books, it's kind of implied that genya had feelings for david first and he didn't realize his own feelings until after she's scarred by the darkling, but in the show we see david actually looking at genya during the winter fete! like looking, appreciating the view! i loved the show choosing to include that small amount of mutuality, and after finishing rule of wolves it definitely made me feel some type of way. david and genya. i love them, they're perfect.

grisha theory/amplifiers

we're nearing the final stretch in this post, however, i have a lot to say about grisha theory and amplifiers, and i also have a lot to say for the battle of the fold so this "final stretch" will probably be. a very long stretch.

so obviously because of the nature of books and narrative writing, there was a lot of space within the shadow and bone book to go over the grisha theory alina was learning at her time in the little palace in great detail, however in the show we hardly even get any grisha theory at all. the little we get is actually from the apparat. im not sure if we get anything from bhagra. i don't even think we get the phrase "like calls to like" which is the most basic piece of grisha theory throughout the entire grishaverse.

i am definitely. bitter about this. i obviously didn't want huge long meditations on grisha theory in the show, but pretty much the whole time alina was at the little palace, i felt like she had so much time free time to wander around the palace, hang out with nadia and marie, daydream about mal and kirigan. don't get me wrong - those are all valuable activities - but i feel like it missed the point of alina's time at the little palace. she felt isolated there; yes, she had nadia and marie, but she couldn't share with them everything she was going through because she didn't want anyone to truly know how difficult mastering her abilities were. and because she was so isolated, she throws herself into grisha theory, especially during the times in which she can't summon her abilities by herself. this is when she learns about why she's been so sickly her whole life (because she has not used her abilities, and grisha derive some form of life force and energy from using their abilities), all about amplifies, and other really cool world-building for grisha abilities and culture. instead, it was difficult to tell (at least for me) in the show if the palace and the little palace were even different places while in the books the little palace was such a whimsical, ancient, and magical place for alina compared to the gaudiness of the main palace.

the collar

anyway, complaints about architecture and alina's subpar theory education aside, the little bit of grisha theory we get is from the apparat when he talks about ilya morozova and the three amplifiers he was attempting to make during his lifetime. when the apparat is describing amplifiers, it almost seems like amplifers - not just morozova's inventions - are super rare in the world of the show. amplifiers are relatively rare in the books, obtained by only some of the most powerful grisha (zoya, ivan, alina), but they still exist. from what we've seen of zoya and ivan, they didn't seem to have amplifiers on their person, so it looks like alina is unique not only in getting an amplifier from one of morozova's beasts, but also in just getting an amplifier in general, which is a little weird.

EDIT: thanks to @laelipoo for pointing out that zoya is actually shown to have what looks like a tiger’s tooth embedded in the skin of her wrist in the first episode! so okay this shows that powerful grisha still have amplifiers in the world of the show, but this probably suggests that instead of being pieces of jewelry like in the books, they act more as body modifications, which is really interesting. if im not mistaken, ivan’s amplifier is a necklace in the book, so maybe his show-amplifier would’ve been embedded in the skin of his chest. regardless, i’d still like to see more discussion on how amplifiers in the show work - which, now that we know zoya most probably has an amplifier, we might get to see with her becoming more prevalent of a character in the projected arcs of the show (both shadow and bone trilogy as well as kos/row)

i can't remember if morozova was ever referred to as "the bonesmith" (i feel like he has been, but not in the way the apparat refers to him in the show), but i feel as though that was a kind of. foreshadowing for how we would see the stag amplifier work later in the show. in the book, the stag's antlers are a literal collar around alina's neck that remains there until she loses her abilities, so the metaphor of being "owned" by the darkling is definitely there. it never stops being there until she loses the ability that makes her his mirror and his tool. however, in the show we definitely. do not get that.

so i've seen some people say that they hate the design of the stag collar, and i cannot say i was a huge fan of looking at it myself. but that just really cemented in the fact that kirigan forcing the collar on her is a complete violation of her body and her agency. the fact that the bones erupt from her skin and that her skin looks irritated where the bones puncture through her skin just reinforces the idea that this fusion is not natural and is not supposed to be pretty because kirigan taking control of her in this way is really really terrible actually. in addition to the collar, the show also gives kirigan a circle of bone embedded in his hand - which, hand versus collar, who has the most agency in this situation, his hand is quite literally around her neck, etc - but i feel like they made this change so that non-readers could see and understand the mutuality of the amplifier in a physical manifestation because the show doesn't expand on that theory at all.

i really liked that the show kept the reason for alina gaining control of the amplifier being her connection with the stag before kirigan killed it because that at least is consistent with the theory in the books, especially with the expansion of that same theory in kos/row with zoya's connection with juris and how true use of an amplifier requires mutual connection, understanding, and suffering between the grisha and the animal.

i also thought that the way the show portrayed alina taking back control of her power with the stag's horns absorbing into her own bones was a really effective way to show that the power is hers now, and that it is a part of her. however, i wish the show had kept some evidence of the collar because of how it quickly became a piece of her iconography in the books as well as a symbol of her power. seeing as how alina stabbed the circle of bone out of kirigan's hand (very sexy girlboss moment), i wonder if kirigan will still be able to control her abilities. if he can, i hope that any time he uses her abilities, the horns emerge from her skin again as a visual signifier that alina is being violated and that her own power is being used against her. OR even at the times in which alina uses kirigan's power against him (like if the show depicts the conclusion to the battle of the little palace where alina uses the darkling's merzost) to have the horns come out of her skin to show that she is reinforcing her bond with him. both would be really cool.

alina and mal

okay so in ruin and rising we learn that not only are alina and mal bffs and in love whatever, but also that they've been drawn to each other because mal is actually the host to the last of morozova's amplifiers. and then alina looks back at the times in which she's felt the most powerful or when they encountered morozova's beasts, and she realizes that all of those times coincide with when she had important moments with mal. this reveal is huge in the series, and without the build up, i fear it might seem like it would've come out of nowhere if the show chooses to go in the same direction.

for example, alina and mal in the book only find the stag after they kiss for the first time. however, in the show they don't kiss. they don't even move mal's "i see you now" speech to right before they find the stag. it's simply a jump cut to alina and mal in the forest looking at the stag. they might be talking, but i don't think it was an 'important' moment for them.

however, they've been setting mal up as a better-than-average tracker since the very beginning with ana kuya asking him specifically to hunt for dinner. mal also admits that when he saw alina's power come from the tent when kirigan is testing her power that he heard a 'high-pitched tone' and somehow intuitively knew that it was her or something like that. he also tells alina that he'll always be able to find his way to her, no matter what, which is really romantic of course, but it is also part of their connection as one of morozova's three amplifiers and the girl who will possess at one point in time two of the three amplifiers.

i also think that the scene in ruin and rising when alina kills mal for his power is supposed to directly mirror the scene in the shadow and bone book where alina tells mal before they find the stag that she wants him to kill her before she can be caught by the darkling; part of the reason she feels strongly enough to ask this is because she understands grisha theory enough to know what the darkling's plans for the stag and her are. when she's protecting mal and the stag from the darkling, she begs mal to kill her. but he doesn't. and in ruin and rising, when they're out of options during the final battle, mal tells alina to kill him. and she does.

but without alina asking to be killed paired alongside the lack of intimate mal and alina moment before they find the stag, i wonder if the show will be heading in the same direction as the books in terms of mal's status as the last of morozova's creations, or if they'll decide to do something different.

battle of the fold

i think the most obvious difference in the battle of the fold is that kaz, inej, and jesper are like. just chillin on the skiff. additionally, zoya is on the skiff (her presence there was discussed in the zoya section), and mal is not a prisoner in the skiff like he was in the book - he snuck on. for the six's presence on the skiff, i don't mind it and i actually like how they participate in the battle (inej throwing a knife into kirigan's chest and nearly ending his shit right then and there was something we always wanted but did not know we wanted. same with zoya and inej bonding during a fight), but the change in mal's freedom status on the ship is a little more complicated.

in the books, the darkling lets alina and mal spend one last night together (with bars between them) before whatever happens on the fold. i can't remember if he tells alina that he plans to execute mal in the fold, but regardless it becomes apparent that is his plan when he throws mal overboard, on the edges of alina's sunlight, and begins reigning in the sunlight so that mal will be consumed by the fold. it's the fact that mal is in danger that alina manages to gain control of her power once more, and she saves mal. the group of dignitaries from the various nations are still on the ship when she makes her escape, and she uses the Cut - a form of summoner ability that she has never used before and has only ever been used by the darkling. she makes the terrible and difficult decision to let the dignitaries die in the fold alongside the darkling, because she believes it's a worthy sacrifice to make, and she and mal escape together.

i think this sequence of events would've tracked really well in the show with how alina had previously been depicted as mal's protector, but the show chooses not to have alina save mal and kill the dignitaries. instead, the show has kirigan kill the dignitaries and also has mal have a homoerotic fist fight with kirigan which is. not exactly not in line with themes the show has put on, especially with how mal and kirigan have interacted before in the show.

in the books, we don't see mal and the darkling interact without alina as a buffer, and so a fistfight between them in the battle of the fold in shadow and bone wouldn't have made narrative sense and would've just ended up feeling cheap. however we do see mal and kirigan interact without alina in the show - when mal is showing kirigan where the stag is and kirigan learns alina's favorite flower through mal, and when kirigan gives mal that petty little speech about how he'll get alina eventually while mal grows old and dies.

there's an interesting phenomenon in certain kinds of love triangles; most of the time you see love triangles in the classic sense of Person B and Person C both being in love with Person A, who has to make the choice between B and C. however, that's not a true love triangle - there also needs to be a connecting factor between B and C. and, in most cases, that connecting factor is the ritual of masculine homosocial rivalry. so when applying this kind of love triangle to alina, mal, and kirigan, we see that both mal and kirigan have feelings for alina, but they also have a connection to each other through their rivalry, which is as much about rituals of masculine conquering (whether the person they are wanting to conquer is alina or the other man is a very interesting question to which the answer is yes) as it is about being the person alina loves.

do i personally like the kirigan/mal fight in the fold? no, i would've much preferred to see alina rescue and protect mal. however, i do recognize that the fight makes narrative sense within the show, and it was really funny to see kirigan get his shit rocked by mal's bare fists a couple of times. i would say i hope he's been humbled by the experience but we all know that's not true.

also remember when i mentioned that kirigan is the one who kills the dignitaries here instead of alina leaving them to die? and remember, way back in the beginning when i said that alina inadvertently getting her cartography unit killed in the show may have been a swap for some deaths in the battle of the fold? alina being excused from the deaths of the dignitaries in the show but responsible for the deaths of her cartography friends at the beginning is what i was talking about. like i said way back (or maybe i didn't say it but im saying it now), it makes narrative sense. i get it.

however, i think the choice not to have alina perform the Cut on the skiff when she regains control of her power is an interesting one. because, in the book, that was an ultimate show-off of power (even if it was a terrible moment for alina). no one else but the darkling can perform a Cut, and as soon as alina forcibly takes control of her power from the darkling she uses his own signature move to leave him for death? that's a power move. that's irony. that's a physical manifestation of alina being able to adopt and take advantage of some of the darkling's power and use it against him, which is definitely a main theme in the book as it happens every single time alina gets close to defeating him and also when she actually defeats him.

so the Cut is really important, and i want to see in what other situation the show might have alina perform a Cut of her own against kirigan, or if they'll even include that aspect of reclaiming of power. i really want them to.

conclusion

so what have we learned? i think, first and foremost, we have learned that i have so many opinions and should learn how to be sweet and concise with my words. we have also learned there were a lot of changes between the grishaverse books and the series, and these were only the changes that i remembered off the top of my head having watched the series almost a week ago and having reread the books over the past few months.

in addition to those things, we have learned that, in my academic opinion, many of the changes made to fit the story into the screen were positive changes or, at the very least, changes i am interested in seeing develop. in the end, i am just a fan, and regardless of what season 2 may throw at us, i trust bardugo's decisions because she has never let me down narratively before, so i'll probably end up loving things the show ends up doing because i am, at my core, a simple sort of person.

i had a lot of fun writing this all up, and i hope this super long post was informative or entertaining in some way. thank you so much for reading<3<3<3<3

[bondsmagii]

wait why do you hate shadow and bone so much💀💀💀 like is it just the show or the whole franchise?

the original Shadow and Bone trilogy is actually one of my favourite series out there, unironically. yeah it’s young adult and it has all the pitfalls that can come with that but there’s so much to it, there’s so much to get into, it touches on so many issues and it does them well. same with the Six of Crows duology. I love these books dearly, and despite Bardugo constantly trying to rewrite what she said for years now, I still love them because I don’t listen to what authors say about their books and I recommend the practise.

I hate the show. the show absolutely sucks, because it’s so blatantly obvious to me that Bardugo is using it to rewrite a series she clearly doesn’t stand by any longer. for years she’s been pulling shit like this, and she even went as far as to write two whole books shitting on people for daring to relate to the series’ villain. I knew from the moment she described the show as “high-budget fanfiction” that it was going to be a complete bastardisation of everything that made both book series what they were, and I was correct. not only has the plot been completely rewritten and both stories are now taking place at the same time, they also cross over in a completely pointless way. it is not the same story. it is literally fanfiction, but the worst kind. this might be high-budget, but it’s low quality. there is no point to any of this, and it has ripped the heart out of the story I love.

the show itself is garbage. it’s filmed terribly, the scenes are short and choppy. earlier today I described it as a bunch of short gifs clipped together and given sound, because each scene is about as long as a gifset. the acting is terrible, and certainly isn’t helped by all the slow mo shots that are clearly just there to make it more giffable. none of the characters are the characters I remember: Alina is suddenly bold and assertive and everyone loves her; Mal is weak and timid and shy; Kaz is laughably awkward and cringey to watch; Jesper is bland and boring; Inej looks like an Instagram model who just wandered into the wrong building. none of them have the personalities I love them for. there’s also a whole bunch of OCs just randomly made up or refitted from existing minor characters and there’s no point to them. the effects are mediocre. there’s lightning in the Fold, for some reason. it’s too crisp, too clean. there’s none of the atmosphere, none of the characterisation, and none of the plot. what is it even supposed to be?

it’s abundantly clear to me that Bardugo is riding this as far as she can. two shitty sequel novels supposedly about Nikolai but in actual fact just shitting on everything she wrote before and riding the coattails of characters that people actually care about (while shitting on her readers for doing so), destroying Zoya’s character development by reducing her to Girlboss™, and finally being involved with this complete insult of an adaption, which can be called an adaption only in as much as the characters share the same names. everything else is completely different, ruined, watered down, and borderline nonsensical even to somebody who’s read the books. it’s embarrassing, she should feel embarrassed, and I hope to god this show is cancelled and everyone moves on so I don’t have to put up with more of this bullshit. like, we get it, Ms Bardugo. you spent too long on Twitter and now you’re worried you’re going to be cancelled for writing a villain that was too sympathetic. you can stop tanking everything good about the series now.

also I’m gonna say it. I think it’s really fucking sketch that they wrote Alina to be non-white for the show, and then in pretty much every scene she’s in, she’s being racially abused. there’s no basis for this in the books, and while I don’t care if people want to cast a non-specified character as a person of colour, I do mind when the only change they keep in mind is that people call her slurs now. it’s just really not a good look, and it looks sketchy as hell.

[dauntless-dragayn]

YA BOOKS RECS

Okay -cracks knuckles- im gonna rec yall some YA books because there are so many ive found over the years

@windycube this is for u

First of all ofc I gotta put in a word for Rick Riordan, this man literally raised me He has a LOT of series but i recommend Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard the most, one because its meant for slightly older audiences (the mc Magnus is 16/17) and two because its wAY more diverse than his older stuff (which i still love, dearly) like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and better written than the follow up series to PJO, Heroes of Olympus MCGA is about a kid who finds out he’s the son of a Norse god and that those gods are still around and kickin, but the world is ending aaaand him and his new friends have to stop it. Sounds cheesy and super typical but, Magnus is pretty different from most protags of this kind of stuff. He’s a healer not a fighter, and his strongest traits are compassion and teamwork rather than brute strength and violence (tho there is a lot of that. Violence. Kind of par for the course. You’ll see)

NEXT is Michael Grant, who Windy already mentioned. I cannot stress enough, how much I worship Grant’s story writing capabilities. If you want dark shit, READ HIS WORK. What a lot of people don’t realize is that he helped KA Applegate write the Animorphs series and.. Thats some of the darkest kids fiction out there. Grant wrote the GONE series, which is about a town where all of the adults (over like, 15 I think? Sorry its been a while) disappear and a giant impenetrable barrier appears around a small beach town. Chaos and horrifying violence ensues. This series will depress you even as you can’t stop reading it. The characters are gold. The twists are even better. He also wrote BZRK which is a trilogy set in the future where war is fought on the nanotech level. Admittedly its been years so I dont remember much, but its also very solemn and very unique. I’d say 16+ (teen protags)

Maggie Stiefvater. Another personal hero of mine, her prose is just.. Beautiful. Poetic. Magical. She has a few series and some novels. My favorites are The Raven Cycle (series of 4), All The Crooked Saints (novel) I cant even.. Explain what theyre about. Magic surrealism, young love, the darkness of the human mind.. Theyve got everything. If you’re intrigued please please give them a shot. 16+

Alright alright now for some lesser known stuff.

If you’re into vampires.. Monster stories… surviving high school… please for the love of gods, read The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd. I seriously don’t understand how this series isnt more popular. Zac Brewer is wonderful, I love him and his work sm. Tho, I think since this series is old its still under his deadname (Heather Brewer) Basically it’s about Vlad, a half human half vampire kid, dealing with high school bs but also being hunted down for his hybrid status and.. gAH its so good. Plenty of blood. The end has casualties and still makes me cry. Pls read it im begging you

If you’re a furry and/or into badass well written female protags.. Read Cry of the Icemark. ;3 It’s got magic, warfare, and have I mentioned Thirren the mc is BADASS????? (and no, its not all furries. But there is a race of leopard people whom i love dearly) By Stuart Hill, its one of my alltime favorites. I need to reread it again

Another older one is Pendragon. It is fuckin LONG, at 10 books total, about a ‘normal’ kid named Bobby Pendragon who finds out there are other dimensions in danger and that if they fall into chaos, the entire universe will. So he and a few other ‘Travelers’ set out to fix them even as a demon Traveler tries to fuck up their progress. Starts with Bobby at 14 but sees him grow up. Again.. I know it sounds super typical but what I love is that Bobby grows bitter. He’s not a golden keep saving the day sort of protag. I wont spoil; just check it out. By DJ MacHale

I have a feeling yall dont want to hear about romance but im a hoe for it so. Legend is a trilogy by Marie Lu set in a dystopian world (which im also a hoe for) where America is divided into two warring nations. One protag is Day, a poor thief who steals to keep his family alive. The other is June, who’s the best up and start soldier the Republic has. She’s pretty rebellious tho, so she can’t be reigned in until she’s sent to track down a murderer.. Day. excepthedidntactuallydoit Star crossed lovers. Fucked up America. My kinda tea.

If you want more dystopia that doesnt suck (because bOY a lot of it does) I’ll put in a word for Divergent. You’ve probably heard of it. Oh That Hunger Games Bootleg except not. Also it’s a trilogy but who cares. The first one is my only love

Switching gears back to romance uwu Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is gAY AND MAGIC! There’s a reason why everyone raves about it; best written romance I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. And I’ve read a lot. Plus, it’s getting a sequel in a few years! She also wrote Fangirl, as well as Eleanor and Park, two adorable novels.

Switching gears completely, lemme talk about Leigh Bardugo. She wrote Six of Crows, which is this ABSOLUTELY AMAZING heist/crime/action duology. Very diverse cast. A few lgbtq+ kiddos. She also wrote the Grishaverse series but I have not yet gotten around to reading it. From what Ive heard tho its just as good - a lot more about magic and monsters tho (set in the same universe!)

Wow okay im gonna stop because this is getting long but

TLDR;

basically any of Rick Riordan’s series

GONE by Michael Grant

anything by Maggie Stiefvater

The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd by Zac Brewer (who used to be known as Heather Brewer)

Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

Pendragon series by DJ MacHale

The Legend trilogy by Marie Lu

Divergent by Veronica Roth

anything by Rainbow Rowell

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

thank you for reading my book nerd ramblings holy shit

[silver-soliloquy]

tagged by the lovely @yournotpshipper! thank you dear, I haven’t talked to you in ages--what’ve you been up to? <3

Rules: Name your top ten favorite female characters from different fandoms. Then tag ten people.

October Daye (October Daye book series) my most precious and beloved changeling disaster <3333 I just finished rereading Once Broken Faith and I am FULL OF EMOTIONS, WHY IS IT NOT SEPTEMBER YET I NEED MORE TOBYYY

Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows duology) my wraith queen aaaahhhh I gotta reread Six of Crows next

Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach) the love of my LIFE

Ahiru (Princess Tutu) my brave amazing birb girl, actual personified ray of sunshine, too good for this world too pure

Cosette (Les Miserables) listen I love all the Les Mis ladies dearly but Cosette is just so precious to me and also so UNDERAPPRECIATED, anyone who has a problem with my girl please meet me at dawn behind the walmart to duel for her honor

Charley Pollard (Doctor Who/Big Finish) my Edwardian adventuress!!!

Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn 99) UGH I ADORE HER

Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist) I mean OBVIOUSLY

Lyra Silvertongue (His Dark Materials) my selfish feral liar girl, saving the world one Oxford at a time <3

Parker (Leverage) THIEF PRINCESS

aaaaand I’m sleepy and can’t think of people but I’ll tag @poltergeistsidekicks and @abibliophilehobbit and anyone else who wants to do the thing!!

[silhouettecrow]

This is the last part of me providing my Thoughts™ and Feelings™ about Shadow and Bone as I watch it 'cos this one is about the finale:

They brought back Alina and Mal reaching out for each other, and oh, boy, was that heartbreaking! It’s so well done yet so painful

Mal's turn-around of "Time will do it for me" to "Your past will do it for me” when he let the volcra get the Darkling was so good. I literally clapped, even though I knew the Darkling would, obviously, live

Also, the ending of the Darkling emerging from the Fold after Alina and Mal saying he’s dead was a great yet predictable (in a good way) transition. And the way the Darkling said, “Follow,” and the merzost just came with him was chilling. That was a perfect way to end the first season in my opinion

Not to brag, but I said three things before Jesper, one before Kaz, and one before Nina. I think my theory about absorbing the Crows' personalities is more true than I initially thought it was

Remember how I mentioned how the ugliness and asymmetry of the antlers in Alina’s collarbone was such an amazing parallel to the pain she is in? Well, her absorbing the antlers altogether after releasing herself from the Darkling’s control and realising the stag chose to give her its power is just. . .WOW. I honestly don’t know how to express how beautiful that was

Also, my best friend did bring up a good point: where did the antlers go? Did they just go further into her body? Did she legit consume them into her body and they’re just gone? What happened? 😂

Can I talk about Nina and Matthias for a hot second? I honestly don’t think I felt so much for Helnik when I read the Six of Crows duology as I did in this last episode, so I have a lot to say. The chemistry is straight from the pages of the books, but it’s so much different physically seeing them interact than just reading about it. It’s also different ‘cos we are seeing the relationship develop between them than being thrown in the middle of it with backstory being sprinkled throughout the progression of their story. The two of them flirting and being cute was so lovely, but the fear in Nina’s eyes when she knows she has to make a horrible decision between Matthias being arrested or being killed and then the betrayal that is written all across Matthias’ face in that cell on the ship was just devastating

I know this isn't about this episode, but I realised I forgot to mention it attached to episode 6 (I think), but Ivan threatening Jesper with him knowing what he is was dastardly. Like, I know you have to have read the books to know what Ivan was saying 'cos Jesper cuts him off, and I love little Easter eggs like that for us, but the foreshadowing of that shit was good. Leave the people who haven't read the books with questions and the people who have in anticipation! God, I love that!

Jesper still missing Milo is so precious and, I hate to say it, a mood ‘cos me too. I wanted to see a surprise appearance from the darling goat, but I will take Jesper bringing him up twice as compensation

Speaking of Jesper being a mood, Jesper begging for the reassurance that Kaz has got their backs with a plan was so painfully relatable. Bro, I would have done the same thing in that situation

It hurts me on a spiritual level to be aware that five out of the six Crows were on that boat at once. I need Wylan. Y’all, season 2 better happen 😭

And I want more interactions between Inej and Alina and between Inej and Zoya. That shit makes my Sapphic heart go berserk. You can’t look me in the eyes and say there isn’t the least bit of gay tension between these women. And that means I am so looking forward to Inej and Nina interacting; I may pass out

In addition to that, Kaz saying he needs Inej added five years to my life. And I think the happiest he looked all season was when Inej said she’d go with him to pay off Heleen and then decide what to do from there. And Kaz being a believer is ✨bonkers✨ in the best way possible

Lastly, to end with something about my boy, Jesper saying that he still couldn’t shoot Ivan’s pretty face was fucking great. I also died laughing at him saying that the true wealth was the friends they made along the way ‘cos of course Jesper is going to be the one to make a real-world meme reference and, on top of that, make it about the goat! Amazing, beautiful, wonderful. As always, I love him dearly

My final thoughts on the show as a whole is that it is a great adaptation of the books, especially with the blending of the storylines from the trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. The pacing was something I honestly had to adjust to, considering I know so much of the source material, but I think it worked and was a good choice to help viewers unfamiliar with the books understand what is happening. And even though I’ve read the books, I was pleasantly surprised with the numerous twists and turns; I was invested in the show as a whole, not just for the familiar characters and storylines (that was just a bonus, tbh). I genuinely love this show and am willing to say it is now tied for my favourite television show with Orphan Black and Good Omens. I’m hoping desperately for a season 2, not just for Wylan and Nikolai, but because this was truly so beautiful and brought me a lot of happiness and peace during one of the scariest and most stressful times in my life

I just want to thank anyone who has read any of these things I've written about the show. I truly didn't expect anyone to read them or even really care about what I thought or felt, but it does mean a lot that some of you are willing to read them at all and then even give them a like. This is just the adaptation of my favourite book series and knowing other people are caring about and even enjoying my reactions is so pleasant and comforting. Thank you 💕

If you want to check out my other Thoughts™ and Feelings™ about this first season, here are the links to those posts: Episode 2, Episodes 3 and 4, Episode 5, and Episodes 6 and 7

I'm now excited to remove spoilers from my filtered tags and to dive into what other people have been posting about Shadow and Bone! See y'all on the other side! ✌