hon3yblad3

[ah0yh0y]

tagged by @ribcagelikepiano for the get to know you game!! thx friend !!!!!

questions: last song you listened to, currently watching, currently reading, current obsession

last song: Come Hang Out by AJR off the top of my head by my tabs say Providence by Poor Mans Poison . Come Hang Out feels so nostalgic to me even if i only listened to it recently reminds me of a graduation song (it came out 5 yrs ago so it makes sense. I just really love Poor Mans Poison's vibes generally great fuel for daydream and also matches well with the feeling of revolution (and seeing everything collapse i guess.) (ish) mentally listening to Your Love is All I Need by Sami Yusuf tho at all times lately, probs because i have been trying to wean myself off listening to music for like the 50th time. (its slow going but IM GONNA TRY inshaallah ill be able to do it) (he also took the old nasheed music video off his channel? sad its so good)

currently watching: does d20 mentopolis count? only watched one ep but its good. i havent watched anything regularly besides like school vids for a bit. tried watching the dragon prince s5 when it came out but buffering (the video player i mean) and dissatisfaction at the pacing and characterization kinda stopped me. ill back on it at the end of the yr when everything is settled. if we are talking about podcasts started relistening to wolf 359 and keeping up with the greater gatsby (the latter has SUBLIME noir vibes as it is a noir i bloody love shipwreck's work it scratches that itch in my brain so well) . i may have seen spoilers for wolf 359 so i am anxiously waiting to see if i am proved wrong but im on s4 so its soon prepare for a barrage of reblogs for it. watched s4 of malory towers it was very nice i cant wait for s5 - the pantomime hopefully we get new members for the older years next season i miss the larger cast

currently reading: not much really. fanfic alot. i guess. caught up to the end of the To Make a Legend series on ao3 (pjo) and other fics for a couple of other fandoms (in one false move by Kalidium is really good if your into murder most unladylike - spoilers for A Spoonful of Murder though) also been reading barbie 2023 fanfic? was bored and started hunting for good ones (slim picking at the moments but if you want character study and grief and some bloody good writing def read something in me in you by telm_393 i cant explain it its that good) also reread My Memories Came Back in the Form of Someone Else by Lucy_Luna yes its that really good spiderverse fanfic do check it out

BESIDES THAT THO in terms of actual books. have the audiobook saved for The Valley and The Flood so gonna listen to that later. Have to read The Hate Race for class (not my fave but i need for analysis ive read it like 3 times but I STILL DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING) .

started rereading The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes a couple of weeks ago ahead of the movie coming out at the end of this year but never got the chance to finish it so ill have to get on that too.

also dracula ive been reading as well but more on that the next section.

current obsession: re:dracula is the first that comes to mind im so bloody invested in jonathan's wellbeing and his relationship wiht mina and the whole story its insane . i should read more older books its good . re;dracula DOES SUCH A GOOD JOB AT SUCKING YOU INTO THE STORY THE VOICE ACTORS REALLY MADE IT FOR ME i just cant with ti it makes me so bloody happy!! Renfield's voice actor is a standout for me everytime he's there i just have to pause and stare at a wall. also jonathan's actor as well hes SO GOOD i was geniunly worried about jonathan not sending me voicemails into my phone i was THAT endeared to him

besides that PLAY IT BY EAR the musical improv show by dropout is also a obsession of mine i cannot with their talent. the MUSIC so good i want to play it all the bloody time . i am in absolute awe in the performers ability to create a story and TIE IT ALL TOGHETER SO WELL like every piece of information is used whether you expect it or not . DN THE BAND OH GOD I DONT KNOW HOW THEY SO IT THE MUSIC IS SO FUN AND CREATIVE AND FITS THE MOOD AND MADE UP ON THE SPOT???!!! HOW I DONT KNOW (if u ask me who my favourite guest star is at the moment its ross byant hes an absolute delight whenever he is on a d20 show- the improvised shakespear episode blew my mind)

anway THIS SI LONGGGGGGGG soz

no pressure tags: @filmloser04 @mistichallow @charlies-a-thief

@literallymahir @quotidian-oblivion @monochrome-anomaly @suksiili @miseria-fortes-viros and anyone else that wants to join!!!! (you dont have to do a brain dump like me i always go overboard)

[vldlance]

I remember you recently made a post about how Lance would be a child of Aphrodite in a pjo au, so I was wondering if you have any headcanons for a pjo au!

*checks date* so it’s been a month since you asked this and a few years since i’ve reread pjo, let’s do this

okay, i know everyone wants to debate lance’s godly parent, but i’m a firm believer in child of aphrodite lance mcclain

he had charmspeak because i say so. i like to think he didn’t know this growing up and always got things to go his way and avoided getting into a LOT of trouble because of it

8 year old lance, standing next to a broken vase that he very obviously broke: i promise i didn’t do it!! it just fell!

his parents: yeah this checks out nothing to worry about here

once he knows he has it and how to control it, he doesn’t use it to change anyone’s feelings towards him. he says it feels icky

this does not mean he doesn’t use it for pranks

this is how hunk (child of hephaestus) got talked into replacing all of the weapons that belonged to the ares cabin with ones that would break upon any impact

keith is a son of the minor goddess nike, who is the goddess of victory

this makes him one hell of a competitor in literally *anything*

chariot races are his favorite event EVER. he always wins, which everyone assumes is because of nike so they’re bitter

nike has never blessed him with victory though. he’s just super talented. sure he’s a little naturally amped up because of his godly parent, but mostly he’s just super competitive

lance hates this. he hates losing to keith. he genuinely considers trying to use charmspeak to convince keith to lose on purpose

he decides not to do this when he realizes keith would probably kill him if he ever understood what had happened

lance, for the fifth time in an hour after keith has won another chariot race: like, why do we even care? he’s clearly cheating. his godly parent is literally the goddess of victory. no one should let him compete

hunk and pidge, crafting a complex device that will hit lance in the head every time he mentions keith: uh huh. whatever you say

lance decides that he should start training with keith so he can catch him cheating

lance: so. it’s 6 in the morning. what are you up to at this hour?

keith: ...im gonna go get in an hour of sword fighting before breakfast. who are you again?

lance: alright that’s it—

they end up sparring every morning. keith usually wins, which obviously annoys lance. but he can’t deny that there’s no cheating. he’s just...fast. and strong.

lance, after getting his ass kicked again: so you’ve never even talked to your mom?

keith: no, why would i?

lance: she’s...a goddess? who could bless you and give you cool powers?

keith: she abandoned me, though. why do i care?

lance, who talks to aphrodite on a weekly basis and keeps her updated on his growing crush on keith: uhh....i dunno, i guess

speaking of aphrodite, lance has to keep her from intervening. he insists that he wants keith to like him naturally

she agrees, but lance does notice some doves holding a heart shaped garland nearby when he and keith finally kiss after a sparring session one morning

she swears she had nothing to do with it, and just wanted to celebrate

[dramaturgist]

yknow rereading percy jackson as someone older than i was when i first read it is really making me rethink my views on a lot of shit that happened in the series, especially rick’s writing.. like Yes kudos to rick for representation yay but he is very very far from perfect

1. he doesn’t do timelines or continuity of ANY sort he messes up his own backstories and changes things hes written about in the past if theyre convenient to him for whatever hes writing (like nicos age) 

2. his minority characters are often under-researched  sometimes it feels like his attempts at representation are just.. stereotypes which hes “remixed” and tried to repackage into a Funky And Fresh character to add diversity to the series or whatever. dont add minority characters for diversity, do it bc its mf realistic and not everyone is white and cishet

3. and the main characters are still... white  everyone always talks about how amazing the series is for representation and sure it is but the Good Guys and Heroes in the end are, in fact, straight white people. he barely focuses on the other characters’ plots and normally half-asses them unless theyre his own personal faves lmao  plus, he has a history of killing off female and poc characters for sake of “plot development” (silena, bianca, zoe, charles, ethan, so many more) PLUS plus is it just me or is drews characterisation really uncomfortable to read?? “bitchy asian girl” is such an overused trope at this point and it annoys me so much

4. he does things more for shock factor than actual plot LISTEN. LISTEN TO ME. i am SICK and TIRED of creators killing off their characters or adding random betrayal arcs of WHATEVER just for the shock factor that they’ll get out of doing it. its not funny or cool!! theres a difference between when a character dies out of plot requirement (say, luke dying out of sacrifice) and when a character dies for nothing but Oh Wow A Death Ahahah Classic Rick  yes this is about jason. yes i’m bitter. there was no reason he had to die but u know what. im gonna say it. better him than leo/piper 

5. there’s so much unneeded fanservice and for what percy and jasons rivalry is... its so...... homie do u really think that these two boys have egos fragile enough that theyre gonna go full chad and say this town aint big enough for the two of us??? neither of them has a single malicious bone in their body and there is NO REASON FOR THEM TO HAVE ANY CONFLICT. at all. just let them be friends i beg 

6. he does not know how to write teenagers,  more like he doesn’t know how to write characters who aren’t straight white teenagers but. i digress. anyway not a single teen in that book is in any shape or form realistic except perhaps the original pjo series? i feel like rick tends to brush off emotions when it comes to his characters EXTREMELY easily.. like in the more recent books, characters r sad for like one second and then everythings sunshine and rainbows again. (the lightning thief musical did a MUCH better job at showing teen emotions than the books, honestly.)  also reyna’s characterisation in the new book disgusts me... so much.... 

7. and he overcompensates. so much. rick. it is ok. you are a 40 year old straight white man. we understand u. u dont have to try and use cool hippie teen language. its ok. please chill out it is so unbearably cringey

8. he cannot acknowledge his own mistakes or learn from them fans have been yelling for YEARS about how a lot of things in his books are misrepresented/harmful but theres been complete silence on his part and i am. so irritated. also that shit hes trying to pull w reyna annoys me so much i cant believe he went to the extent of calling out people for having? headcanons? anyway reyna lesbian

i dont know how to end this so uh. thanks for reading if u made it this far 

[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