#joonmono

[greensaplinggrace]

honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn’t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

[claudia-kishi]

buddy i cannot believe ppl think two ugly ass white guys are more progressive than lucy liu, an actual queen

to be fair they didn't explicitly say it was not progressive but they were like "a woman??????? if they do a canon holmes/watson and it's HETEROSEXUAL????????? TERRIBLE!" which is like there is nuance to stuff like this like i could count the number of romantic relationships i saw asians in growing up in media on one hand lol (literally just ONE but also i didn't watch tv that much but still) so it's like.............. PLEASE don't you dare compare two noncanon white boys who are also ugly to lucy liu.

these people shouldn't be allowed to look at lucy liu at all tbh

[when-did-this-become-difficult]

chinese wedding by ge dongqi bc its spooky and hmm butter by bts bc it's a fun summer bop. uhhh dusk?

omg I am so sorry I’m answering this so late @joonmono 🥺

just listened to Chinese wedding by Ge dongqi for the first time and I like the bit in the middle with like momentum but still twangy bits…god I’m so sorry cannot write apparently

Thanks to my sister I already am a fan of butter! Hurrah!

Two very different songs that both fit dusk: you missed my heart by Phoebe Bridgers and Nights Like This by Kehlani

[daisy-johnson]

i was anniehathaway, previously clarysfairchild, daisylouisejohnson, daisyjohnsony, etc

but i accidentally deleted my blog so this is me now

tracking #tuserjulia

[nilefreemans]

unpop: happy endings are the best endings

life sucks soooooo much enough the way it is, someone should be happy even if they’re fake 

send me unpopular opinions

[hobies]

jimin is so against tae and joon's barefoot agenda 😂😂

😂😂 no socks no shoes no life

[personagf-moved]

Pass the happy! 🌻🌈 When you receive this list 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the last people in your notifications!

oooo thank u for sending me this!!

things that make me happy………..uhhhhhh

flowers! daisies and carnations specifically

hyung line not being slept on!!!!!!

sunrises

finally finding the right lyrics to end a song 😭

and writing in general tbh :’)

[the-writer-muse]

How Not to Fantasy Worldbuild

Intro

Yes, you read that title right. Today I’m going to be giving advice on how you should not fantasy worldbuild. I’ll be exploring the mistakes people frequently make when worldbuilding foreign fantasy peoples, countries, and cultures, and how to avoid those mistakes. Please note that this advice doesn't apply to books where foreign countries do not play a significant role. However, if you have a book like Six of Crows or Blood Heir where foreign countries are significant, then this post may be more immediately useful to you.

Disclaimer: Remember that these are my opinions, and you are fully entitled to your own!

Put the same level of effort in for all worldbuilding

As an example: don’t come up with an entire history, economy, government, culture, etc. for one country, and then completely neglect another country because its inspirations lie in a country you aren’t familiar with.

@joonmono​ puts this best in their Tumblr post: “i will never not be angry at white fantasy authors being like ‘this is fake russia and this is fake germany and this is fake scandinavia and this is fake netherlands and this is fake amsterdam' then turn around and be like ‘oh but there's only one fake collective african country and one fake collective asian country.’”

Many fantasy authors, not just white authors, make this mistake too, because it saves time and effort. However, this is lazy and shallow worldbuilding at best. It shows you don’t care enough to research other countries/cultures and honor them. Yet taking the time to research for your worldbuilding both improves the depth of your worldbuilding and opens up your own worldview. When you enrich your worldbuilding, you also enrich yourself. That should be incentive enough to not half-ass the worldbuilding. So just don’t do it. Trust me, your readers will notice and appreciate it.

Don’t mix and match cultures

Mixing and matching cultures is a surefire way to make them inaccurate. For example, don’t group a bunch of East Asian cultures together into Fantasy China or a bunch of South Asian cultures into Fantasy India. It’s lazy, inaccurate, and quite frankly, offensive. And unfortunately, it’s very common in modern fantasy books.

Even among common aspects of culture, there are huge differences as well.  For example, there’s no such thing as one Indian people: there are thousands of ethnic groups in India, however. So, to avoid mixing and matching ethnic groups, focus on one specific group for inspiration.

Whatever you do, don’t consolidate an entire country, with various different languages, cultures, and traditions into a single monolith. That’s ignorant and harmful to the people who are part of those cultures.

Avoid stereotypes and generalizations

I really, really dislike it when writers fill their only foreign cultures and countries with rife stereotypes and outdated misconceptions. As a result, the fictional country/culture/people becomes a caricature of whatever reality the writer is attempting to imitate. It has potential, but it remains undeveloped in favor of stacking stereotypes and/or generalizations on top of each other.

This all ties into the first point I made: readers can tell when you don’t put effort into building foreign countries and cultures. Stereotypes and generalizations is where perhaps the largest harm takes root. This may not seem important--isn’t it all just fiction? But fantasy frequently draws from reality, and that reality may be that of a narrow, ignorant lens.

Be careful and mindful about how you draw inspiration from foreign cultures and countries, because the people who belong to them can very much be affected today.

[serpenteve]

The post where you briefly describe Baghra shaming Alina for any tender moment between her and Aleks kinda got me thinking? 😵‍💫 She seems to be more like a jealous ex than anything. Not to make a blanket statement but I’m Asian and I know some of my moms friends that do not like their kids gf and are very possessive/protective but they never slut shame the gf 🤧 It would’ve been done so much better if we saw Aleks and Baghra have a deeper bond but he literally makes her go blind 🙂 so it’s not like they’re the epitome of parent/child relationship.

aksjdhkdfjh @joonmono and I were literally just joking about how Baghra is like your stereotypically possessive and demanding Asian mom ☠️

Baghra is like obsessed with keeping her son close and pretty much resents his interest in making Grisha safe or wanting a better life for them. She doesn't even class herself with other Grisha because she thinks the Morozova line is vastly superior to them that even other powerful Grisha are like "dust" to her. So she basically antagonizes him his entire life for having a life and goals outside of her (hmmm, reminds me of another character in this series 👀💅🏽) and then actively sabotages his plans when they (or another woman) threaten to take him away from her.

Like, personally, Baghra comes off like she thinks everything Aleksander does is dumb and a massive fucking waste of time when they could just chill like a bunch of hermits in a forest or something. Something must have happened to her at one point to make her decide to suppress her powers and be obsessed with ideas of penance, redemption, salvation, religion etc. She honestly sounds like one of those parents who lives a normal life but then suddenly falls down a religious rabbit hole during a midlife crisis or whatever and then demands their children and everyone else around them obey by their arbitrary rules 😂

[bisexualbuck]

happy new year!!!

i’ve decided to do a little follow forever / mutual appreciation post and since i didn’t have time to do one before 2020 ended, this is a celebration of this new year and all the friendships yet to be made and the new moments yet to be had

to everyone tagged, thank you for being who you are! you’ve made me smile, you’ve made me laugh and you’ve just made my days a little bit brighter especially when those days weren’t very bright to start with

some of you, i have never talked to but i see you and i’m rooting for you

i probably have forgotten a lot of people and i’m not gonna tag people i’m not mutuals with but if you follow me and you interact with my posts often, i’ve seen you and i’m grateful for you

a - k

@adamngoodbuck @adamnrodriguez @africabytotos @amirwilson @argentsallison @arthvrmorgann @aryaxstork @athenagrantt @aziraphalescrowley @backofftubby @bellesansmercy @bicepsie @bihunnicutt @brilliantbanshee @bombera @bombolonas @buckleys-diaz @captain-emmajones @captain-flint @captainmarvfl​ @captainstennerstar @cheddarholt @cinematicnomad @deanwinchesters​ @defeatedcastiel​ @diazactually​ @dinsbeskar​ @eddiediaz-buckley​ @elequinoa-world​ @elisela​ @evaneddie​ @evanzbuck​ @fandomirregular​ @festivebuckley​ @firefighterbuckleydiaz​ @fyeahbuddie​ @gisewaaa​ @gothdaisyjohnson​ @gracieli​ @hanorganaas​ @helennabertinelli​ @helianthus21​ @herodean​ @hopefulbeautifulfool​ @inkorn​ @julia-the-fan​ @jewishbucke​ @jimbotkirk​ @joe-alkaysani​ @joonmono​ @jordnfisher​ @julieeandthephantoms​ @kingjackless​

l -z

@lamalefix​ @lardoduans​ @leturna​ @lionheartedghost​ @lorelaigilmoure​ @madamspellmans​ @maysgrant​ @maziekeen​ @mccallmemaybe​ @mercutieos​ @micksgotkicks​ @morganalefays​ @nellcrain​ @nilefreemans​ @novemberhush​ @officerrxyes​ @okoyechonne​ @oliverstark​ @paranoidbean​ @paul-strickland​ @rhodesjames​ @roxie-alvez​ @samwillson​ @seik-o​ @sometimesthedragonwins​ @spenserclay​ @sunset-curve​ @sunshinestrand​ @tari-aldarion​ @theleftboobgrabber​ @theroseapothecary​ @thisissirius​ @tiberiuskirk​ @transdeans​ @tylerhunklin​ @underoosstark​ @vampirebuckley​ @waverli​ @wetvoidstiles​ @wizardbuckley​ @wondcrwomans​ @writingindarkness​ @yennciri​

and a very special mention to @ediediaz​ @gay-in-221b​ @letitialewiss​ @starlightbuck​ for being such amazing, wonderful people and the greatest of friends

to a brighter year! take care y’all 💕

[claudia-kishi]

ignore everything abt the darkling and just stick with ben barnes seggsy 😌

DJSJDJSJD SJDJSJXJSJXJS ki 😭😭😭😭 nothing but respect for my prince 🥰🥰

[quakeriderwritersguild]

Thank you to the Agents of SHIELD fandom for participating in our Valentine’s Day Challenge!

We had 33 fills with 15 unique ships. Please reblog, kudos/comment if you can, the creators will surely appreciate it!

Creators, if you need help adding your participating badge to your Ao3 profile, please message @whistlingwindtree​ and they can walk you through it! 

If you participated and your work isn't below, please message either @soulofevil​ or mod WWT, it wasn’t intentional at all and we will fix it :)

Here is the master list:

Gifs

First Touches by @swanthief​ (Mackelena)

First Time Robbie made Daisy cry by @oh-my-hades​ (Quakerider)

Graphics:

Pleasure Cruise by @apathbacktoyou​ (Kasinara)

Moodboards:

Fitzsimmons: First Day of School by @2minutes2midnight​

Fitzsimmons: First Baby Shower by @accio-the-force​

MayBobbi: First time to space by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly

MayDaisy: First time sharing a desert by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly

Quakerider: First time they made you cry by @oh-my-hades​

Quakerider: First Kid by @agentmmayy​

Scis & Spies: First PDA by @bobbimorseisbisexual​

Playlists:

Fitzdaisy: when you smile, i melt inside by @everythinghappens-love​

Fitzskimmons: i look to you and i have fun by  @everythinghappens-love​

Quakerider: Dancing with our hands tied by @theclaravoyant​

Quakerider: First Time They Made You Cry by @oh-my-hades​

Fanfic: 

Beginner Lessons by @acerobbiereyes​ (Quakerider, T)

Dreams of the Desert by @besidemethewholedamntime​ (Huntingbird, T)

First time sharing a bed by @florchis (Fitzskimmons, G)

Homeward Bound by @acerobbiereyes (Quakerider, T)

I am still right here by @stanningjay (Quakerider, T)

Jemma’s birthday by @theclaravoyant (Skimmons, T)

Let’s get down to business by @loved-the-stars-too-fondly (MayDaisy G)

let's level up together by anissa_qiaolian (Morsecode, G)

Nail me against a wall by @queen-of-love-and-beauty (Philinda, E)

paradise by @apathbacktoyou (Kasinara, E)

pleasure cruise by @apathbacktoyou (Kasinara, E)

Puppy Love by @sunalsolove​ (Quakerider, T)

Something Magnificent by @cminerva (Philinda, T)

Something Special by @libbyweasley (FitzSimmons,T)

Stolen Goods by @soulofevil​ (Quakerider, E)

The Box by anissa_qiaolian (Quakerider, E)

The Chase is On by @soulofevil (LegacyRider, T)

The Things We Say by @stanningjay (FitzSimmons, T)

we’re spinning out of control by @the-dc-killjoy​ (Legacyquakerider, T)

Because of the links, this won’t show in tags, so please reblog to signal boost!

Shout out to @joonmono​ for our badges and banner!

[funnefatale]

tag 9 people you want to get to know better/catch up with!

tagged by @zaritomaz <3

favourite colour(s): any variation of turquoise/teal

last song: she don’t love me by zaynlast movie: i think i had princess diaries 2 on while i was cleaning lmao but the last new movie i watched was creed (1, need to watch 2)

last show (completed): emily in paris (listen, it’s dumb but i love trashing the french)

currently reading: lmao i’m always reading like ten things at once

rise of kyoshi by fc lee - taking my time because this is so fun to read slowly

xeni by rebekah weatherspood

when no one is watching by alyssa cole

a desolation called peace: voices from kashmir edited by ather zia and javaid iqbal bhat

currently watching: bly manor but with my family so it’s taking forever; killjoys with my brother; but really i need to get back on ramy

sweet, spicy or savoury: spicy, but sweet is a very close second.

craving: vietnamese food. i don’t think i’ve had it since march.

coffee or tea: i like both for different reasons lmao i drink coffee if i want to be awake and tea if i want to relax

tagging: @parallelmarvel @joonmono @urlbending @studioerahollywood @valiancedefined @oviids or anyone else who wants to

[nilefreemans]

major unpopular opinion: more explicitly bi m/f couples

let characters just say they’re bi as well????? I WANT IT TO BE OBVIOUS  

send me unpopular opinions

[sternbilder]

@joonmono​ dfdshgjfkhlj ki I see you’ve taken full advantage of this opportunity to just make me listen to BTS huh 😂 I can respect that,

starting with “blue & grey” bc I vibe with it the most--slow, emotive songs are usually hit or miss for me but the instrumentals here are really understated and lovely!! I love the slow build up from guitar only to strings & percussion and later layering the piano on top--that, and the sudden drop back to just the guitar at the end is reminiscent of a lot of post-rock song structures for me?? in that spirit the song I give back to you is “viðrar vel til loftárása” by sigur rós which is one of my favorites of theirs and has a very similar kind of melancholic-but-ultimately hopeful mood I think! I’m sorry it’s 7 minutes long but the album version is even longer LMAO

for “black swan” my pick is “damballah” by woodju! this one was tough bc it feels much less in my wheelhouse genre-wise, but I feel like the rhythm section in both have a sort of ~subdued intensity~ that gets me pumped up for something...also the choreo for this song was v cool

for “go go” I’m gonna in a completely different direction! for me the highlight of this song was the fun & playful tone in the accompanying instrumentals, particularly contrasted with the vocals, and so in the spirit of lighthearted and playful I’m gonna give you “sometimes life isn’t easy” by dream pop band mew--not the same instrumentation but I get a similar joyful, almost childlike vibe from both songs (esp starting at around ~1:43 for the mew song)

[justthatpratte]

Posts and Comments That Provoked Me: "Europe, But Magic Is Real"

Heads up, I'm an uneducated white dude, so feel free to ignore my take on this and I apologize in advance for any cringe. I saw this post and, as a passionate worldbuilder, felt a need to expound on this extremely valid critique of modern fantasy media representation.

So, first, @joonmono is too fuckin' right. "Europe, But Magic is Real" is such poor worldbuilding. No creativity at all. It's an empty barrel that has had its bottom scraped so frequently that any water you throw into it immediately runs out. The monotony in western fantasy media is so bad I haven't been able to read many new fantasy books for a few years now (although learning about PoC authors and their work has revitalized the hobby for me).

I write fantasy almost exclusively. The last fantasy novel I started (because I never fuckin' finish anything) was entirely Middle Eastern/North African/Southern Mediterranean culture-inspired. I drew inspiration from the history and mythos of 16 different countries, some of whom no longer exist or have been absorbed by other nations over time, and I don't just mean their Gods and monsters. I took a ton of inspiration from the art they produced, the different responses they had to historical crises, historical acts of imperialism and resistance, day-to-day cultural practices, and ethnic symbology. There is a lot in this one unfinished book that I guarantee 99% of readers have never seen represented in fantasy media, if any genre at all.

I DM a lot more than I write, and as a DM, I pride myself on my ability to make detailed and diverse worlds. My current D&D campaign has 8 nations:

"Evil Russia" which is made up of subcultures of European, American/Canadian Native, Northeast Asian, and Asian-Indian subcultures (most of whom are vampires, working for a Vlad Putin Vampire Lord and his right-wing oligarchs);

"Neutral Swedish Magic Nerds", which is a scholastic society of European, Asian-Indian, Indo-Chinese, and Islander subcultures who are researching the functions of magic, physics, and interdimensional travel;

"Communist Antifascist Tech Giant", a nation in an arms race with "Evil Russia" that also has a lot of vampires, and has Canadian Native, American Native, Asian-Indian, and Indo-Chinese subcultures who build gigantic laser cannons and steampunk tanks;

"Good Russia", which is directly warring with "Evil Russia" over theological and ethical differences that do not involve restricting women's rights or violent evangelism, instead hoping to reunite the "Russias" under a peaceful vampire leader and stop "Evil Russia's" reign of terror--a nation which has subcultures of Asian-Indian, American and Canadian Native, Indo-Chinese, Northeast Asian, and Middle Eastern inspiration who love the night, believe in protecting and alms-giving even to those outside their religion, and worship the concept of peace;

"Good Russia's cool little brother" which is an African/Pacific Islander/Southeast Asian/Latin American nation of hunters, explorers, farmers, and seafarers, as well as world-renowned culinarians;

"Not a Buddhist Asian Nation" which is made up of North/Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, and Middle Eastern subcultures who have an anarchist, pleasure-seeking, and debt-collecting society that has the privilege of avoiding conflict with "Evil Russia" because of the indirect protection they get sharing borders with "Communist Antifascist Tech Giant" and "Good Russia"; and...

"Pirates Are Cool", a nation of African/Islander/Southeast Asian/Latin American/Middle Eastern seafarers, merchants, and artisans run by construction guilds and multiple naval militias

I referenced 44 different countries just for this campaign. I know so many little factoids about so many cultures just from Googling inspiration to write up a cohesive sandbox for my players to explore and fuck around in. This universe is obviously still a bit oversimplified and prone to bias due to my being, well, #FFFFFF, a citizen of the United States, and relatively uneducated, but one city in my game setting has more intrigue and creativity than the entire universe in most fantasy books.

Not using other cultures for inspiration is ignoring 90% of the tools at your disposal. You just end up rehashing the same hundred tropes over and over and over again. Books are more fun to read when they present us with new ideas. Multicultural worlds are a lot more interesting than "Europe, But Magic is Real" worlds, which, at best, just reference two or three nations at their surface level and smash them together into an asynchronous monolith. It's long past time to retire that trope.

i will never not be angry at white fantasy authors being like “this is fake russia and this is fake germany and this is fake scandinavia and this is fake netherlands and this is fake amsterdam” then turn around and be like “oh but there’s only one fake collective african country and one fake collective asian country”