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femmefeastnfables · 9 months ago

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**September 4th**

This day, I found myself irresistibly drawn to the beguiling notion of temptation—an enigmatic force that beckons to us with the softest of whispers, weaving promises that shimmer like the finest gossamer in the dim light of our desires. Temptation, in its most subtle form, lures us in, much like a moth is drawn to the flame, only to enwrap us in its velvet grasp, leaving us entangled in the web it has so artfully spun.

Inspired by these thoughts, I set my pen to paper, crafting a new tale entitled *Crimson Velvet*. The story centers around a femme fatale of exquisite beauty and cunning, who wields her charm with the precision of a finely tuned instrument. Her allure is not merely a gift of nature, but a weapon she has honed to perfection, using it to bend the wills of those who cross her path, leading them down a treacherous road from which few return unscathed.

As I wrote, the rich and indulgent taste of dark chocolate mousse accompanied my thoughts—a confection both sweet and bitter, much like the story itself. The mousse’s deep, velvety texture seemed to mirror the layers of deceit and danger within *Crimson Velvet*. Each spoonful was a reminder of the delicate balance between pleasure and peril, much like the balance that exists in the heart of every temptation, which, though sweet on the surface, often conceals a darkness within.

#LiteraryJournal #GothicCharm #FemmeFatale #Temptation #MysteriousAllure #LiteraryElegance

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wheresthemapinfo · 10 months ago

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#disruptarian #liberty

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neverlearnedtoread · 5 years ago

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Shadow of the Fox

⭐⭐⭐⭐: anime but in book form, so you can feel morally superior to dumb weeaboos who only read subtitles (it’s me. im a dumb weeaboo)

Oh?? 👌😉😏

diversity!!!! vibrantly described japanese-fantasy setting. imo that should almost always be a selling point. sure it’s ‘bare minimum’, but its nice to see authors not go with the default

reads like an anime! *ben wyatt voice* it’s all about converting your enemies into friends along the way so you can fight a big monster when you arrive at your destination!

yumeko took a while for me to warm up to but was a great example of a female character who didn’t need physical prowess to be a leader; she was intuitive, quick-witted, and got people to trust her by being nice (and lying through her teeth. gotta respect the hustle)

the ending - what can i say? i like cliffhangers. besides this trilogy is gonna have Asian dragons show up at some point so there’s no way im letting go now

No.. ❌🤢🤮

lots of jumping around different povs- there’s yumeko and tatsumi and random third-person chapters with hidden players we don’t know anything about yet, so its hard to stay totally invested the whole time

reads like an anime - depending on who you are and what you like, this can be a good or bad thing (see selling point #2). if you’re not into anime or manga, and aren’t familiar with their tropes, this story could feel really disjointed - why team up with a guy who was trying to kill you a second ago? why trust a dude that shady? who is that mysterious guy, and why is he allergic to answering questions directly?

meandering plot - if you don’t like tropes such as ‘characters you meet along the way will join your party for fun’ and ‘random stuff happens on the road’, this book may not gel with your interests

Summary: Every thousand years, some asshole has bullied an all-powerful dragon into doing him a solid - and this millennium’s Dragon Bullying Season is coming up. Everyone is on the prowl for three pieces of an ancient scroll - the dragon’s calling card - hidden in temples across the world. Enter Yumeko - a half-kitsune, half-human who grew up in one such secret scroll-hiding temple; when her home is attacked, she escapes with the prize, hoping to stash it in one of the other temples - and crosses paths with a samurai looking for the very scroll she’s meant to be protecting. In a surprisingly baller move, Yumeko tricks him into escorting her safely to the other temple instead.

Concept: 💭💭💭

I’ll be honest, I read the words ‘fox’ and ‘kitsune’ and added this to my ‘to-read’ list, no questions asked. I love fox-spirits! They’re so pretty and sneaky. A few of the reviews I read of this book were pretty low, and the excerpt at the beginning didn’t fill me with a need to know what happened next, but I thought about the fox-mask on the cover and went ‘it has foxes; it’ll be fine’ and didn’t look back.

Some spoilers under the cut!

Execution: 💥💥💥💥

The beginning was kind of a drag, but once the two main protagonists came together, they countered each other’s more annoying traits - Yumeko’s naivete through Tatsumi’s eyes felt like a novelty, while Tatsumi the ‘No Emotions Allowed Train’ was a little more #mysteriousallure in Yumeko’s POV. I also loved the surprisingly nuanced perspectives on yokai - in Yumeko’s view, they were easy to understand, if overly wary of outsiders - but in Tatsumi’s eyes they had a ‘hidden, shadowy dangers’ vibe, which informed the way he acted around them.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤

Once I shifted into the mindset of anime-typical tropes, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters interacting with whatever crossed their path and learning more about them through quick-throwaway scenes, instead of big, backstory-revealing moments. Yumeko hiding things from everybody she meets and gradually tallying up a bunch of different lies was also fun - she’s not the most experienced at this sort of thing, but you can tell she has a knack for it (it’s barefaced confidence, and also knowing what people want to believe). I liked seeing a character that dealt in trickery and manipulation, but never out of malice - more often than not she did it for someone else’s benefit, and not only her own.

Fave Moment: Yumeko being like ‘i can sense an intruder in your very home!!’ and conjuring a rabbit to stun the emperor’s court into believing she has prophetic powers. live that hustle babe. we stan

Fave Character: Yumeko - but more specifically I liked Tatsumi’s POV of Yumeko. She’s quick-thinking and brash, with a great poker face, and it shows itself in its best light from an outside perspective. We can tell Yumeko’s winging it, but Tatsumi very earnestly thinking ‘how did she know?? that would work?? she’s incredible’ while battling his ~feelings~ was great fun for me to read about, like calm down bro, she’s cute and she got lucky it aint that deep

#shadow of the fox #julie kagawa #book review #bookblr #booklover #reading #books #shadow of the fox trilogy

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zymzalchemy · 1 year ago

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