#raven storm

[ancientphantom]

It's that time of month! We have a lot of variety across different genres this time!

The Dark Prince by Raven Storm is a fantasy novel that claims to be a cross between the Phantom story and the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, featuring a girl who trades herself to a hideous prince to protect her loved ones only to realize that she's in over her head.

Extensions by Olympia Ruse is a modern-day adaptation featuring a Christine who works as a phone sex operator and becomes entangled with a mysterious, dangerous caller who falls in love with her voice.

The Phantom of Rock by Kaylee Harris is also a modern-day romance retelling of the story, featuring a superstar rock musician who hides from the public due to a disfigurement and an intrepid young woman who agrees to live in his house to get an exclusive interview.

Song of Sorrows and Fate by LJ Andrews is a bit of an odd duck; it's the ninth book in a fantasy epic that is, from what I can tell, not otherwise related to the Phantom story. But this one explicitly is, and is described as the Phantom colliding with Vikings, so what's not to be interested in?

A Tale from the Darkness by Kathrine WIllson and its sequel, Raising Gustave, is a retelling that seeks to center the story in Erik's point of view instead of Christine's or Raoul's, and a sequel retelling of Lloyd Webber's musical sequel, Love Never Dies, dealing with Erik being forced to grapple with parenthood.

And that's it for our midsummer offerings. See you next month!

[siereads]

Kingdom of Ash and Bones Review

Rating: 3/5

**This review contains spoilers**

I'll admit that I was excited to read this after enjoying the first book. That being said, it is nowhere near as good. The story's pacing doesn't have a good flow and it feels very jumping. There are a few major errors in the book regarding which characters are in place in a scene and there are more noticeable grammatical errors than the first.

I could understand some of the deaths in this book, really, I could, but killing off every tie Mari had to her childhood, her parents and her childhood best friend/protector, just felt like a quick way to take away anything that might make Mari want to stay after the Queen was defeated.

The end is also a bit of a cluster of time skips that make little sense. What was the point in having the Queen's dragon mate show up with a baby saying the Queen had died birthing the little girl? That added absolutely nothing to the story at all. Especially when Sabrathan (the Queen's mate) only showed up after Mari had defeated her to take her away since she was his mate and she was injured.

Which, for the record, having an entirely human girl able to defeat a literal dragon by drawing blood with her fingernails is insane and the blood pact between the two in the first book had been in regards to Mari fighting Zariah to the first blood, not the Queen.

The way magic works in the books is confusing at best and downrigt ass backwards at worst. The first book did not delve as much into that aspect of things otherwise I would have had something to say about it then.

Truthfully, I wish a good portion of this book had been cut out and the first book had been a slightly longer stand alone. I personally feel that would have worked much better.

[lady-nuggetz]

What X Men Autism does to a motherfucker.

This started as just a joke and then I had to find shitty doodles to draw everyone as.

Also I know no one knows the character in the right hand corner, say hi to my oc Haunter/Serenity everyone :3!!! OC X CANON STRIKES AGAIN.

[megzilla87]

Had some fun suggestions over on twitter to pick characters and enjoyed this little exercise!

[mgnetocore]

x-men characters as headlines — part 3

because i truly made like 40 of these and i must share them with the world

haters said jean would never make it into one of these

[storyofmorewhoa]

Just marry the belle and be done.

X-Men Gold #30 (2018) "Remember It," X-Men '97 (2024)

see also: this thread started by @bornincaldecott, this gifset by @counterspelling, and this post

[ffverr]

A round of applause for the most female centric comic book relaunch of all times! Safe to say, I will own every single issue of these so here are my favorite covers for the moment!

Support women!🎉

[feathered-mushrooms]

Hellfire Gala Designs

since we no longer get the galas here’s my attempt at designing some outfits for it

[heckcareoxytwit]

The Quiet Council and the Five variant covers by Phil Noto

Quiet Council variant covers by Phil Noto

Immortal X-Men #1-18 and X-Men Forever #1-4

Magneto (Erik Lensherr) = Immortal X-Men #1, March 2022

Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex) = Immortal X-Men #2, May 2022

Destiny (Irene Adler) = Immortal X-Men #3, June 2022

Emma Frost = Immortal X-Men #4, July 2022

Exodus (Bennet Du Paris) = Immortal X-Men #5, August 2022

Sebastian Shaw = Immortal X-Men #6, September 2022

Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) = Immortal X-Men #7, October 2022

Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) = Immortal X-Men #8, November 2022

Mystique (Raven Darkholme) = Immortal X-Men #9, December 2022

Professor X (Charles Xavier) = Immortal X-Men #10, January 2023

Storm (Ororo Munroe) = Immortal X-Men #11, May 2023

Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) = Immortal X-Men #12, June 2023

Cypher (Doug Ramsey) = Immortal X-Men #13, July 2023

Krakoa = Immortal X-Men #14, August 2023

Selene (Selene Gallio) = Immortal X-Men #15, September 2023

Hope Summers = Immortal X-Men #16, October 2023

Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) = Immortal X-Men #17, November 2023

Jean Grey = Immortal X-Men #18, December 2023

Proteus (Kevin MacTaggert) = X-Men: Forever #1, March 2024

Elixir (Josh Foley) = X-Men: Forever #2, April 2024

Tempus (Eva Bell) = X-Men: Forever #3, May 2024

Egg/Goldballs (Fabio Medina) = X-Men: Forever #4, May 2024

[song-of-baldy-ron]

I better not hear anyone speaking bad about my man Dorian, who just lost his brother to a Betrayer God and hasn't even had time to process that grief before being shown this footage. Not to mention losing a close friend to that same god and watching as other friends dedicated to the Wildmother/Raven Queen begged for help only for those two to stand by doing nothing as Lolth takes over Opal.

I don't think anything he saw in Downfall surprised him after that and he's absolutely valid for that opinion.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

OH MY GOD imagine platonic yandere adults, find out that the reader is their biological child somehow. Maybe from one of the scientists while doing some test and yans find out they need all of there reactions, especally if Wanda and peitro find out they have another sibling.

Ooooooh, yes! Yeah, that WOULD make things different. Because now the adult/s in question feel more attached (or entitled) to Reader, especially if they were someone who turned out very different from them (as in, saner and maybe a bit nicer)...

If it was Magneto who was Reader's biological parent, surprise, he's now doubling his efforts to free himself, his kids, Charles, and the rest of them out. And those who harmed his kids? They'll be dead when he's done with them. Of course, he is going to try and get closer to Reader, attempt to tell them what he now knows. Hopefully they believe him...

If Charles Xavier is Reader's biological parent, oh, what's this? A few guards mysteriously ended up in a coma? Oh, some head scientist who saw him went insane? That's nothing to worry about, but let's talk, try to calm down, and enjoy a bit of peace, shall we? Yeah, Xavier is ready to keep Reader safe, be it by incapacitating their abusers or simply helping calm his kid down. He wants to badly tell them their relation, but he's aware that it might not be a good time. But on the other hand, he doesn't know how long any of them have...

If Logan is Reader's biological parent, he's scared. He doesn't want them to get hurt, and he doesn't want them to be used as a weapon. He also doesn't want to hurt them. But he also wants to be close to them, wants to protect them. He's worried even more, because they could get hurt just for being related to him. He feels like he can be a bit more feral around them if he's their parent, because it's just as likely they're feral, too, and neither one of them would hurt the other when they're like that, would they? He'll be by their side as long as he can, and he'll try his best to keep them safe. He just hopes Reader survives long enough so they can escape...

If Victor was Reader's biological parent, he's ready to break out even sooner. He has a cub? And they're hurt? And they're sweet? And they're his blood? Ooooooooh, he's going to be goring those lab rats when he's free. He can share his kid with Jimmy, Logan, his runt, but the others? ... He'll think about it. He gets more possessive of them, more protective. If Reader is his by blood, then he feels he should have a say in how they handle them... And he won't hurt them, he'll try not to, but they shouldn't run if he goes to collect them. They don't need to be scared of their papa, right? He's keeping them safe, getting rid of their enemies and freeing their friends and uncle...

If Ororo was Reader's biological parent, she'd be very loving and motherly towards them. She'd happily accept them, and she'd be happy to take care of them. She's sorry they're in this situation, and wishes they could have found this all out some other way, but she hopes that they can move past their trauma and heal together, along with Evan and their friends. She will be electrocuting anyone who lays hands on them, and will be keeping Reader close once they've all escaped. She just has to break the news to them first, that they are related... Hopefully it won't make things worse, finding out about all of this...

Mystique would feel happy about it. One of her kids actually likes her? And this child is friends were her other two children? It's perfect! Perhaps she can finally reconnect with them, the way she's wanted to for a long time. She however hates that they're all stuck in this death trap of a place. She'll get rid of the ones who did this to them, and then they can all go home. She has to do this. If not, she could very well lose them all before they've got the chance to leave. She just hopes she can tell Reader about this newfound information next time she sees them...

Hank would enjoy knowing this, while also being bewildered. He, has a child? Him? When did this happen? And with who? Where? Why? It doesn't matter, he supposes. It just matters that he tells them, eventually. And that they survive, and get out. He knows his team, his family, will accept Reader, they already do, so knowing Reader is his kid will only make him more able to have a claim over them, to truly parent them. He already has ideas, and he's so ready to be done with this awful place. All they have to do is make it awhile longer, and it will only be a bad memory...

(I'd gladly discuss each possible parent option further, but I myself like any of the feral guys as possible parents for Reader. What can I say? They're my comfort characters! But I would find it fun if Reader were someone's hidden kid/clone... What do y'all have in mind over this?)

[siereads]

Kingdom of Flames and Flowers Review

Rating: 5/5

I was in a bit of a slump reading wise, nothing was holding my attention all that well and then I started this one at random and could not put it down.

The deeper I got into the story, the more I felt Mari's pure frustration with everything. I couldn't help but root for her as she dug at the history surrounding the kingdom, no matter how painful the truth was becoming for her. Her unwavering desire to make things better for the people of her home and the strength of her will are continuous, even when she's exhausted.

It also really highlights how people of privilege rarely, if ever, stop to question anything that either benefits them or doesn't affect them. The way everyone treats Mari like she's a stupid child or just making waves over nothing is unendingly frustrating but pretty par for the course overall.

Some of the plot points are pretty easy to spot from a mile away, but I don't really mind as the story overall is pretty good.

[robinhuntr]

Thinking about Gambit as a father again

[poreyneel]

drawing x-men characters until it finds its audience

[mgnetocore]

x-men characters as headlines — part 2

cause people seemed to like it and i made loads of them for fun

i still have like 15-20 more of these

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/mgnetocore/759523226689978368/x-men-characters-as-headlines-part-3

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

The spooky atmosphere of..

The Raven (1963) /// dir. Roger Corman