#the supreme lie

[hansreviewsstuff]

Liar liar

Over the years I have collected a vast selection of books with "lie" or a variation of it in the title, so I decided to read them all. Here are my reviews of We Were Liars, Lies Like Poison, The Supreme Lie and One Of Us Is Lying. Janus Sanders would be proud!

23/10/2022

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

3.5/5

Booktok book, oh no! To be honest, I can see why it is popular. It's main theme of familial/generational trauma is expressed incredibly well, and even me, who's experience in that subject only stretches to watching Encanto, could really see the reality of the terrible Sinclair family, and how it affects those who are a part of it. I didn't go into the book expecting a story about that (the perils of no blurb) but it was interesting to read about anyway, and I feel those who relate more closely to the subject would enjoy it even more. Now. The plot twist. I try my best to do spoiler-free reviews, so I won't reveal it, but. The plot twist, the overall "answer to the underlying question throughout the book", was a simple solution. A bobs your uncle, here's how it actually is, done, solution. Shocking, no doubt, and I will enjoy reading the book again in the future and spotting all the things that reveal it, but nothing to uncurl. Not sure if I liked it. As a fan of murder mysteries which have complicated solutions that you have to get your head around, it wasn't exactly my piece of cake. And finally. The metaphors. I have seen other people on TikTok comment on this, so I'm not alone. They were a bit too good. So much so that I didn't know whether our main character actually got "shot" or whether it was just a metaphor. This happened all throughout the book and I got very confused!

Favourite Character: Johnny

Would I recommend this book: Mm. Depends. As I said, if you are interested in familial trauma and it's effects, and are ready for a frankly devastating plot twist, go ahead. Just be prepared.

I feel like past me may of slandered this book a bit too much. I skim read it a bit, I think. It's very good, I promise!

1(4? my handwriting)/11/2022

Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher

3/5

I really enjoyed This Lie Will Kill You by Pitcher, so I had high hopes for this book, but I'm sad to say that it let me down. There were almost two books in one, the murder mystery story and a story about the main characters' journeys and emotions, discovering things together and apart. The latter could of existed without the former perfectly, with some tweaks. I guessed the murderer and the story behind that pretty quickly, and if it was just that, without the beautiful description of emotions, then this book would be a 1/5! (Sorry). Two books in one. Focus on one thing please! Sufficient gay and trans people though.

Favourite character: Lily

Would I recommend this book: Sorry, no. Read This Lie Will Kill You!

21/11/2022

The Supreme Lie by Geraldine McCaughrean

3.5/5

I think past me may have been a little bit too nice to this book, giving it the same rating as We Were Liars.

Halfway into this story I discovered that McCaughrean was quite an established author, writing popular novels which were mainly for people younger than me. It definitely gave that vibe, of a story a children's author has been building in her head for a while, wanting to finally write it down to produce something different than her usual novels. I say this because it was an incredibly well designed world, meticulous and, frankly, very creative. Many stories could be told in that one world. I did have to keep referring to the very useful map! The twist villain didn't really work for me because, to put it simply, I wasn't paying attention when it was said who he was! Oops. Slow start, and also alternating chapters. Listen, I have nothing against alternating chapters! Me with a short attention span sometimes likes two stories going on at once, and I especially like when they cross over beautifully. But the second, not main story in The Supreme Lie about some boy and his dog, I really didn't care about. At one point I was tempted to skip every other chapter. Sorry! I think I said this book wasn't a complete failure because 1) the characters were quite loveable, and 2) the end was quite good with the tension. But the rest of the book dragged!

Favourite character: Kovet (I have completely forgotten who this is)

Would I recommend this book: Maybe for people younger than me. I only bought it because of the cover and the blurb, and because it was in buy one get one half price, but I don't completely regret it. Read other people's reviews of this book, maybe. This review, I realize, is not very helpful! (Basically, the book is about a country plagued with endless rain, and after the leader dies, a simple serving girl must pretend to be the leader as not to send the country into complete dismay. I probably should have mentioned that!)

02/12/2022

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

4/5

Dammit, this book could of been a 5! All throughout reading it I was like this is really good, really good, this could be a 5. But then I guessed the murderer. And it was, frankly, a really disappointing solution. The kind of solution you jokingly guess. Devastating, but I enjoy classic whodunnits where you, well, catch whodunnit. I've heard that the TV show has a better, more surprising and thought out solution, and it's a shame the book doesn't as well. I guess that's why they changed it! Nonetheless, the book was still really good. Different character POV chapters were nice and refreshing, (another reason why the ending was disappointing- I wanted one of the seemingly truth telling character POVs to be lying!) and I liked the whole omniscient-edgy-tumblr-poster-seemingly-murderer making fun of everyone struggling to find them. And again, sufficient and realistic gay people. I was genuinely engrossed in all the characters stories, and even, for once, the romance. Good book.

Favourite character: Kris

Would I recommend this book: Let's be honest, you've read it.

Sorry if the last review was a bit spoilery. But, as I said, you have most definitely either watched it or read it. Hope you enjoyed these reviews!

Books I still have left to post: ↪ The Song Of Achillies ↪ How To Kill Your Family ↪ House Of Hollow ↪ Afterlove ↪ A Whole New World ↪ Splinters Of Sunshine And I want to do a Glass Onion/ Knives out post. Goddammt, I have just realized you press shift new line to make a new line without a huge space. Ughhhhh. Expect better formatting next time, then.

See you, Hans :)

[totallynotokguys]

Lego Monkie Kid Rewatch: Season 3

Episode 10, Samadhi Fire Part 1/2

Just a warning, I do talk about season 5 for a moment, but I'll try to keep it labeled and separate so you can easily skip over it without getting spoiled if you want.

Now that I know a bit of the Journey to the West, I have only just realised how impossible it would be for the pilgrims to be here helping baby Red Son.

No way could this rage baby Red Son have thought up clever scheams to catch and eat Tang Sanzang the way JTTW Red Son did. Not to mention at the end JTTW Red Son ended up going to Guanyin's villain reform program.

On the other hand, I don't believe the sealing of Samadhi Fire would have happened before the journey. Wukong is clearly wearing his post-pilgrimage get up and the pilgrims all act like they know each other.

All of this to say, just how many differences are there between the show's journey and the novel's.

Then again, the fact that Iron Fan and Bull King are still in love and married should have been the first tip off for me.

Season 5 Spoiler Talk

I am curious, are all of these differences a result to Nine-Headed Demon's interference? What the heck did the guy have to do to insure Red Son would be born late enough to be baby during Tang Sanzang's life time? Is the Nine-Headed Demon responsible for the Samahdi fire being so out of control in a young Red Son? In JTTW, Red Son still wields it and has great control over it.

"For the Samahdi fire to be split in three, you must harmonise you're energies!"

These three? Harmonise? A hard headed demon king, a sentient rock monkey, and a duty bound celestial ex-mortal? Sanzang was basically asking for failure here.

Wukong: 'Psssh, this is easy.'

Also Wukong:

Ao Lie just took a blow for Sanzang!

The notorious, lets everything go to chaos in a box around him while continues to be horse actually stepped up and took action. Now I know for sure this is post-pilgrimage! Character development!

Reprimands in sarcasm and bonks heads when annoyed.

Brother coded, brother coded, brother coded, brother coded

"Alright, you win."

In the last episode when Tang said this it was more from Macaque's perspective and thus Tang sounded desperate and hopeless. He really seemed like he'd given up.

Now, thanks to these three shots… everything feels different. Same lines, same delivery. But now I believe Tang isn't giving up. He's got a plan!

I have not talked enough about the sound design in this show! I love the sounds they use for magic. I'm pretty sure that each magic user plus each different power their unique chime/gong! Examples:

Tang's has a very clear and simple ring.

Ne Zha's sounds like fairy twinkle lights, all light, airy, and chimey.

Wukong main magic is like a bamboo thunking against a stone, or a a small stone creating ripples in a pond. Wish I knew what made this sound. I have been conditioned to be hyped every time I hear it.

Interestingly, MK's magic sounds the same. I believe this is what further fed into the belief that Wukong had gifted MK his magic instead of it coming from the kid. The shows own little misdirection!

But really, I think the reason for the similarity in their magic, both ability and sound, stems from them both being made by Nuwa as celestial stone monkeys.

The whole reason I thought to bring it up was this transition. We go from a third person perspective to looking through Wukong's eyes. and the first thing to clue us in that this is happening is the sound of Wukong's gold vision activating before suddenly the image blinks gold and we find ourselves zooming out of Wukong's eyes as he watches the scene from far away.

The way they did this was such a cool transition as well as an awesome example of how the golden vision works! Superman, you wish you're eye powers were this cool!

"Let's hope my aim is as good as it used to be."

AKA: "If I skewer you, it's totally because I missed and not because I'm still angry at you and taking petty revenge."

Red, blue, green. Long ago, the three Samadhi Fires were separated and the great destruction was extinguished.

Only when the three colors are found again can they unite and create- PINK FIRE!

Wai- what? That's not how color theory works. How did I never notice before? The full might of the Samadhi Fire is pink.

Love the shattered chains, and the washing away of the blue aura to symbolize LBD's hold over him being broken.

"Someone get some water!"

I'm surprised he didn't throw snow at her. Its right there.

Anyone else think it's really cool that Wukong can just pull Macaque out of his shadows?

Like, no one else has been able to do that!

Ah, so Tang didn't have a plan. He just did it because it felt right. shakes my head Oh Tang, and for a moment I thought you were competent.

Seriously though, I am now forever scarred by the word destiny. I hate it.

"I hate to interrupt, but can someone explain what is going on!"

No please interrupt. We need you MK! You're the only one who could possible salvage this situation. Everybody else just keeps making it worse!

Macaque- ignoring the child in fiery pain to celebrate his freedom.

Wukong- lashing out at the closest person marginally at fault (that isn't him).

Ne Zha- voice of doom declaring the girl and world as a lost cause.

Tang- DESTINY

Like, great job everyone. Way to solve your problems.

[zamisriza-the-resurrection]

Having an Evil Goku and making the Z-fighters and Goku himself forced to confront a potential reality where Goku was evil was a massive missed opportunity in the Zamasu arc. I mean if it's a multiverse there's gotta be infinite possibilities. Also it would've been cool to incorporate into XenoVerse 2 as Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time get into a minor argument of why they can't just make Goku good. Basically it's because no matter how horrible the "canon events" for a lack of a better term, may be, the least they can do is keep the individual timelines they way it was originally written. Not to mention the horrific implications of him allying with the future Zamasu and wanting to erase everyone and having to think about what made him snap. Like Toriyama wanted to make Goku more unique, why not make him encounter an enemy where the heroism caused him to snap? It would be unique because it doesn't take away from Goku for the sake of being edgy like some other shonens do, also it would force Goku to actually think about that rather than going full villain mode because it's an alternate Goku. Yes that was a long introduction and in this essay I will

[skiitter]

The fact that you can say the absolute cruelest shit just to Vivienne and Sera at any point in time is crazy actually.

[strangelockd]

I want them all please.

Art by IG: Nanosorceror 🥰

[kingofanemptyworld]

.5 seconds of Grimmjow content… god I’m going to be insufferable when he shows up again for good

[luthienne]

making so much headway on the extremely important task of staring at the page for an hour

[commiepinkofag]

the “star-gazing” clause

fascists dismantling free speech, criminalizing victims of capitalism

[selenealwayscries]

Day 19: Sheep, Day 20: Turning him into a meme because why not, Day 21: Evil scientist & Day 22: Is That Sheep Looking At Me?

I've been drawing i swear I just keep forgetting to post because I have the attention span of a fish

[wuhoh]

The presidential debate was fucking bonkers

Actual thing that happened:

Biden, decaying, barely holding on to life: Hamas is the only one who wants the war to continue. They are genocidal terrorists

Trump, with an elbow drop: No, wrong actually. Israel wants the war to keep going, not Hamas. Plot twist - I'm all for it. Let Israel genocide Palestine.

We are soooo cooked I cannot believe it

[kisiselintihar]

anyway. i shouldn't replay danganronpa not bc it's bad (it's horrendously bad) but bc of the. um

[randomnameless]

Can you imagine what the reaction would be from Edelgard fans if Wilhelm was ever made playable in Heroes, and instead of being against Serios or not trusting her, he is actually just her BFF who talks about her more then Cyril.

He also goes like, "What secret history about Serios are you talking about? dont talk shut about my bestie.

Willy in FEH?

Lol

More seriously,

Lower your expectations anon, after the nothingburger that was Altina's Supreme Alt, FEH made it clear that the Brave Supreme Leader FB and Hegemongard's FB were outliers - we won't ever get anything like this anymore, students will uwu about academy days and the friends they made for 10 months, Hanneman, Gilbert and Alois are old thus will never be released, and the rest is flanderized.

Assuming Willy is ever released though, I can see his lines purposedly avoiding mentionning Nabateans and being milquetoast "we must defeat Nemesis and bring peace to the land" x10.

Maybe his jp lines - heavily Pat'd - would have something like "Adrestia will unify Fodlan and make it a land for everyone regardless of their race" (Pat'd swap "race" by "background" like what happened in Engage!) which would destroy the "sekrit smokescreen theory*" to smithereens, but hey, we still have to this day people arguing Supreme Leader "You are a dragon you should not rule over humans" isn't biased against pointy ears so...

Ultimately, I think most people wouldn't care.

*That was already debunked in Nopes!

Willy being alive after the WoH and Lycaon's icing can't tell... Lycaon's successor that Seiros and her ilk control humanity, given that Cethleann and Cichol left, Macuil left and he goes to meet Indech in a remote location in the mountains...

But I guess Supreme Leader's words have more weight than what the game presents, or what Rhea'n'Seteth - who personally knew the dude - reveal about him. Sure, she's biased and all, but at the end of the WoC, the only Nabatean left to "act" in Fodlan was Seiros the Warrior - her brothers fucked off.

[buriesitsteeth]

Koz • bard • college of swords • asmodeus tiefling

[hulloitsdani]

Oh no. Drawing Grima is fun actually.

[hetalia-club]

i think this next battle in the beauty pageant will give Romano a run for his money.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Hi I read glaze defects during first period today and I had to stare at a wall for 10 minutes to be normal again thank you

ayyyyyyyyyyyy I’m so glad you liked it!

glaze defects continues to be the fic where the response to it stunned me the most. like, I thought it was too niche for most people to even bother reading it, considering it was a character study that you needed to read an entire other fic to have context for. But I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I wrote it, and I’m so glad I did. Y’all have been so nice about it, and I’m thrilled that it resonated with people