thehaemanthus

[thehaemanthus]

Me, selecting filters on Ao3

[thehaemanthus]

It really is crazy how if you mention you write fanfiction with people outside fandom, they're always like "you should change the names and try to sell it." It misses the point (fun), but more importantly to me, I get slightly (and I know irrationally) insulted on a craft letter. Excuse me, my fanfic is entwined with the canon, thank you very much. I wish sometimes less entwined. You wouldn't believe the stupid bullshit some of my fics have to include because of canon.

[thehaemanthus]

[staggering to my feet and wiping a single perfect drip of blood from my mouth] i have to get back on my bullshit. no matter the cost

[thehaemanthus]

Jude: I killed valerian

Cardan: damn that’s crazy. So we gonna kiss or what?

[thehaemanthus]

Angsty Romantic Cliches I’m a Slut For 

Holding their partner’s unconscious/dead body

Sobbing into their partner’s shoulder/chest

One of them is hurt and the other falls asleep in their hospital room

The other losing their mind when their partner is hurt/killed and charging into battle recklessly

“I thought I lost you” hugs

“Don’t go where I can’t follow!” 

One is mind controlled and forced to fight the other

The other refusing to harm them and getting seriously injured as consequence 

The person coming to and seeing what they’ve done

I could go on about this trope alone for 5 hours

A last desperate “I love you!” 

A tearful, hard kiss before battle, bonus points if its a confessional kiss

“Please, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

Bandaging each other’s wounds

Both of them injured, and waking up beside each other

[thehaemanthus]

the self-indulgent fanfiction will continue until morale improves

[thehaemanthus]

Kicked out of Eden

Chapter 2

—

Once he tells her. Everything will be fine. That smile, the curve of her jaw, the dimple in her cheek. His eyes drop to her lips, a kick of heat deep in his gut. Not his. Not his. Not. His.

—

Happy Father's Day :)

Read on AO3

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Masterlist

[thehaemanthus]

You've heard of the Which Vanserra Brother Is Your Mate Quiz, now get ready for: The Ultimate Prythian High Lord Matchmaking!

→ ✨ TAKE THE QUIZ HERE ✨ ←

Reblog this post with your results or tag me! I hope you have fun and enjoy yourself as much as I did making this quiz!

A couple of notes on the quiz!

There are 23 questions in total. The quiz is designed to take 10 minutes, but it can be shorter/longer than that!

Some answers have multiple High Lords assigned to them, so you don't have to worry about always choosing an option dedicated to just one result!

Some of the questions have implied NSFW content. Please be mindful upon entering the quiz!

[thehaemanthus]

Recently Read

I got onto the book section of Instagram reels and was served some hits and some misses that finally came on hold from the library. I also enjoyed some GraphicAudio productions and finally finished a classic. I won't say much on the GraphicAudio because like...it's books that I've already read. BUT I will just say I was spoiled with the Kate Daniels adaptations because the Mercy Thompson ones are not as great. And I am scared to look at the ACOTAR and Red Rising ones.

When the Moon Hatched, Sarah A. Parker

Raeve, an assassin with a past, does assassin things and then ends up on a grand adventure. That's my non-spoilery way of saying it. In this original fantasy world, Parker does some great world building. Some things like changing vocabulary (dae vs. day, slumber vs. night, sleepsuite vs. bedroom) are these kind of details in a wider world full of dragons, magics, and gods.

Raeve is an interesting protagonist, reminds me quite a bit of Aelin actually. Mysterious incredibly tragic past, snarky, badass-no-one-can-beat-me assassin. But she has quite a lot of depth that we see pretty quick. Kaan, Mr. Love Interest, is decently three-dimensional. I'm not swooning over him, but I am being stabbed in the heart by this love story. And!!! And the rest of the story too! It took me a while to piece together what was happening-- the story was complex enough for me that I was like "how do these puzzle pieces fit together" for a while and then I understood, and was like "oh". And then I understood some more and was like OOOHHH!!! OH SHIT! It scratched a particular itch of mine.

The second book is not out yet, but I'm excited!

The Bridge Kingdom, Danielle L. Jensen (and The Traitor Queen)

The Bridge Kingdom and The Traitor Queen are the first two books in a series, but I believe after these two our protagonists change. So the same story, the same universe, but only the first two are in the POV of Lara and Aren. Lara is a princess trained to infiltrate the "bridge kingdom" by marrying its king, Aren.

Interesting world-building and politics, an enjoyable read that had me reading on a speeding minibus and risking a headache when I got near the end of the first book. The characters are solid and enjoyable. Lara is strong and also has some incredibly vulnerable moments, which I appreciated. The author does a good job of making her well-rounded and not making a big deal about it. So she publicly panics, but doesn't bluster too much about it. She is a fighter but she also wears dresses but also that's like not remarked upon at all. Idk I just appreciated the showing, rather than telling, of these parts of the character.

The angst, especially in the second book, is there but not top tier. Action scenes were good, and I need to do another shout out to the world building because it's creative and fun. Solid, enjoyable read.

I wasn't going to read the other books-- I don't really like it when we switch POVs. But the story isn't wrapped up, and there's enough of a cliffhanger that I'm like "well now I HAVE to read". I'll let you know what I think when the library delivers those books in a couple of months.

Trial of the Sun Queen, Nisha J. Tuli

The blurb describes this as "A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Fourth Wing". I've never read Fourth Wing and truly don't know what it's about, but I can say it's like ACOTAR. Like. Perhaps too much like ACOTAR.

Lor is plucked from prison and put into trials in a foreign kingdom to compete to marry the king. It's giving big The Selection vibes, but-- and you'll have to take my word for this-- The Selection did it better. Idk, the trials and the competition in Trial of the Sun Queen was there, but it all went so fast. In fact, the whole book felt like it went too quick and didn't breathe into moments properly. I didn't believe in some of the choices Lor made, though the attempt to make sense of it was there and it was not as egregious as it could have been. I just think after what she went through she would be 10x more suspicious and traumatised. At least in The Selection, I look at America and can say "yeah that tracks for a 17 year old girl" when she does stupid things. Also the whole thing in that series was dragged out over 3 books, and this was, again, so fast.

It was also painfully predictable, and the author did it to herself because of the dual POV. Spoilers, I guess, but it ain't nothing you won't pick up. There's Lor, a human normal girl plucked from nothing. A golden king who dotes on her, is incredibly kind, and who she...well, thankfully she doesn't fall totally for him. And then we got a Dark Prince from a Night-- excuse me, the Aurora Kingdom.

Part of the reason it was so predictable was that Mr. Golden King was so nice to this random-ass girl he handpicked. At least Tamlin was grumbly and Feyre was kind of forced onto him. I believed Feyre/Tamlin because the relationship developed and-- oh yeah! We didn't have a Rhys POV telling us who to actually pay attention to! There's also a Lucien-esque character-- loyal to Mr. Golden King and doesn't like Lor because he's suspicious but grudgingly likes her by the end.

Will I read the next book? I guess, maybe. But it's predictable, and not in a good way. There's tropes, and then there's copy-pasting. That's probably too harsh on the author, but like. Girl please. Anyone reading this book has likely read ACOTAR too and I'm sure they are thinking the same thing.

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen

I mean...it's a classic. I feel wholly unqualified to actually give any sort of analysis about it. It's not my favorite Austen book, but it was charming. I'm super sensitive about second-hand embarrassment and I knew what was going to happen-- but it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Overall, a fun read that I'm glad I could check off my list. Catherine is a cutey for sure, and I liked how the narrator inserted her thoughts and opinions.

I still have Austen books like Mansfield Park and Lady Susan to read (and allegedly people have published Sanditon but I thought only a very little of it was ever written?). I think Mansfield park is next on my list.

The Winter King, Thomas Penn

This was a biography of King Henry IV that I tried to listen to and didn't finish. I tried man, I tried so hard to listen to this book. I'm interested in the Tudors, I thought this would be educational or something. But man, histories might not be for me because I was not retaining much info. The most interesting parts where the descriptions of the women, from Princess Catherine to Queen Elizabeth of York. I listened for hours, thought we were coming close to the end of Henry's life, then saw I was only halfway through. Maybe I'll pick it up again one day? Might be good for long bus rides.

Cambio Springs Mysteries, Elizabeth Hunter

In a small desert town, descendants of a handful of original families who settled the area have a secret-- they are shapeshifters. Lizards, birds, bear, wolves, oh my! I think this is what people classify as "cozy" nowadays? One romance per book, a small town, a group of friends, murders. I thought I would read the first book and then tap out, but I actually went through all of the published ones.

These are candy books, but they are solid candy books. Also heavily featured children, so if that's not your thing you may not enjoy them. Nothing magnificent going on here, but I liked the setting (I miss cacti), the different romances, and the mysteries.

[thehaemanthus]

Hi, I seen you reblogged a post of mine and said you needed to track the book down, so I figured I could help out

It’s A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid

ohhh good to know, thank you!! Conveniently I've had this book on hold for a couple of weeks now, so now I'm REALLY anticipating getting it in about...10 weeks lol

[thehaemanthus]

My hobbies include reading, writing and doing neither of those things

[thehaemanthus]

[thehaemanthus]

Fanfiction writers be like:

"here's the immensely time consuming 100K word novel-length passion project I'm working on between my real life job and family! It eats up hundreds of hours of my one and only life, causes me emotional harm, and I gain basically nothing from it! Also I put it on the internet for free so anyone can read if they want. Hope you love it!" :)

[thehaemanthus]

I...finished a new chapter of live once (once is enough)

[thehaemanthus]

[thehaemanthus]

So writers joke a lot about "drinking the tears of our readers", but I want to be so honest with you when I tell you that making you cry isn't our real goal. Making you feel is.

Kicking your feet? Giggling? Can't stop smiling? And yes, crying? Feeling anything, everything. That's our goal. That means we did The Job.

[thehaemanthus]

this isn’t getting finished any time this century but i finally tried rendering bc i had a cool poster idea. side note: does anyone know how to draw wolves

please read red rising