His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1) by Naomi Novik
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.
📖📖📖📘📘
Okay, second time writing this, let’s go!
I completely forgot I never posted a review, so I sat down to get right to it. Wrote up a lovely piece full of feelings, reactions, and the like— and wrote up many other pending reviews! Then, Tumblr raised me a big fucking middle finger because I accidentally hit CTRL+Z instead of CTRL+X (I had wanted to change the position of a paragraph) and…
The Whole Damn Thing was gone.
Enough about me, we’re all here for the books. Fictional struggles are so much more exciting than the nuisances of daily life.
This is another one of those books that have been on my to-read list longer than ten years. I found it out when I was in my Age-of-Sail, POTC, Golden Age of Piracy obsession. Amistad, Master and Commander, One Piece, Island of the Blue Dolphins— if it was media centered around the 17th-19th century and had boats, I would try to consume it.
Plus…dragons!
Never mind that a bitch couldn't swim, nor ever seen a damn boat in my life.
Or a dragon for that matter.
This book falls way more on the historical fiction side than the fantasy— truly a fantastic epic of the high seas! It’s very historically accurate, which just leads to the depth of worldbuilding. At first, Laurence as a narrator felt a little like dry toast at first, but as the story goes on, I feel a warmth for the character. Duty drives him, but it’s really his love for Temeraire and his genuine respect for his peers that drive his actions, and I’m weak for a heroic hero. I also really like how Novik makes Laurence a product of his times— no anachronistic virtue-signaling in this piece. It’s his environment and the people he engages with that guide the growth of his character, and it’s this facet of plot that kept me returning to this book eagerly.
The other star of this story is of course the eponymous dragon— Temeraire. His blue and orange morality, innocence yet canniness, and attachment to Laurence make him one of my favorite characters in this book.
The action scenes are where this particular book shines. It slows down near the middle, which is typical of Novik’s novels, but the ending battle was just
Overall, the first book felt like the origin story movie. Slow, character focused, worldbuilding is central to the plot, but if you're invested in the universe, you'll certainly pick up the next book—which I did!
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Library of Illusion Event Masterlist
Welcome to the Library!
Take your time browsing each section and perhaps you'll find a story that strikes your interests! We have a few genres to choose from and several writers including @sanjoongie @anyamaris @thelargefrye @kwanisms @kpop-stories-21 @stardragongalaxy & @mint-yooxgi!
And don't forget to check the return cart in the lobby for books that haven't made it back to their shelves! Just make sure to take care and tread lightly in the Restricted Section, you may come across a few books that aren't for the faint hearted.
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She Who Became the Sun is a 2021 historical fantasy novel by Shelley Parker-Chan. Parker-Chan's debut novel, the work is a re-imagining of the rise to power of the Hongwu Emperor in the 14th century.
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The Reanimator’s Heart
Title Reanimator’s Heart, Reanimator Mysteries #1
Author Kara Jorgensen
Summary:
Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in the path of the enigmatic Oliver Barlow. Oliver has two secrets. One, he has been in love with the charming Felipe Galvan for years. Two, he is a necromancer, but to keep the sensible life he’s built as a medical examiner, he must hide his powers. That is until Oliver finds Felipe murdered and accidentally brings him back from the dead. But Felipe refuses to die again until he and Oliver catch his killer. Together, Felipe and Oliver embark on an investigation to uncover a plot centuries in the making. As they close in on his killer, one thing is certain: if they don’t stop them, Felipe won’t be the last to die.
Genre:
Historical Urban Fantasy
Ship type:
m/m
Why you like it:
An interesting premise and interesting magic system. I didn’t like the ending for this one—it was rushed, imo—but the worldbuilding made up for it, and there’s a sequel out now that will hopefully wrap up everything up nicely.
Content tags
Violence and death, obvs.
(image description: black and gray background with red details to highlight the two male silhouettes in period costume standing on opposite sides of an image of a human heart. there are symbols of death near the bottom: a skull and an hourglass)
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i finish an episode and think about its remarkable storytelling and themes and characters and then i open the reddit thread from 9 years ago to see the original discussion (because i enjoy cringing and sighing for no good reason, apparently) and it’s all like “this was so hammy” “made no sense scientifically” “how the fuck do you destroy alien warriors with eels” “i hated when clara said [completely reasonable sentence] she’s so annoying i hope she dies” “vikings don’t have horns on their helmets” you’re watching a spectacular FANTASY show this is FANTASY it’s not supposed to be “historically” or “scientifically” accurate literally EVER because that’s not the POINT you unimaginative blockheads
it’s about stories it’s about the power of stories to save people it’s about love and devotion to your friends and principles. what it’s not about is whether reversing the polarity actually means anything. they make fun of that in the episode. christ
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I keep wanting to find some media that is just...about a Haunted Age Of Sail Boat. Hell I will take a Haunted Contemporary Boat. I have such an itch that's NOT BEING SCRATCHED. That's why I work on my comic all the time cos it's scratching the itch as a Haunted Whaling Ship Story. But I wanna consume someone ELSE'S boat ghost story too.
Is this gonna push me to watch ghost ship tonight? Haven't seen that since I was a teen. I remember it being mediocre and it's not what I want but.
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[anachronism]
anachronism : a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place
aesthetic prompts tag | aesthetic masterlist
A moodboard for writing or art inspiration. All images are sourced from Unsplash and are free to use under their license. If you use this moodboard, feel free to repost it with your finished creation. Credit is appreciated but not required.
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Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.
They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
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Historical manhwa dresses
One thing I SEVERELY want to see more in historical manhwas is outfits that look like they belong in the period the story is set in 🤧
I’m not asking for full on “100% historical accuracy”. Just the general silhouette of the outfit being vaguely accurate-ish is good enough for me
Like, look at Judith from The Villainess Flips the Script as an example.
Her outfit has fantasy elements/creative liberties, but it overall resembles/an 1880s-ish(?) silhouette.
Like she’s wearing bustle. And honestly, silhouette of her dress with it is incredibly flattering on her 😮💨❤️
[Now, there are definitely a number of other series that do it too, but we (me) severely need MORE of these]
Honestly it’s not even the historical inaccuracies that bother me.
What bother me are the tacky prom dresses we tend to get in (western setting) historical manhwa 😭
Like, I am so sorry. These women look gorgeous, but only when they don’t look out of place 😭
But most of the time we get FLs wearing criminal dresses looking stuff that makes them look funky and out of place
This all is not to say these outfits can’t look good (There are definitely a number of manhwas out there which make them work). But rather that most of the time these over the top, almost modern dresses don’t look that good lol (imo). And also I just want to slightly more historical based outfits, without the FL FLAMING them, as they do look quite pretty on them 🤕 (& I mention the FL part because that is for some reason an oddly popular trope, in particular in manhwas where MC isekai’d from modern times.)
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Hey mutuals! (And not). Drop your favourite book of all times, I need a new read! xxx
Mine is The Power from Naomi Alderman. Utterly obsessed.
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