#Lords & Ladies Book Review

[beboped1]

Lords and Ladies

Took me a little longer to finish this one, due to some real life interruptions.

Lords and Ladies

First Read: Grad School

Verdict Then: An enjoyable entry that nicely wraps up Magrat's story, and I do like the evil elves.

Verdict Now: Bouncing back from Witches Abroad, this is a very fun adventure story with great character moments that isn't trying to be more than that.

I take back what I said in my Witches Abroad review about Granny Weatherwax being a bad protagonist. Pratchett just wasn't a good enough writer yet to balance the mystique and internal view of the character. But by Lords and Ladies, he definitely is.

Lords and Ladies is a substantial change of pace from Small Gods, and I appreciate it. Not every book should aim to give the reader an existential crisis, sometimes we just want characters bouncing off each other, a slowly building crisis, and a simple through line theme. Lords and Ladies is in many ways a classic adventure tale, and really without the direct deconstruction or parody that characterized the previous adventure-y Discworld novels.

It does feel like Pratchett has turned a corner in his writing after Witches Abroad. Rather than engaging with classic narrative arcs in a parodic or explicitly deconstructing way, he's starting to lean into them, using them as tools. Compare Lords and Ladies to, say, Guards, Guards. In Guards, Guards, Vimes gets a classic character arc but Carrot doesn't - rather, Carrot is a deconstruction/reversal of the "innocent destined hero" trope, and deconstruction like that is baked into the heart of the book. In Lords and Ladies, Magrat gets a coming of age story, Granny Weatherwax has a crisis of faith, and Nanny Ogg gets to show off the strength of her pro-social witching. But all of those arcs are played basically straight - there's no wink-nod or other deflation. There is still a kind of "fractured fairy tale" feel here - Pratchett is still himself - but it's more aesthetic than structural.

This is a great choice for this book in particular, because it really lets the witch characters play around and off each other. Nanny Ogg in particular has some amazing moments, showing off how she complements Weatherwax perfectly. Magrat finally gets a real character arc - learning to let go of some of her insecurity and how to decide for herself how she will fill the role she's given. On the other side, the Elves do feel a bit blah as villains. They're almost more a force of nature than a true villain - there's intentionally no humanity to them, to better reflect how each of the witches' approach to life is essentially human. And maybe this happened in the 30 years between when it was written and now, but "elves/fairies are actually evil buggers" is at this point such an extremely well worn trope that it doesn't even scan as parody any more.

Side characters are great - Pratchett really flexes his "economical character establishment" muscles here with Mr Brooks, Hodgesaargh, Shawn Ogg, and the Morris Men. I have to love Casanunda, who tries so hard and finally gets his night with Nanny Ogg. It's also refreshing to see such a female character focused book after Small Gods, which may not have a single named female character, and certainly doesn't have any of importance. He's made some huge leaps in writing women too, moving past many of the "man in your MFA class" tropes that had hindered much of his previous work.

Theme wise, there's definitely a "keeping people ignorant of the truth is harmful, mostly" thread, but it's pretty light and doesn't really hit that hard. I don't know where in my final list Lords and Ladies will place, but it's exactly the kind of functional, fun, and light work that would make a great airplane read, and it's not trying to be anything else. Not every book should be a transcendent treatise on human nature - sometimes, all you want is a story.

#gnu terry pratchett #terry pratchett #book review #books #discworld #fantasy books #long post #Lords and Ladies

[amarrymeinbostonwriter]

Aww! I’m so glad my Avril Lavigne post is so popular. She’s great, isn’t she? :)

I’ve been reading, writing, and thinking on things most of today. All separate topics sort of, but I’m tired now... brain fried. 

#okay it was like 20 likes/reblogs but that's a lot to me okay? #I cued up posts for this weeks because I'm trying to catch up to my reading and owed work this week #y'all liked my bookblr posts too I noticed #I have a 2023 tbr thing I'm going to post #hope everyone is doing good #I read 9 of my 24 articles so far (I started number 10) #and I finished Lady Chatterly's Lover (Derogatory) #somehow Lawrence managed to completely bore and digust me at the same time great job! #the violence of my reactions to these books will hopefully help me write my paper #I loved that one article was titled 'The failure of D.H. Lawrence' #yes fight him! #and another review I read basically described Hall and Una as the lesbian Lord Byron and Caro it was...something #people who unapologetically serve real life cathy/heathcliff energy #me and my interest in unhinged writers #I still think Hall was done dirty #mychatter #grad school #books

[annafromuni]

One of the best Historical Fiction Murder Mystery Series

Andrea Penrose continues to put out incredibly engaging, twisted tales that I cannot help but sink my teeth into. Murder at the Serpentine Bridge has everything you could possibly want – a political gathering of the ages, a dastardly plot which threatens national security, a brilliant rag-tag gang of sleuths and a time pressure which makes everything so much more compelling. I’m no strange to…

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#murder at the serpentine bridge #andrea penrose #wrexford and sloane mystery series #lady charlotte sloane #lord wrexford #historical fiction #historical crime mystery #murder mystery #historical fiction books #regency era mystery #book review

[burningvelvet]

Lord Byron's first edition copy of Frankenstein (1818), one of only two known surviving copies to be personally inscribed by Mary Shelley (the other is to her friend Mrs. Thomas). Byron took this copy with him when he went into the Greek War of Independence, and it was among his personal things when he died there in 1824:

Mary didn't disclose her name in the inscription because the novel was published anonymously and she initially wanted to keep it that way. However, Byron did reveal her identity in a letter to his publisher, correcting his assumption that Percy was the one who wrote the novel:

"The story of the agreement to write the Ghost-books is true — but the ladies are not Sisters — one is Godwin’s daughter by Mary Wolstonecraft — and the other the present Mrs. Godwin’s daughter by a former husband. Mary Godwin (now Mrs. Shelley) wrote 'Frankenstein' — which you have reviewed thinking it Shelley’s — methinks it is a wonderful work for a Girl of nineteen — not nineteen indeed — at that time."

Under Mary Shelley's consultation, Thomas Moore writes in his Life of Lord Byron (vol III):

"During a week of rain at this time, having amused themselves with reading German ghost-stories, they agreed, at last, to write something in imitation of them. 'You and I,' said Lord Byron to Mrs. Shelley, 'will publish ours together.'"

Percy, writing as Mary with her permission, mentions Byron and himself (in the third-person) in the novel's 1818 preface thus:

"Two other friends (a tale from the pen of one of whom would be far more acceptable to the public than any thing I can ever hope to produce) and myself agreed to write each a story, founded on some supernatural occurrence.

The weather, however, suddenly became serene; and my two friends left me on a journey among the Alps, and lost, in the magnificent scenes which they present, all memory of their ghostly visions. The following tale is the only one which has been completed."

#mary shelley #frankenstein #percy shelley #percy bysshe shelley #lord byron #byron #shelley #the shelleys #literature #english literature #romanticism #novels #books #authors #writers #19th century #gothic literature #gothic #the geneva squad #lake geneva 1816 #geneva squad #dreams of 1816

[quasi-normalcy]

WHY IS it felt that the continued elevation of J K Rowling can only be achieved at the expense of other writers (Mistress of magic, News Review, last week)? Now we learn that prior to Harry Potter the world of fantasy was plagued with "knights and ladies morris-dancing to Greensleeves." In fact the best of it has always been edgy and inventive, with "the dark heart of the real world" being exactly what, underneath the top dressing, it is all about. Ever since The Lord of the Rings revitalised the genre, writers have played with it, reinvented it, subverted it and bent it to the times. It has also contained some of the very best, most accessible writing for children, by writers who seldom get the acknowledgement they deserve. Rowling says that she didn't realise that the first Potter book was fantasy until after it was published. I'm not the world's greatest expert, but I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?'

Terry Pratchett, letter in the Sunday Times, 2005.

#gnu terry pratchett #jk rowling #fantasy

[emilybeemartin]

Masterpost

My Published Books:

A Field Guide to Mermaids (2022, Macmillan Kids, Middle-grade illustrated science-fantasy) "An indispensable, encyclopedic resource for nature quests—mythological or otherwise." - Kirkus Starred Review

The Outlaw Road duology (Harper Collins, Epic fantasy) "This is epic fantasy done right." -Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Sunshield (2020)

Floodpath (2021)

The Creatures of Light trilogy (Harper Collins, Epic fantasy)

Woodwalker (2016)

Ashes to Fire (2017)

Creatures of Light (2018)

Official Portfolio

Redbubble Shop (Lord of the Rings merch)

INPRNT Shop (portfolio prints)

Fanworks:

Boromir Lives AU Illustrated Anthology:

Boromir Lives: Helm's Deep

Boromir Lives: Whump-Time After Pelennor

Boromir Lives: GO TO SLEEP

Boromir Lives: Aragorn's Coronation

Boromir Lives: Faramir and Eowyn's Wedding

Boromir Lives: Panic! At the Ballroom

Boromir Lives: It's a BABY

Boromir Lives: High Uncle of the White Tower

Boromir Lives: We Didn't Have a Choice

Boromir Lives: The Haircuts

Other Lord of the Rings comics/illustrations

The Raccoon Saga

Boromir and Faramir Swimming the Anduin

Boromir on Caradhras

Ladies of Gondor and Rohan

Legolas Ten-Year Redraw

The Three Hunters Solve a Mystery

This Stupid One that Always Makes the Rounds

Queen's Thief Illustrations (This is by no means complete; these are just some of the ones I spent the most time on.)

Official Character Lineup

The Symbolism Illustration

At the Window

QT Appreciation Week Watercolor

The Fate of All Thieves

That One Scene

Don't Lower the Point in Third!

Rooftop

Park Ranger Stuff:

Tips for Applying for NPS Jobs

#emily b martin #a field guide to mermaids #the outlaw road duology #sunshield #floodpath #creatures of light #woodwalker #ashes to fire #lord of the rings #boromir #legolas #queens thief #eugenides #park ranger #national parks

[frodo-with-glasses]

25 Questions with Phil Dragash: YES, SERIOUSLY!

So y'all know how I was reviewing Phil Dragash's audiobook of LotR last year, but kinda fell off somewhere in the middle of Rohan?? Well, guess what! A couple weeks ago, I received a tumblr message from the man himself, saying he'd read through all my reviews, had really enjoyed the little blast from the past, and was open to answering questions if I had any!

So of course, I had LOTS of questions.

The first one being: "Are you actually the real Phil Dragash??"

But I'm delighted to say that after exchanging emails with the work email listed on his website, I can confidently say that it is the real dude, and I've had a blast chatting with him! So for those of you who urged I listen to this audiobook—especially @laurelindorenan for her glowing recommendation—and for everyone else who likes the audiobook and/or enjoyed my reviews: I am delighted to present, ladies and gentlehobbits, this peek behind the curtain!

But of course I'm putting it all below the cut, because this man rambles like I do 🤣

Obligatory disclaimer: All opinions presented by Mr. Dragash are his own, I am not necessarily condoning any of them; please do not come after me for his opinions regarding pineapple on pizza.

25 QUESTIONS, LET'S GO!

1. Tell me how you got into Lord of the Rings!

I was ten years old when my dad took me to the library, and found a VHS copy of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated Lord of the Rings film. I was already a fan of the “Chronicles of Narnia” and my dad just handed the tape to me and said “Look, C.S. Lewis’s friend made this”. I watched it, and had no idea what was going on. It was so hard to understand.

Fast forward to the year 2002 when “Fellowship” was out on DVD, and we had a movie night at my older cousin’s place, and watched the film for the first time. My 13 year old self was enraptured by it. Dad bought the DVD first thing the next day, and I’ve been a fan ever since! I, my brother, and our dad watched “Return of the King” in theaters four times, which was saying something, considering we only ever saw a movie once in cinemas. Between “The Return of the King” opening in December ‘03, I picked up the books and read (as well as I could) through them. A lot of friends kept joking “tell us how the damn story ends!”, good times.

2. When and how did you decide to make this audiobook? What’s the story behind the entire project? 

I was a very ambitious lad, and my first and biggest interest was filmmaking. I used to direct short films with my friends ever since my 11th birthday, and was the youngest in class at the filmschool I attended a few years later. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I had massive ambitions to direct “the Hobbit”, which is silly in retrospect considering I was 16 years old at the time. I even sent my portfolio and DVDs of my films to Peter Jackson’s manager (who actually got back to me with a wonderful response, despite not being able to accept my ‘completely reasonable’ offer) When I was heartbroken and torn to pieces knowing I wouldn’t be directing the movie, a few more years went by, and I decided to reread some chapters of the “Lord of the Rings” books. I remember really well that this was late at night, laying in bed, and going through “King of the Golden Hall” and seeing how close to the movies it was, but also far more expanded. I thought “my extensive home-made short movies experience with sound design and sound mixing could work here, and I could just read a few chapters and try to make the soundscape as realistic as possible. Why not try it?” 

So, the next day I tried. The first two chapters I tried were “King of the Golden Hall” and “A Journey in the Dark” (which partly answers your other question about that chapter). I was so absolutely surprised by how well it was going, that I decided to upload them onto YouTube in March 2010 I think. I got a fairly good response, and I was planning on doing a few more random chapters. I never intended to do the whole thing. But this one comment on YouTube I’ll always remember, it said: “I think you should go from start to finish, because you’ll probably get used to the characters and sounds and people can also follow along in the story gradually”.

Taking that suggestion to heart, in August 2010 I went from Chapter 1 onward. 

3. Were you inspired by any other audiobook versions of LotR (such as the BBC radio drama)?

I was not, I actually haven’t listened to the BBC Radio drama until far ahead into the project I was doing. I did some research on what other audio productions anyone did with LOTR, from The Mind’s Eye edition, to the ‘60s Hobbit Radio Play; so I felt pretty confident. I just fell in love with the way the films brought Middle-Earth to life and seeing their incredible dedication for authenticity (from the props department, to the music), you really couldn’t do any better than that visually or audibly - at least in my opinion. I just wanted to hear Tolkien’s text but with the realisation of the films. 

However, if you listen to Chapter 1 of TTT, and hear how Legolas laments their absence from not being there to help Boromir at Amon Hen, you can clearly hear the inflection from the BBC Radio play’s version. I just lifted that because I thought it was a fantastic way to deliver the line.

4. Did you have any rituals for “getting into character” before recording?

If I were to show you the raw unedited recording sessions, you’d probably be surprised at how underdeveloped it is! I had no real rituals or warmups, I just went for it. Usually went in cold, and tried reading the entire chapter and doing all the voices at once. Then I’d be exhausted, and afterwards start cutting all the mistakes, and separating each character into different tracks – and then re-recording 50%-70% of it, as I was laying in the sounds. 

I think any character just needs a few words for me to say in their voice, and that helps for the rest of their dialogue. For Aragorn it was usually: “You cannot wield it! None of us can.” for Pippin it was: “Sometimes”, just random things that make things ‘click’ in my head. If I got lost or didn’t feel like the performances were working, I’d simply just watch scenes from the films to hear the real actors again!

5. Who was your favorite character to voice? Who was your least favorite? And why?

People who know me, know I love doing the villains. Sauron, the orcs, the Nazgûl, etc. I just love the idea of personifying things that scare you. Something completely the opposite of who you are. Always a fun time! Any character I can nail extremely accurately always makes me happy, but I’m always very critical of my own work, so it’s a rare thing.

My least favorite characters to voice are: Imrahil, Denethor, Arwen, Celeborn, Galadriel, Erestor, Lindir, Haldir, Goldberry, Gildor… I think the pattern is pretty obvious if you realize that I am incapable of providing a satisfactory voice that feels unique enough. They just sound to me like “I wish I had a broader range. They weren’t done justice.” I have feelings for most of the characters in this situation, but I’m a mere mortal. I can’t do all of them as well as I wish I could. I wish Aragorn was more like Viggo Mortensen’s voice (I tried with the nasally yells you mentioned!), I wish Gandalf had a richer tone, I wish Saruman sounded more majestic, and I wish Frodo was - in retrospect- more older sounding, too. There’s so much I wish I could do better, but to hell with it, I tried.

Fun fact: my least-favorite to voice are also Orcs because they destroy my throat after a while. Which is ironic, because of my first statement.

6. I noticed that you gave the men of Rohan and Gondor slightly different dialects! Are you pulling from any real-world accents to make that happen?

I did try to listen to Anglo-Saxon, and ancient norse but I just tried to make Rohan and Gondor slightly distinct in any way I could. I never really tried to make things too obvious, but admittedly, I think I just used my intuition (smoothing the R’s for the Rohirrim, making the Gondorians more ‘proper’, etc.). I do want to emphasize that this was a one-person project and keeping things together or consistent is definitely an extraneous exercise when you’re just trying to get something finished by yourself! 

7. Some characters (like Beregond and Quickbeam, to name a couple of my favorites) aren’t in the movies, so they don’t have an actor for you to imitate. How did you decide what they would sound like?

Well, in the case of Beregond, I realized he was just “your ordinary guy”, and seeing Minas Tirith through his eyes (and Pippin’s)  is such an amazing and interesting opportunity. It made the city feel so real, and I wanted to take advantage of that. I think I started with a ‘generic’ voice, but when I re-recorded him knowing more and more of the context and what he was saying to Pippin, and as a result who he is, made me adjust what I felt were more his personality. But still that ‘ordinary guy’ idea was the bedrock, and it’s been years since I heard that chapter, but I hope it holds up! (I just remembered Bergil is in that too, another voice I wish I could have done better) 

Another fun fact: when Pippin scares the kids in Minas Tirith, the audio was from something I videotaped when I was 10 years old with my friends, it had the perfect “kids-going-aaah!” sound.

If I had it my way, I’d have a cast of dozens in this Audiobook, so a lot of times I never felt like my voice was enough to truly capture the “We’re in Middle-Earth, we just have microphones to record it” idea. So I have to make compromises since I was the only one doing the voices. That being said, Quickbeam was a fun surprise because he felt like, as you said “young treebeard”, and these things just worked out through experimentation! I think Quickbeam turned out pretty nice. I like Quickbeam.

8. HOW—I ask with great enthusiasm—DID YOU DO TREEBEARD’S VOICE? How did you get that resonance and woody sound? Did you send your voice through a wooden box and re-record it on the other side like they did in the movies?

It’s really great that you know all the behind the scenes stories from the films! Especially what Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, and the late Michael Hopkins have done with their incredible creativity. I had no such resources to produce Treebeard’s sound. What I did was a digital facsimile: a special ‘room’ reverb, with some other equalizing effects to boost the bass and (maybe, I can’t remember) another higher pitched track of the same voice faintly in there. 

You won’t believe this, but I was not going to do The Two Towers audiobook unless I could do a good Treebeard voice. In 2011 after finishing “Fellowship”, I was on the fence about continuing, and only committed once I knew I could do Treebeard right. Treebeard was the key to all this. This should come to no surprise to the ones who played the game, but I used a lot of sound effects from ‘Battle for Middle-Earth’ which contained a lot of clean sounds for ents, trolls, the balrog, the ringwraiths, and other monsters from the films. I used the ent’s footsteps from the games, and recorded my own foley for some of the trees snapping and leaves rustling as well. The “fart” sounds were the low creaking of tree branches, and - as they stated in the making-of for the films - very pitched down cow moos. 

9. Tell me about the foley work! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been that nerd who watched the Behind The Scenes featurettes for fun, so I’m very interested to hear how you made the sound effects for footsteps and whistling arrows and jangling horse harnesses and such. 

I’m glad you are! I’ve collected sound libraries (ripped from video games, and finding and buying sound packs) for a literal decade, because I always needed sounds for the short films I made when I was younger. I just kept learning about how to mix sounds together, and it’s very creative and very enjoyable! That being said, the foley work itself is mostly recorded by me. If I can’t find a sound in the library I have, I will record it. Clothing rustles, and touch are all recorded while I listen to the audiobook playback and ‘perform’ each character. It’s a really arduous process, but I think it adds so much life into the sound. 

I went out into the woods (or backyard) with my mic to record footsteps, sometimes I would listen to the audiobook with headphones while performing the footsteps. When I would have traveled somewhere with different terrain I would be sure to record more foley (rocks being moved, or pebbles being stepped on) knowing I’ll use it for certain chapters. I do not want to reveal a huge secret about the predominant foley for the character's clothes, but an old backpack I used were 90% of the characters’ ‘movements’. Some wingflaps of the fell beasts were just my jeans. It’s a really creative process trying to find things that ‘sound’ right for an environment or action. The magic is putting them all together and hearing the result. Also, yes Sam’s pan is my grandma’s frying pan, and I know it’s sometimes annoying, but - look - Sam has a lot of stuff to carry.

I start with the background sounds (wind, tree rustles, water if there is any, etc.) lots of layers of them just to make them sound unique and not the same. Then I move to selective and nearer environmental background sounds. Then, the ‘hero’ sounds, the effects that are integral to the story (if it’s sword clashes, or an explosion, or who knows what), and finally the foley (footsteps, clothing rustles, breaths, etc.) - I had a friend record her own horses breathing and moving for a lot of closeups of the horses in the audiobooks. I think even if you can’t really hear some of their low breaths, their presence is still ‘there’. I personally think I got a lot better by the end of LOTR than when I started! 

I wanted to add, the sounds for little Elanor in the very last scene of “The Return of the King” (the baby sounds), I was not happy with the stock baby sounds I had, and asked my older cousin (an audio person too!) to send me recordings he made of his then-1-year-old daughter in a studio. So, my first-cousin-once-removed is Elanor! She’s 22 now. I feel old.

10. Do you have a favorite sound effect from this project? Mine is the “pat-pat” against cloth that’s used to denote a hug.

Absolutely, do you remember the two “watchers” before the tower of Cirith Ungol? The vulture-like statues that block the hobbit’s path out? The alarm sound is a wholly original sound design I did, and I’m really happy with it. It’s just ugly sounding, and that’s the point. I always wished I had more Nazgul, and I think the worst moments I had with mixing were the battle scenes. There’s just too much to handle and make it sound good. But I really tried.

I’m very glad you heard the ‘pat-pat’s. I try my best to perform every character when recording foley, and want even some of the sounds to convey something in the telling of the story.

11. What's the thought process behind your use of the various musical motifs from Howard Shore's score? (Read: Why do you use the Shire theme so often, and why does it get me in the heart every single time?)

I want everyone to know that this is a really important and valuable question, and one I never really get to talk about: To me, Howard Shore’s music is one of the very best things to come out of the films. He truly made an opera out of the story, and all his leitmotifs and orchestrations are a stroke of genius. They work on their own, and when reading the books as well, and as a nerd for films and all that stuff, I wanted to put a lot of care into how I’m placing the score, and for what scene, emotionally and leitmotivically, if that’s a word.

The Audiobook I did is obviously a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ situation, so I can’t credit myself for the majority of the Audiobook I did, but I wanted to use all my filmmaking intuition to properly use the music to enhance the telling of the story. So, just like the filmmakers had to change and mix lines from the book, or make changes to make it work as a film, I felt like a lot of instances happened with the music for the audiobook. Obviously, I used the score when applicable to the intended scenes, but there are very often cases where they won’t work. I read as much as I could in the past about what the motifs were and where Shore used them in the movies, so I followed that trajectory for the most part. Gondor is Gondor, Rohan is Rohan, Mordor is Mordor, etc. 

Changes happen when I feel the emotions for a scene in the books do not match up to the ones in the films, and then there are brand new scenes and characters not in the movies at all, that I have to figure out! Take the pause from music between Gandalf falling into the chasm with the Balrog, and the fellowship successfully escaping. It’s perfect in the film, but I knew I couldn’t put the lamenting heartbreaking music in there yet, since the descriptions all drive the idea that escape is paramount. So I treated it as a ‘shock’ moment. No music until they’re completely out of the mountain, then the grief comes in. Things like that, a lot of fun creative thinking to get those emotions working!

I recall you mentioning the ‘Gimli / Legolas drinking game’ statement and how I used the hell out of it throughout the Audiobook, which is a good example. I pitched it up and down, for different moments, and it just has that hobbit mundane and jolly quality to it. So, in it goes to fill moments from the books. 

I also edited and modified existing motifs for completely different scenes and ideas. One of my favorites is when Treebeard talks about the Entwives. I needed this melancholy yearning sound that was really essential, and found it by reversing Eowyn’s theme, and pitching it down so the violin sounds like a cello/bass. To me it just felt extremely appropriate for the sound of a long-lost relationship while portraying a larger-than-life creature. 

Let’s also say Bombadil. I made up the idea that the last statement in the credits for “Return of the King”, was Bombadil’s theme. It’s actually just a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner, a very verbose beautiful crescendo, but I thought “I’ll pretend like it’s Bombadil, he’s last in the score even though he’s the first in Arda”. So I used that musical progression in his songs, that’s his leitmotif now (to me, anyway) He sings in that wavy up-and-down melody. Which is why you hear a lot of that in those chapters.

I also try to use recordings not from the original score: I looked far and wide for alternative recordings, predominantly the album by the Royal Prague Philharmonic, and the “LOTR Symphony”, just to make the Audiobooks feel different. I pitched down and moved and reassembled a lot of different cues for different scenes as well.

There are not a lot of instances of music from other movies, however, they do exist! I used music from “Battle for Middle-Earth”, the game “War in the North”, and for the last few chapters, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” since it just came out at the time. I used a lot of music from Howard Shore’s “Seven” and “The Game” during Shelob (I think), and for the Barrow-Downs. I used a tiny bit of underscore from the brilliant Don Davis’s “The Matrix Reloaded”, it had a really eerie choir which made me feel like it would be perfect for the fatigue and dizzying unreality of Mordor when Sam and Frodo were on their last leg, trying to get to Mt. Doom. Lastly, I used a little bit of music from Howard Shore’s “Twilight: Eclipse” for some dialogue scenes during Return of the King! And music from the independent film “Mongol” by Tuomas Kantelinen for the Woses when Theoden has to get help from Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Also the ending of ROTK has a few cues from “The Lord of the Rings musical”, lovely stuff.

It may surprise you that there is a small amount of score I actually ‘wrote’ with help from my brother (he’s a musician). It’s in the coronation of Elessar. It’s not very good but I needed something. There is also a cello version of “to the edge of night”, which I kindly asked permission to use by YouTube celloist, but I sadly don't think that video is up anymore.

Lastly, I use the Shire music so much because - just like Howard Shore said - it becomes a ‘hymn’ or an ‘anthem’ for the hobbits as they leave their comforts behind and are in a wide and unfamiliar world. Every little bit that reminds them of home, or relates to each of them, usually deserves a little ‘shire’ statement here and there. I feel if it’s in the characters’ hearts and minds, it has to be expressed in the music!

12. Out of all the chapters I’ve listened to so far on the Internet Archive, “A Journey in the Dark” is the one most plagued with editing issues; Sam’s temper tantrum over leaving Bill the Pony is cut out entirely. Which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to hearing your take on that. (Is it strange to say that I wanted to hear you break down into blubbering tears? Probably. Let’s ignore that and move on.) Is there any chance that you have a cleaner edit of that chapter somewhere?

I think you’ll be very unsurprised to know that “A Journey in the Dark” is the first chapter I ever recorded. I think you’ll also need to know that I did FOTR when I was 21 years old, and my grasp on doing better sound mixing or even getting the characters right was still a work in progress. I learned so much going chapter-by-chapter and felt that each succeeding one improves from the former. As a demo-run, I did “King of the Golden Hall '' and “Journey in the Dark” in early 2010 (in fact, I did only the first half of “JITD” back then. Stopping right after they are barred inside the mines, as the Watcher destroys the gate. I did the second half once I caught up with the story going chapter-by-chapter.)

There are so many issues with it, and I haven’t listened to it since. If you have headphones you’ll also notice that none of the voices really pan from left to right, or feel like they’re ever anywhere else except the dead-center. I was lazy back then. 

When I read the chapters, at the time, I was sharing an ‘office room’ with my younger brother, and as a teenaged younger brother does - continues strumming his guitar no matter what the other brother is doing. It was really fun, and funny and I was extremely sloppy with editing things out, and taking it too seriously. So, for sure you can hear ‘someone’ in the background during the early parts of FOTR, and I was too lazy to re-record or edit out the noises that weren’t supposed to be there.

Forgive me if this part is a lot longer, but now that you mention it, I want to get on my soap-box and rant about how many things I agree with about the Audiobook’s shortcomings and how many things have changed since the wee days of 2010: 

I didn’t really get a grasp on the characters, and I had no idea I was going to do the entire book. I did not take enough care with sound mixing (it’s a highly technical and rigorous practice, I’ve discovered. Even now, ten plus years later - it’s too technical for me to fully understand yet), and I did not thoroughly re-listen to the chapter when I was done with an edit or a sound-effects pass. Therefore there’s always been mistakes still in there, and just unpleasantly careless placement of sounds and music. I have often thought about re-recording it to get it up to scratch, but it’s been over a decade and I haven’t properly preserved all the sound stems without having to re-sound-mix the whole chapter again, and there is that little thing called ‘burnout’ which is hard to ignore. So, I apologize to everyone who has to suffer through that huge drop in quality with “A Journey in the Dark”. It quite literally was my first attempt, and it definitely shows. 

The good news is that a fan asked me the same thing about the missing piece in that chapter (the one you mentioned! With Sam and Bill!), and I’ve heard the same comments about it throughout the years. Why is it missing? I don’t know why! I recorded it, but in my loose run-and-gun past when I was a wee lad, I was careless, and just had the mp3 with that part missing. A rendering error, perhaps! Stupid 21 year old Phil just hodgepoging everything.

A Few months ago, I did get another email about that missing piece. I thought “okay, once and for all, I’m going to find that missing part.” - and I searched my old harddrives for some kind of archival copy with that part in it. Amazingly, it was a lot harder to find than I thought. Every rendered version of JITD either stopped right before that scene, or had it omitted. I actually found one half of it as a ‘demo’ piece I rendered years ago for a ‘sound trailer’, and then I finally found the original YouTube video I made - which had it intact! Now the hardest part was stitching it together with the rest. Took longer than I thought, but I finally amended this horrible incompetence. And yes, I will share the link to you! And be prepared to be disappointed at the 2010-era quality!

I don’t know if anyone knows this, but with the mp3s circling around, I have taken the liberty of re-recording and re-working some chapters from their original versions. I try my best to preserve the originals, but I also wish people to listen to the re-records. I have actually re-recorded and re-mastered “A Long-Expected Party” three times. 2011, 2013, and 2014. I re-recorded “King of the Golden Hall” in 2013, and “Shadow of the Past” in 2014. I usually try labelling the dates on the mp3 files themselves. The one I’m most proud of re-recording bits of, is “The Pyre of Denethor” as the first time I had Denethor say his last words he was mildly raising his voice, but I listened to it again one day and went “this man should be at the edge of sanity.” - so he absolutely yells now, and it’s such a night-and-day comparison.

Another addendum: I completely understand the complaints about ‘the sound/music drowning out the dialogue’. It’s been the #1 complaint over the decade. I completely understand. I never had professional sound mixing gear, nor did I have proper mixing headphones or speakers or a proper studio (most of the audiobook was recorded at my grandmother’s house!). The balance of the audio making it sound immersive, (like you are there!) and having clear dialogue to hear is - like I said - an extremely technical and complex process that I’ve never had the ability or tech to master. Let alone for a book that’s 48 hours long, and has so much sound and music to it. Nothing would bring me more joy than to work with an experienced sound mixer, and find all my audio stems, and for us to work together to clear up any and all issues. But as this project was a simple fan-made work, and I haven’t distributed it myself for a decade, who knows?

This is also why I never went on to do “The Hobbit”. Burnout is real, and I’ve never recovered from LOTR. The burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

13. What was your favorite scene to record and mix?

Mount Doom. Can’t get better than trying to make the climax as horrible and eucatastrophic as that. It all led up to this, and it was such a rush to work on. I remember how I was at the edge of my seat watching ROTK in cinemas for the first time, and how amazingly they pulled it off, and I wanted to definitely imitate that, but using Tolkien’s own writing. Just so cool.

I have two favorite chapters: The first one is “The Scouring of the Shire”. I remember well, when I was working on it, I realized this has never been ‘dramatized’ before. At least not in full. I felt so special being the first one (probably) to do it. I could imagine the entire chapter in my head like a film, and I could bring it to life with very little outside influence. Such a poignant and shocking chapter. 

I don’t think I would have done it as well without the experience I gained doing the rest of the Audiobook. Showing the strength of the four hobbits, portraying the dignity and resolve of their kind, giving that pathetic yet dangerous authenticity to Sharkey, and the ruffians, illustrating the battle of bywater with sound… this was done in 2013, so we all were able to listen to new music by Howard Shore (for The Hobbit), and I would be able to transpose motifs from that, into “Scouring”, and honestly I wouldn’t know how it would have worked out if the Hobbit films didn’t come out just at the right time. I think the score fits so well with the events of “Scouring”, there is a ‘mordor’ theme but it feels ‘unfinished’, like the remnant of an old defeated foe; there’s that wily progression for Radagast in the films, that I used for the hobbit’s rebellion and the conflict, and there’s a new ‘hobbit/shire’ motif that worked so perfectly for a ‘wounded, but recovering’ Shire. I feel so silly talking about decisions I made for this, but I always wanted to share some thoughts I had! 

Fun fact: I had a wonderful person ask if she would be able to play Rosie Cotton back in 2013, and I asked her to perform her lines. She was great, but I realized a very strange thing: when I put her in the audio mix, it would actually break the immersion, because you can hear a voice that wasn’t mine, and as a result - I couldn’t help but keep thinking - my voice for Rosie’s mother sounded like a Monty Python skit in comparison! And thus her lines had to be unused. It kind of just opened the fourth wall, breaking the illusion. Which is a shame, because I always dream of having a fully-cast LOTR Audiobook, maybe someday officially.

The other favorite is “The Tower of Cirith Ungol” just because I listened to it one day in 2014, and heard no errors. I was so proud. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to change substantially. No one dislikes all the errors more than I do!

14. What’s your best memory from this entire project?

My late dad drove me and my brother out into a clearing at midnight in the forest. The sky was so clear and starry. And we were here simply to just yell at the top of our lungs to record material for “Helm’s Deep”. All the clear yells: “Elendil!!!” “Gúthwinë! Gúthwinë For the Mark!”etc. Etc. - I lost my voice, it was a fun time. He held the microphone for me as I splashed around a stream (for Gollum), once again at midnight since there were fewer background sounds.

I also tell this story a lot: A friend of mine who was listening to the chapters as I finished them - she hated the sound of knuckles cracking. And hated spiders. So, obviously, Shelob would have to have knuckle-cracking sounds for her limbs. So I recorded my own knuckles cracking and tried using it as much as I could for Shelob’s legs moving about. My friend was soooo ecstatic to know this fact.

15. If you could do it all again today, what would you change?

I would consider doing a ground-up re-recording of everything. With a budget, with a cast, with a lot more understanding of the story and intentions behind them. With VR sound options. With extra original music. That’s the dream. 

If we’re back to reality, I guess I’d just re-record a bunch of chapters since they could always be better, and tighten all the technical errors. But that would require a lot of assembling of the raw archived files, and re-building of sounds, and re-recording of lines. Also, as I stated before, I do not want to distribute my unofficial fan work just because I know that it’s a copyright nightmare. And burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

I like taking other people’s opinions to heart, such as the issues with Frodo’s youth or inflections and intonations for certain scenes that I didn’t quite fully grasp the first time. I would love to adjust things and make it closer to the book now.

- - - - -

And now! The Silly Questions Lightning Round!

(With thoughts from Lady Glasses in parentheses and italics!)

1. In Fellowship, long stretches of dialogue would often have someone randomly cough in the background. Tell me about the Cough. Why is the Cough there?

No one hates the coughs more than me. That’s either my brother minding his own business in the other end of our ‘office room’. I think you now know I was 21, I didn’t care, so these things are just left in because I was careless. However, sometimes there are intentional coughs to make it feel more realistic. It’s been years since I listened to it, so unless I somehow do a massive commentary stream someday (thinking about it), your guess will be as good as mine! The coughs heavily subsided once I did Two Towers, since I was by myself.

2. During the dinner scene with Farmer Cotton, someone burps. Who was that?

Mine. I have no regrets with that one. Or Pippin. I guess it could be Pippin.

(Darn! And here I thought it was Farmer Cotton, LOL)

3. How did you manage to make Bill Ferny’s voice so perfectly obnoxious?

I imagined Bill as an obnoxious guy. The image in my head gives me a good idea of what he’d sound like, and I’m so glad he’s so obnoxious that you had to mention it.

(He sounds perfectly punchable. Thanks, I hate it.)

4. Did you crack yourself up at any point in the recording?

Oh yes, in fact I have a whole outtake reel just for you!

(Warning to anyone who clicks the link: the April Fool's audio had me ON THE FLOOR)

5. Voice acting aside, who is your favorite character in LotR and why?

If you asked me in 2002 it would be the Balrog, if you asked me now it would be difficult because so many of them mean so much to me, and each of their aspects have something to aspire to. Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Galadriel, the list goes on and on.

(That's beautiful, and so true. The story really grows with us, doesn't it?)

6. What’s your favorite color?

Blue. Always has been.

(Blue is a good color! 💙)

7. Political question: Pineapples on pizza, yes or no?

Yes, I still don’t get what the fuss is about

(Oooh, controversial)

8. Is a hotdog a sandwich?

No, it’s a hotdog!

(Counterpoint: A hotdog is a taco.)

9. What’s your opinion on geese?

They’re racist

(Racist against the entire human race, apparently)

10. How much would I have to pay you to say “I love boats!” in Merry’s voice? (It’s an inside joke with my friends.)

Nothing, it’s on the house!

(HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU)

- - - - -

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! What are you working on nowadays?

I’ve actually had a few people ask me if I’ll ever do more audiobooks like this, and I seem to have tapped something. Yes, in fact! I’m working with a few creative collaborators on a small company to do the exact same sonic experience with other books! Since we’re very small, we are starting with stories in the Public Domain, and have successfully kickstarted (and finished) “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Which will be out (hopefully, officially) by early September! I’m really excited and hope this will lead to more projects, and - hopefully- back to Tolkien someday, in an official manner. Please follow my Instagram or Facebook for more info about it. (I also have a Twitter and Tumblr and more, but they’re all completely unrelated to LOTR and are just me drawing doodles and being a nerd, very unlike the Audiobooks I did, which is a bit confusing, I admit.)

- - - - -

And that concludes our interview! As I told Phil, it was so much fun to discuss a fellow fan's passion project like this. The more I read about it, the more I realized just how similar it was to my own experiences as a fan creator. We all start out as just a noob with a few unpolished skills, making something because we love it, and we learn and grow and hone our talents along the way. It's legitimately inspiring.

Needless to say, I am stoked to finish listening to the rest of this audiobook! Is it a bit weird knowing the creator of the thing might drop in and read my reviews?? Yes. Yes it is. But I'm gonna do it anyway. No holds barred! If I hear another cough, you're gonna know about it, Phil!

Also I may or may not do something with that audio of Merry because I'M STILL DYING OF LAUGHTER HELP

Anyway! If you made it to the end of this, you deserve a cookie! Everybody say thank you to Mr. Dragash, and go check out the other stuff he's doing nowadays! Namárië!

#phil dragash #audiobook #lotr audiobook #interview #CATCH ME SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

[lumi-waxes-poetic]

Rings of Power hurts, and I should clearly explain in my own words just why

Amazon, lacking the rights to directly adapt ANY of Tolkien's work that covered the Second Age, really SHOULD have just made this a wholly original work that leaned on Tolkien's style and themes.

This would be a great show if the title were not The Rings of Power, and supposedly about Galadriel, Elrond, Sauron, etc.

If this show were named something like "Traitor's Ring" and were about Lady Seldanna, Tolith, and the Dark Lord Phadzak, etc al, with more or less the exact same story as they're doing now, this would be something I could enthusiastically praise as a triumph of fantasy fiction (outside of my usual revulsion for Amazon as a company). But it isn't.

Amazon didn't have the rights to adapt the thing they were making a show about, but went with it anyway.

That's right: Amazon did not secure the rights to any of the material in The Silmarillion, History of Middle Earth, Unfinished Tales, etc. before making a series that covered those EXACT WORKS.

To pinch another Tumblrer's example, they were baking a cake and didn't have the rights to use flour, so they used sawdust, and still called it a cake. You can make the most AMAZING LOOKING CAKE EVER SEEN BY THE EYES OF MORTAL MEN, but if you substitute something THAT elemental to the recipe, it's no longer a cake, no matter how rave the reviews.

A Tolkien adaptation minus Tolkien's original work isn't an adaptation any longer -- it's fanfiction.

This could have been an AMAZING original fantasy fiction show that really set the bar for lavish production and high concept fantasy fiction in tv/web series form the same way Peter Jackson's LOTR Trilogy did for fantasy films, but Amazon chose instead to try to pass their original story off as an official (or officially licensed at the very least) prequel to the most beloved and most influential fantasy saga of the modern age while completely ignoring the actual author's actual prequel material that covers that same period.

OF COURSE PEOPLE WHO READ THE BOOKS ARE GOING TO BE PISSED. THIS IS NOT EXACTLY ROCKET SCIENCE.

As I wrote in a reply elsewhere,

This is why adherence to the lore and aesthetic Tolkien literally spent TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORDS ESTABLISHING is so important.

Tolkien wrote what he wrote the way he wrote it for VERY GOOD REASONS. And deviating from that base is fine, if you have a good reason for it and you let people know that, which is what Peter Jackson did. God knows a slavishly faithful adaptation of ANYTHING Tolkien is basically impossible so SOMETHING will have to be changed, but the issue is that SO MUCH was changed and for... no good reason.

If you want to make an adaptation, fine, make an adaptation. If you want to make an original story, fine, make an original story. The world could always use more of those.

But for the love of god don't do what Amazon did which is promise the former and deliver the latter.

#RoP #rings of power #why the angst? this is why. #LOTR #lotr fandom #lord of the rings #amazon

[laurellerual]

Harrenhal during the Long Night

A few days ago I did this survey where I asked you "Where will the great battle against the White Walkers take place?". 56% of voters chose "In the North, the Wall, Winterfell", but I disagree. Here I explain why I am part of the 41% who voted "In the Riverlands, Harrenal, the Gods eye, the Trident".

Why in the Riverlands?

Let's start with: I think Winterfell will be destroyed, and definitively rebuilt only at the end of the books. So the place where the victory against the White Walkers will take place will be the Riverlands.

The Gods eye is one of the most important places for the Old Gods and the Children of the forest, we know Howland has been there I think Bran will have to go, it's a place that will become relevant to the White Walkers storyline. And it's not the only place in the Riverlands closely connected with the faith of the Old Gods - indeed, we have seen more of them here than in the North. There are: High heart with its circle of weirwood and its woods witch, the Hollow Hill where one-eyed Beric sits surrounded by weirwood roots, Raventree Hall, and Harrenhal whose building seems cursed by the gods and has a godswood big like a forest.

The conflict against the White Walkers will have to be a major event, relevant in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, so there is no way it will only involve the first northernmost castles. What repercussions would such an event have on the plot? No one would believe that the North has been attacked by creatures that everyone thinks don't exist: it would be as if it hadn't happened. The undead army must reach to at least the center of Westeros. An interesting foreshadowing is found in Daenerys III ASOS:

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be.

Why will Harrenhal be important?

If the above turns out to be true, this means that a significant part of the people who inhabit the North and the Riverlands will find themselves fleeing to take refuge behind the first available walls. And as it happens, in the Riverlands there is a castle of immense proportions, mostly abandoned.

If you haven't read the chapters in which Harrenhal appears in a while, I recommend you review its architecture on the wiki (read the sections 'Walls and Towers' and 'Misc'). And then you come here and tell me that an immense place, with walls that cannot be passed through, a big pit, a great hall with more than thirty hearth, hot baths, kitchens as big as the great hall of Winterfell, and many acres of wood within the walls doesn't seem like the perfect description of a place where hundreds of people can take refuge to survive the apocalypse.

Harrenhal has impassable walls unless you have a dragon. The reason it fell so many times is that it was abandoned. Until now, fighting for the castle has been a waste of money for all the lords who have passed it. No one had enough people to guard all the gates, run all the fires, etc… not even using prisoners of war as slaves would have been enough.

But if refugees from half of the Seven Kingdoms were to occupy it, we would see those huge empty halls fill with life for the first time in centuries. Finally this cyclopean construction would make sense: it would become one of the main citadels of humanity.

Thanks for reading. If you want to find out why the other day while brushing my teeth I was struck by the brilliant intuition that Arya Stark might be the Lady of Harrenhal during the Long Night keep following me.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #harrenhal #riverlands #the long night #the battle for the dawn #arya stark #daenerys targaryen #bran stark

[inthe-afterglows]

A Court of Thorns and Roses Review

A Court of Thorns and Roses - 3 stars -Was boring and repetitive for the first twenty chapters, second half redeemed it but overall I didn't really get the hype. Tamlin lovers ... I will never understand you. Feyre was in that place for three months and Tamlin only attempted to see/speak to her alone once and they didn't even talk. They just made out after she'd been traumatised for months. How about some words of encouragement? How about trying to get her out? How about sending someone to heal her after Lucien was injured? Rhys played the villain to help her and you know what? It worked. She's only alive because of Rhys.

A Court of Mist and Fury - 5 stars -Was actually really good! Romance was 10/10, fantasy and action was 10/10. Chapter 55 really did live up to the hype and I loved Rhys and Feyre's banter and tension leading up to it -- they had so many good moments in this book and Rhys gatecrashing Feyre and Tamlin's wedding will forever be iconic. The last 100 or so pages had me so hooked with every plot twist gagging me. Also why is Tamlin pretending to sleep whilst Feyre is vomiting her guts up every night due to PTSD so funny and yet so sad? The ending of this one really cements him as a piece of shit. TBF he is not THE villain but he is Feyre's villain and I hope she makes him pay.

A Court of Wings and Ruin - 4.5 stars -Was really good, Feyre really delivered on her threats to Tamlin and I lived for it. Rhys and Feyre were both in top notch form in their final novel and all the action was great. And again to Tamlin lovers who say Feyre went to far in destroying his Court, let's not forget that when given the chance to be civil to Feyre, he double downed and basically called her a slut in front of all the High Lords in Prythian after thinking of her as property he could bargain for. I personally lived for Feyre taking down the Spring Court, it really showed how far she'd come since the last time she'd been (trapped) there and shows how worthy she is of being High Lady of the Night Court. Just remember, Rhys built her up whilst Tamlin tore her down. Again, he's not THE villain but he is the villain in Feyre's story.

A Court of Frost and Starlight - 3 stars -I liked the insight into their 'quieter' lives after the war but this was essentially a Christmas special. Nothing actually happens in this book plot wise and I actually really begin to loathe Nesta in this one. Kinda sad in this one that Rhys and Feyre weren't having their own little adventure like they talked of in acowar. I would've enjoyed it more plotwise if they had taken a week off to hunt Bryaxis or something (low stakes but still action-y) and they could have cute moments/convos whilst camping on the hunt.

A Court of Silver Flames - 3 stars -It made me understand Nesta more but I still don't really like her as a person. I think there was a bit where someone said she didn't fail Feyre and I wholeheartedly disagree. Elain and Nesta BOTH failed Feyre as older sisters when they were living in that cottage. They were both happy to sit at home and spend the money Feyre earned whilst Feyre was the one who went into the dangerous woods and kept them fed and clothed. I also didn't love the romance in this one because it wasn't a romance. Nesta and Cassian fucked and were friends but there was hardly any romance. Another issue I have with this one was the lack of anything really happening. This was more a mental health journey than a fantasy action / adventure romance which isn't really what I was looking for from a series like this. I think this one might've been improved with a Rhys or Feyre POV or even a Mor POV so we could have at least seen more of the politics going on in the NC at the time and with Nesta's mental health journey / training being contained to the first 30-50% of the novel instead of the whole thing. I would have liked to see her being involved more in missions and making amends more because her hating on her sisters and Rhys for over 80% of the book was really getting old and she really did not have a leg to stand on so it was infuriating to read. At one point I was really only reading for the Feyre x Rhys crumbs.

Overall: As a series this is really average for me. Out of 5 books I only really liked 2 which is less than 50% so I really didn't understand the hype for this series which was really sad because I really wanted to like it. I will say the world building was fantastic. I think the world SJM created was done so well but unfortunately the plot or lack thereof in a few of these novels really bumps it down for me and the pacing novel to novel really sucks. I also would have been more invested if the books following the first four still had Feyre and Rhys as main characters. As it stands, I feel SJM has mostly sidelined them from a storyline perspective for future books. I would have enjoyed seeing more of their adventures that they spoke of at the end of ACOWAR before they started having kids.

As for the Fourth Wing vs ACOTAR debate .... FOURTH WING all the way! I am convinced that people only like acotar more because it came first. To me Fourth Wing has the better romance and overall books (it certainly had the better first novel). This could change as more books from Fourth Wing come out but as it stands, in my opinion, Fourth Wing has given us 2/2 really good books (rated 4+ stars) so far, and acotar 2/5 so y'all do the math lol.

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #acosf #acomaf #acowar #acofas #fourth wing #iron flame #book review

[marypsue]

@mickeymagpie said: i thought you were making star and david 1880s murder siblings and mike the novelist they draw in

Since you mention it...

...

“Estelle,” Michael says, as he swirls the captivating, mysterious Englishwoman around the dancefloor. “Seems old-fashioned, for someone as young and as pretty as you are.”

Estelle, Lady Sharpe – is she due the title? If her father was a baronet? Michael’s not certain, but he’ll need to find out, if he intends to keep courting her – blushes a little at the compliment, turning her dark, liquid eyes from Michael’s face. But only for long enough to be appropriately modest before she catches his gaze again, looking up through dark lashes in a way that makes Michael catch his breath. “My brother calls me Star.”

The reminder makes Michael look up, scan the crowds around them for the baronet’s menacing presence, a smudge of dusty black against all the glitter and light of the McMichaels’ ball. There’s no doubt in Michael’s mind that Lord Sharpe is the only reason why his sister has not yet married.

“Star,” he says, deliberately, turning back to the woman in his arms. Focusing on the burning points where their bodies meet, the lit candle held precariously between their clasped hands. Testing the shape, the colour of the word on his tongue. Savouring its taste. “Yes, that suits you far better. Star.”

The way Star smiles up at him makes Michael feel a little dizzy, a little drunk. It’s a slow, languorous smile, her eyes catching the candlelight and sparkling with the light of a thousand of her namesake as they whirl through the dance so fast and smoothly that the flame they hold together barely even flickers.

So fast, so smoothly, that it almost feels like flying.

…

“Read it. You’ll thank us.”

Samuel looks down at the pamphlet the bookseller’s pushed into his chest, and then back up at the bookseller’s face. “You seem to have mistaken me for someone with an interest in penny dreadfuls.”

“Oh, you’ll find plenty to interest you in this one.”

Sam barely manages to suffocate a long-suffering sigh. He’s already regretting volunteering to run this errand for his grandfather. The trip into town, the temporary escape from the confines of the grounds, was certainly not worth this hassle. Nor, in his estimation, is the copy of the literary journal that his grandfather receives monthly. The old man never reads any of the books reviewed or discussed, anyway. Believes that reading the journal removes the necessity.

“You are the second Emerson son, aren’t you?” the bookseller continues, looking Sam up and down. It’s an insolent look, judgmental, especially coming from such a petty tradesman. Especially one who can’t be much older than Sam himself. Especially one with the dubious blessing of such a countenance. To say nothing of his attire.

It’s true that Sam’s family have had…difficulties, since the unexpected departure of his father for Italy without them. And that his mother’s faced some censure lately, been denied invitations, for entertaining Maxwell McMichael’s attentions while still legally a married woman. But still. Sam’s grandfather may never have been a true baron of industry, but he’s still well known and respected in Buffalo, if quickly gaining a reputation as something of…an eccentric. A reputation that Sam, unfortunately, can’t entirely deny he’s earned.

People will of course form their own thoughts, their own opinions, of his family. But they might at least make overtures toward refraining from so clearly revealing them to Sam’s face. Especially when asking for his custom in the same breath.

So, since the bookseller doesn’t bother trying to conceal his judgment, Sam doesn’t bother trying to conceal his irritation. “What is it to you if I am?”

“Your brother married that Englishwoman? The one who was here with her brother the Lord So-and-so for the last season?” The other man arranging stock on the bookshop’s cramped shelves answers Sam’s question with a question. He nods in the direction of the pamphlet his associate had pressed on Sam. “You want to read that.”

“I don’t think much of your sales tactics,” Sam says, looking down at the cover of the pamphlet. Varney the Vampire. Sensationalist, fantastical claptrap, just as he’d believed. He can’t imagine what possible bearing it might have on Michael, his new bride, and the Lord Sharpe. Or, if it did, what purpose it could possibly serve to have Sam, living an ocean and a continent away from his in-laws’ beloved Allerdale Hall, read the thing.

“For you,” the first bookseller says, “free of charge.”

Sam casts him a sharp look. “And the catch?”

“Your grandfather’s been a good and loyal customer of ours,” the second bookseller offers. “Take it for his sake.”

“Or for your poor lady mother’s,” the first bookseller agrees.

“You have some gall, to speak of my mother. Be grateful I don’t speak of yours.” Sam glances over to the woman slouched insensate on the shoulder of the man who must be her husband, a hookah pipe forgotten between them. “Although I’m certain there’s no need for me to add my voice to the chorus.”

The first bookseller holds out a hand to stop the second from advancing on Sam. He ignores the insult as though Sam hadn’t spoken, lowering his voice instead like a sepulchral warning. The boyishness of that voice mostly ruins the effect. “She’ll thank us, in the end. When your brother and his bride return from their European tour. You all will.”

Sam looks down again at the cheap woodcut illustration gracing the cover of the pamphlet. The skeletal form of a man, face distorted in a grotesque snarl, crouches bestially over a slender swooning lady. It’s nearly comical in its exaggeration.

Sam can’t quite account for the little chill that shivers through him.

“Oh, I’m quite certain my family will thank you,” he agrees, slowly. “For my grandfather’s literary journal. It has come in, has it not?”

The second bookseller makes a face as though he’d love to tell Sam off. But he retreats behind the counter and emerges with the desired journal.

When Sam leafs through it, in the carriage headed for home, careful not to dog-ear the cover in the way his grandfather hates, he’s unsurprised to find the vampire pamphlet with its grotesque cover slipped between the pages.

…

Not for the first time, Michael dreams of David.

The dream – though in truth, it might be better called a nightmare – is much like the others. Michael wakes, in dread, in fevered anticipation, his sweat chilled and tacky against his back beneath his nightshirt, the room black as pitch and freezing cold around him, the chimneys of this thrice-accursed hulk of a collapsing manor-house all wailing out their lost-soul song. He reaches for Star, for where she should be warm in the bed beside him. But the sheets are empty and cold.

And as his eyes adjust, as though coalescing from the shadows, he sees the baronet watching him, from the foot of the bed.

No words are ever exchanged between them. This vision of David has never once answered any of Michael’s entreaties, or, indeed, his screams. The most he’s done to acknowledge a word Michael’s said in any of these dreams is that low, self-satisfied chuckle at the few times Michael’s been naïve enough to try to utter threats.

No matter what Michael says, no matter what he does, the dream always ends the same way. Gloved hands pinning him effortlessly back against the bed. A solid, cold weight on his chest, crushing the air from his lungs. Clammy breath close against the sensitive skin of his exposed neck, raising the fine hairs below his nape and all along his arms, sending delirious thrills of quivering terror through every inch of his body.

Sharp teeth slicing effortlessly through his flesh.

When Michael wakes, heart pounding, a shout dying on his lips unheard, the fire in the grate is low, its ruddy embers casting the vast room in a hellish light. Shadows cluster thickly and in strange configurations around the little island of precarious safety formed by the bed.

Perhaps it’s only Michael’s imagination, or the caprices of the embers, that makes those shadows writhe like living things wracked in agonies of torment.

Michael pushes the coverlet back, shaking his head to try to clear it. The fog of sleep still lies heavily upon him, his heart still rabbit-quick in his chest. It had seemed such a good idea, at the time, to humour his new wife’s desire to share her ancestral home with him before she would be forced to part from it for a new continent. Now, though, he regrets ever setting foot within these moldering walls. The sooner they continue on to Paris, the sooner they continue their honeymoon tour, the better.

Preferably without Michael’s new brother-in-law haunting their every step.

Star lies peacefully slumbering with her chestnut curls spilled out across the pillow beside Michael. He reaches out a hand to clasp the ivory skin of her bare shoulder, reassure himself of its warmth and solidity.

But stops himself.

There are spots of something dark flecking the back of his hand. And his palm. And the snow-white cover of his pillow.

Star stirs, as Michael stares. “Mm. Michael? Are you all right?”

Michael doesn’t know.

He coughs, once, into his hand, and tastes blood, bright and metallic at the back of his throat.

#the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #crimson peak #this is mary's fic tag

[redsamuraiii]

Shogun (2024) : First Two Episodes Review *spoilers*

Having read the 1975 book and 1980 mini-series, I had high expectations for this and I wasn't disappointed. I love the costume designs, the visual effects, cinematography and attention to detail.

The one aspect which I feel could be improved is the dialogue and writing. Although most are accurate to the book, but some of it feels a bit rushed and could be lengthen to explain more in detail.

For example, the scene where Blackthorne, Father Alvito and Lord Toranaga are talking about Europe, I feel that the 1980 did it better as it's more detailed in explaining the political situation.

However, the 2024 Shogun did better than 1980 Shogun, where Blackthorne explains to Lord Toranaga and Lady Mariko about the Spanish and Portuguese Catholic Expansion into Asia, and wanting to replace the non-Catholic rulers with Catholics.

It provide a context as to why the Samurai hates "Christian" at the time, not simply because of bigotry alone but because of political reason as they see the Christian Lords as being loyal to the Spanish King who is expanding his reach in Asia, instead of the Shogun.

It's the same with the scenes with Rodriguez as the conversations between him and Blackthorne in the 1980 mini series were more longer and detailed, which are closer to the books. Their constant bickering with each other alone is interesting and funny to watch.

Another aspect which I think could be improve is the language. Although I understand the need to use vulgarities to show a sense of realism, I do not see the need to use modern day vulgarities like the word "f*ck" when they could have followed the book way of saying it.

Example of modern day vulgarity : "Shut the f*uk up!" Example of book vulgarity : "Hold your tongue or I'll cut it out!"

I understand that they want to show a woman who is vocal but again, this could be done without the use of modern day vulgarity like in the book, "Your God's Kingdom and your imagination are the same, they're both in your heads."

She managed to insult using nice words, something the ladies of the court are known to use as they are educated in literature. Because it was considered unbecoming of a high born lady to speak rudely so they use fancy words instead to indirectly attack a person.

But nonetheless, it is indeed a great show that I can't wait to watch the next episode. Of course, this is just my opinion as everyone have their own preferences. I guess I watched too many Japanese historical dramas to have such a high expectations.

If I were to rate it, I would give it a 9/10.

#shogun #shogun 2024 #shogun 1980 #james clavell #japan

[annafromuni]

A New Favourite Sleuthing Couple

Dare I say my favourites among historical fiction has tilted in favour of Lady Charlotte and Lord Wrexford. They have been giving a good fight since the beginning, in fact, they were my top tier couple for a time before I came across Lady Kiera and Mr Gage. While my heart may yearn for Sebastian Gage more, I have to admit Wrexford and Charlotte have a far better relationship and are able to…

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#murder at the royal botanical gardens #andrea penrose #a wrexford and sloane mystery #lord wrexford #lady charlotte sloane #historical fiction #murder mystery #regency era #high society #scientific discovery #book review

[psi-scribe]

The Infinite and Divine, Review

So it took me about 3 days of reading on and off but I finished reading The Infinite and The Divine! Let's get an important question out of the way first, does it live up to the hype? Honestly? It does, it really does. I understand now, all the memes about Trazyn and Orikan, my mind eye's is open.

10/10 would recommend this to anyone looking to tip their toes into necrons or just looking for a sincerely fun book full of thrills and angsty moments.

I would like to remind everyone that the characters in question are older than the Emperor by a long freaking time, millions of years.

And they act like this, consistently. Truly "growing old is mandatory by growing up is optional".

As always spoiler filled rambling under the read-more (though I will be avoiding parts of the plot because no, you really do need to read this on your own.)

But of course, now I shall begin reading Renegades: Lord of Excess~

Ok so I really do need to touch on the humor first because this book is hilarious, in so many ways. From the back-and-forward banter between Trazyn and Orikan, their actions in general (more so on Trazyn's part) and their remarks to the other necrons. Someone tells Trazyn "you can't drink wine??" because he has a wine cellar and doesn't want to move it, Trazyn replies that of course he doesn't drink it! That would be a waste! Rather than the fact that he...literally can't drink. At another point a necron lady named Phillias (hey I love her too) basically called them idiots and Trazyn said "yeah you are too."

Also-

THE MEMES WEREN'T A LIE! THEY REALLY WERE THE TWO MUPPETS AT THE THEATER, THEY DID THAT! I HAD TEARS IN MY EYES!!

Ok but onto the more serious aspects of the book. I really enjoyed just how well we get to see how immortal beings deal with time. Orikan spends decades, centuries even studying just one subject, a necron court trial (yes, that's not a joke there was a lawsuit) takes years just to gather evidence and decide on a mediator. Hell, later on even more time passes, we see the rise and fall of several civilizations just on one planet. And this matters so little to the necrons.

Trazyn even remarks that the worst enemy for an immortal is boredom, that's just a good insight.

And as a brief side note, remember what happens in the beginning and hang onto it, trust me.

There's also so much lore about the necrons back when they were the necrontyr and the culture they had. Despite everything there was a culture, they had smoking pipes, gods before the C'tan, they had plays and music, all of this made despite all they were afflicted with. This is something that that both Trazyn and Orikan remark that they had in come with humanity; they lived shortly but managed to seize control of the galaxy despite it.

Ah Orikan, what a bastard (as Trazyn also calls him, lmao they really do curse a lot in this book) but he's so interesting? He warned all the necrontyr about what would happen with the biotransference, he was dragged unwilling into the forge. He doesn't understand why Trazyn would be mad about him breaking his (Trazyn's) old cane, why he collects everything he does. Orikan wants to ascend further now, leaving behind his metal body to become energy.

Man I would love to see him and Szeras interact given that Szeras was so involved with biotransference and wants to become a god.

Another part, despite their arrogance the necrons have their doubts, worries, regrets and fears. They are terrified of the flayer virus and the virus that creates the destroyers. And, here's a real kick in the gut, the C'tan messed with their memories to the point they can't really recall their own pasts, just fragments and pieces, what's there might be false too. Man the C'tan suck.

I have so many emotions due to reading this book. More parts related to the plot buutt I can't spoil it, I really can't.

Love Executioner Phillias, remember that too.

#scribe's scribbles #scribe shouts about books #the infinite and the divine #necrons

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hey Makenzie! Bookblr ask for you - have you ever read any of the books that Bridgerton is based on? Idk if you ever watched that show but the books are... interesting to say the least. They are all trashy romances set in the historical era (regency era England tho iirc the author is American). I've read a couple of them and they're a bit basic, but you mentioning your tolerance for bad shit in romances did make me wonder if you might like them? Deffo do think they have their moments of joy sparking although there's other questionable shit in them too. Anyway if you do ever check them out I'd love to know what you think of them!

hi! fun question!

I actually haven't delved much into historical romance, with the exception of Alexis Hall's A Lady for the Duke (it's EVERYTHING, very swoony and silly in the best. I wish the last chunk of the book had just been about the duke sucking Viola's dick instead of the very goofy plot that actually happened, but no book is perfect) and KJ Charles' Magpie Lord (it's fine, although I commend the use of jizz magic).

I first started the monthly romance reads last year basically because I wanted to study the genre and figure out how it works, but Romance as a category is so huge that I figured it made the most sense to focus in one area - in my case, popular contemporary romances rather than historical or werewolf stuff or romantasy (again, exception for the Magpie Lord) or whatever's going on in those ones that are about romanticizing the Amish. if I remember correctly, I only branched out to A Lady for the Duke last year as a little pride month treat for myself, because I wanted to get at least one trans romance in for the year (this was back when I thought I was only reading romances for 2023) and that book was really well-reviewed.

I haven't explored into historical romance beyond that. I think maybe it feels a little less interesting to me than contemporary romances for reasons I can't quite place - maybe because the image I have in my head of "historical romance" is very Bridgerton-y, and the particular set of tropes I affiliate with that isn't very compelling to me. say what you will about contemporary romances, but at least it's just a given that women can vote, you know? but I don't know, maybe that's exactly why I should give historicals a chance. I didn't know a lot about contemporary romance either when I first dove in, and now I can complain about them in a way that's way more detailed and informed. I need a theme for my July romance poll; maybe I could celebrate the 4th of July by reading a book about shitty dead white people?

if nothing else I have to say that it compels me that you think I might like Bridgerton specifically because of my high level of shit tolerance, that genuinely makes me more interested in the books than anything good you could say about them.

#bookblr

[checkoutmybookshelf]

I'm Sorry, You Packed HOW MANY Tropes into that Hoopskirt???

So...I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that I picked up this book for any reason other than the big poofy 1850s ball gowns on the cover. I'd also be lying if I said I had any expectations beyond cute, fluffy, wlw romance.

Then we got stuck into the book and suddenly I was like...I'm sorry, this cover did not prepare me for the ANGST and GROUNDING and WEIGHT and POLITICAL DIMENSIONS of this book. Not to mention that it manages to pack a metric ton of tropes into not that long a book, including but not limited to second-chance romance, parent trapping, friends-to-lovers, and the power of friendship. AND it's LGBTQIA+. I was not expecting to cry over this book, but here we are. Let's talk Don't Want You Like a Best Friend.

This is your SPOILER WARNING because I'm running on three hours of sleep and don't believe for a second that I'm not going to be randomly tossing SPOILERS all over the place. Be warned.

Oh, and this is a CONTENT WARNING for marital and domestic abuse. For both this book and this review.

Gwen is a debutante in her fourth season with no interest in marriage and the biggest rake of a father in London.

Beth is a first-season debutante on a mission to marry well, because her cousin is repossessing her and her mother's house at the end of the season and they will be homeless and penniless.

So naturally they plot to get Gwen's dad and Beth's mom together.

This is not as wild as it seems, because before Lady Demeroven's father forced her to marry Beth's dad (who is both an abusive asshole and thankfully super dead), she was deeply in love with Dashiell Havenfort. When she broke his heart. Lord Havenfort went off, got drunk, partied, and then there was Gwen--who he raised as a single dad because Gwen's mother died in childbirth.

So we have that little powder keg to begin the story, and it's set against the increasingly critical backdrop of Havenfort and the father of the aggressively vanilla boy who decides to marry Beth (yeah, they have names, I don't care. It's vanilla boy and his dickhead dad from here on in) going toe-to-toe in parliament trying to pass and prevent, respectively, a piece of legislation that would allow women to divorce their husbands for reasons other than being beaten bloody. This really underscores the situation that Beth and her mother had been in, and the one that they might be in again if Beth goes through with the marriage to vanilla boy. Thankfully she doesn't, but honestly, the number of men just waltzing around in this world going "women are property and I should be able to beat the snot out of them if I want to" was really depressing. And that depression just intensified when Beth and Gwen finally realized they wanted a sapphic relationship with each other.

The patriarchy sucks, guys. So hard.

Watching Beth and Gwen try to parent trap their respective parents was a lot of fun, and once they realized what they wanted, their relationship was also fun. That's not to say that the book was perfectly executed, though. The first half of the book is slooooooooooooow. Like slow enough that I considered DNFing the book. I'm glad I didn't, because once the "Oh, I'm sapphic" realization hits, the angst of being sapphic in a patriarchal world where marriage was women's only real hope of financial stability hit true and hard. Trying to find another way to live in a world that didn't want you to exist was really interesting.

The other thing that I wasn't a fan of--and your mileage may vary--was that while the setting and politics and fashion were extremely well-grounded in the 1850s, the character dialogue and language is jarringly modern. At one point, someone said to "put that energy out to the world" and I just had to put the book down for a minute and take a few deep breaths. So depending on how real-feeling you want the history part of this historical romance to feel, your mileage may vary with the language.

Now, the thing that I truly loved about this book is that is faces abuse and its effects full in the face, and refuses to continue a cycle of abuse. The MCA passes, and then women help each other recover and get out of abusive situations. Lady Demeroven's first marriage was abusive and violent, although she hid the extent of it from Beth. She tries to ensure that Beth ends up with a man who will be kind to her, and vanilla boy might have been...but his dickhead dad wouldn't have been, and dickhead dad might have influenced vanilla boy to become abusive. Lady Demeroven ultimately refuses to allow either the cycle of accepting abuse or the cycle of abusive men teaching their sons that abuse is acceptable or *shudder* somehow their marital duty. Lady Demeroven goes on a whole journey to heal her own trauma enough to stop the cycle and protect Beth, and she does. She shuts that shit down, and they walk.

Like the door slam in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the door slamming behind Lady and Beth Demeroven heralds freedom and happiness. It is the end of a cycle that devalues women and that tells other women that they can make a different choice. And this book does it gently, acknowledging that doing so is HARD, and it takes courage and help and support. Honestly, I was SO HERE for Lady Demeroven's journey and her finding happiness with Dashiell at the end of the book.

Overall, this was not a perfect book. There were pacing and execution issues, and Lady Demeroven and Lord Havenfort kind of steal the show from their daughters' romance. But this book had THINGS TO SAY, and those things are important to say, and perhaps say even more loudly now in 2024 than they were back in the Victorian era. So this book was fun, it had clear things to say, and honestly it was a fun read.

#don't want you like a best friend #wlw romance #historical romance #sapphic romance #queer romance #books and reading #books #books and novels #books & libraries #book recommendations