#book youtuber

[nerdynatreads]

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book review || Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

video review || ARC Reading Vlog -- Ocean's Echo

A much-anticipated new book and it did not disappoint! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the beginning, I like that we’re dropped into this society and forced to put together pieces as we follow the characters. By the end, I found this was a pretty well-developed world, with a strong sci-fi quality to it, that sometimes made me think of Mass Effect. I really liked that the people of this world were edging into a more evolved group via their telepathy skills. It made me intrigued from the beginning and the relevance of it in the political plots made for some high stakes.

The start of the book felt very focused on establishing our characters. I liked Tennal from the start. He is a rebellious mess, who’s desperate to escape his own mind, but also terrified of any commitment. I could help but liken him to Mariner from Lower Decks. Surit, on the other hand, is pretty gruff and grumbly at the start, but lordy, he’s gotta sweet interior, which we often don’t see from his words or thoughts, it’s in his actions.

It was a ride to see these two get to know one another and slowly develop from fake comrades to friends to something more. There are small moments and actions that showcase their feelings becoming more than platonic. This is so slow-moving and definitely a lot lighter in regard to romance, but still, I loved every little moment between them. I was so taken off guard at how much I’d grown to care about each of them by the end of the book.

Slowly, the underlying politics that run throughout the book began to become a more prominent plot point. At the halfway point now and I both felt like a lot had happened and not a lot had happened, meaning the pacing was pretty odd. However, I was hooked when this started building up the political scheming more and exploring the imbalance of the society and the injustices that the readers were subjected to. This area was where the action really kicked up a notch and the ending? Oh, it was punchy and leaned a lot more into the sci-fi elements that had been hinted at previously.

With a setting in the military, the writing matched by being pretty stiff and formal, with a really proper tone to match, except when the author dives into the telepathy, then it edges into a more flowery, romantic style, that I much preferred.

This is stony sci fi fanfic change my mind

Oh damn, this ending was pretty punchy, DEFINITELY went harder into the fantastical and sci-fi elements that had been hinted at previously. The writing around the final fight was probably the most beautiful of the book and I was pretty close to crying.

The way this story wraps up is satisfying while also not really being the end of this world’s story. There’s definitely more to occur, but it’s a natural ending point for the book.

As for characters, I was so taken off guard by how much I’d come to care about Tennal and Surit by the end. This definitely was a lot slower in regards to their relationship, with much more focus on the main plot, but that didn’t mean I was squealing at these two finally realizing their feelings.

4 / 5 stars

#book review #ocean's echo #ocean's echo by everina maxwell #everina maxwell #queer sci fi #queer sci fi books #book recs #Book Recommendations #book recomendation #sci fi book recs #sci fi book recommendations #bookblr #booklr #book tumblr #booktube #booktuber #book youtuber #studyblr

[cursedgamerchild]

"internet historian's alt-right anyways" "great day to have never liked james somerton" "never even heard of illuminaughtii before this lol"

that's great buddy but don't go around thinking you're immune to this. if you're not looking for plagiarism, you likely won't notice it unless its egregiously obvious. hell, you've probably consumed plagiarized content without even realizing it. even hbomb pointed out that these people disguised what they presented pretty well as long as you didn't try and dig deeper. don't come away just thinking of this as a callout piece, take this as an important lesson about vetting your sources. if googling scripts in quotes was enough to expose the original, we should all start doing that shit!!

edit: it got a little too doomer-y a little too fast so one quick addition

this is hbomb's curated playlist of queer creators, many of whom were victims of plagiarism

this is producer kat on reddit calling for any more plagiarism discoveries and for queer content creators to be uplifted

please take some time to uplift these creators and recommend any you know! if you can help uncover more of the original creators whose work was lifted that would be great too :)

UPDATE- From Hbomb's twitter: "We're in the process of cataloguing everyone James Somerton plagiarised and finding their contact information. Which is quite a task, so to help us out: If you see this and happen to be one of the people Somerton stole from, please email us at [email protected]"

edit 2:

#hbomberguy #james somerton #illuminaughtii #internet historian #vice #ign etc have had issues with plaigarism before #this isnt just some youtuber scandal remember #even books can fall victim to this #kaz rowe's history vids exemplify this pretty well #i'd recommend the triboulet ass slapping myth one if you want a good breakdown #and somerton absolutely had problems with the way he discussed foreign media and anyone that wasnt a cis gay man #but considering most of his ideas werent his own that doesnt dismiss the original authors' work keep in mind

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Neil Gaiman started a ‘Let’s Play’ channel titled “Neil Gaiming” in order to market a new book. 

#dream #text #August 26th 2023 #neil gaiman #gaming #youtube #book #writing

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The brilliant Good Omens drunk Aziraphale and Crowley bookshop scene from the book, 5 ways: :)

The Full Cast Audiobook with David Tennant and Michael Sheen 2021 (audiobook masterpost :))

David Tennant reading the scene at the Playing in the Dark event 2019

Neil Gaiman reading the scene at the event An Evening With Neil Gaiman event at University of Washington 2015 (x)

Part of Michael Sheen reading the scene at the The Town Hall Good Omens event with Neil and Nick Offerman 2019 (x)

Part of Jon Hamm reading the scene The Art of Elysium’s Heaven Gala event 2024

Fun fact: Neil said about this scene that there there were lines by both of them but it was primarily by Terry, that he remembers this was: something that I just remember Terry phoning me up and reading it to me. And this was the point that I knew this book was going to work. ❤

#good omens #good omens audiobook #good omens book #david tennant #michael sheen #neil gaiman #playing in the dark #The Art of Elysium’s 2024 Heaven Gala #the drunk bookshop scene #the town hall go event #reading #readings #videos #my edit #fun fact #terry pratchett #<3 #btb #Youtube

[ibrithir-was-here]

How the heck is there not more talk about Tanith Lee??

Like my gosh, the woman wrote, according to her wiki, 90 books, over 300 short stories, two World Fantasy Awards, and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award/Augus Derleth Award and wrote for tv shows.

Like, it's not like she just wrote a heck ton but wasn't very good! She was clearly very good she won awards, and i've read a swath of her stuff across different genres and really enjoyed most of it. I mean that even if not each one has been my cup of tea I can at least appreciate the skill and quite a lot I have truly enjoyed. She's got great prose and style and imagination. Not everything obviously was a banger, but they've all been at least well written, which is harder to come by in writing than you might think.

But nobody ever seems to talk about her?? And I feel like the fantasy crowd on here would really enjoy her stuff. The woman has done stuff in pretty much every genre from what I can see, but I never see her listed on fantasy authors like Clive Barker or Diana Wynne Jones or Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett or Diane Duane even though she was writing at the same time and has a similar sort of '80s Doing Cool Stuff with Fantasy vibe' I feel like people who like those authors would enjoy though she's very much her own style of author.

Anyway this was really just me putting out a rant that such a prolific and talented author seems to have fallen by the wayside and I think it's really a shame

Heck she even did a witch-queen fighting againt vampire Snow White a whole decade before Neil Gaiman did his phenomenal Snow Glass Apples and it's also excellent, give a look here:

#tanith lee #fantasy authors #fantasy books #70s fantasy #80s fantasy #90s fantasy #british fantasy #British writers #i dunno how to tag i just want this woman to be remembered darn it #Youtube #i hope its ok to tag the authors mentioned #not trying to spam but like also want the fan crossover to get people interested in her again? #i dont know why i'm taking this so personally xD #neil gaiman #diane duane #terry pratchett #clive barker #diana wynne jones #vampire snow white

[learnelle]

Trying to romanticise being stuck in stormy Paris weather, at least a 15 minute walk away from my metro stop. No umbrella, but happy to have a hot drink and colourful book.

#i used to listen to ‘rainy paris cafe’ background noise on YouTube while working- the vibe is not the same today looool #light academia #cottagecore #studyspo #dark academia #Studyblr #Chaotic academia #books & libraries #Paris #france #upthebaguette #Bookblr #bookish

[crow-caller]

Tiktok sensation LightLark is the final boss of bad fantasy YA— a failure built on aesthetic boards and tropes, unable to pretend it has a heart

Tiktok sensation LightLark is the final boss of bad fantasy YA— a failure built on aesthetic boards and tropes, unable to pretend it has a heart

View On WordPress (Includes audio version)

A full summary with spoilers, analysis, quotes- and so much more on the subject of a book you should never read. This is a long piece. Like ‘Youtube Video Essay’ long.

Lightlark is joyless, a husk beyond parody, a checklist of every Island of Blood and Bone and Glass and Hearts that has come out in the last five years, built and sold on tropes and aesthetic boards. This is a book written by an author who is not a writer. It would fit in on the dregs of an amateur writing site with eerie perfection.

But Lightlark is more than that. You see, Lightlark is… a TikTok book.

EDIT:

Thanks :')

There's now a video version. I heard Tumblr likes video essay long watches on obscure very specific content... may I introduce you to:

I'm not making a dime on this, I have no horses, only like 70 hours of work looking at this mess of a book and I just want to make sure everyone knows how bad it is. Let's be bitter at this multimillionaires flop together.

#Alex aster #Book drama #Book Review #booktok #fantasy #fiction #Lightlark #Review #romance #writing #YA #YA books #YA fiction #young adult #Youtube

[andthebeanstalk]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

#original #the last unicorn #tlu #peter s beagle #molly gru #schmendrick #schmendrick the magician #two of my favorite characters in anything right there in the center of the story! and I'm glad I saw the film first! #my reading ability has diminished due to trauma disability etc. but it seems like having a visual reference actually really helped! #no wonder i only ever want to read fan fic! turns out reading is not actually Superior to other types of Storytelling. it's just different. #to say otherwise is snobbishness I have been eminently guilty of in my life! #but like it is easier for me to consume tv and movies and that is fine actually. also that's why I'm doing a graphic novel lol #because i wanted to make something i would actually be able to read if i found it at a library. altho the audio book IS gonna be bomb #the audiobook is for visually impaired readers and anyone who wants or needs it! accessible stories for everyone! yeah!! #my gender was already transed but now I've gained an ADDITIONAL gender! which one? I'll never tell 😘 #i am so powerful i have so much fuckin gender. my wife has no gender. and she is equally as powerful. #and also she has STUDIED THE BLADE #mostly zoro's blades from One Piece #normally YouTube recommends me shit movies like idiocracy or smth this is like if every day ur cat brought you a piece of rotten food and #then one day it brings you a BEAUTIFULLY ANIMATED TALE FEATURING MY BELOVED TWINK FUCK-UP WIZARD FRIEND AND MY ALL-TIME HOMEGIRL MOLLY GRU #and also it's soft and beautiful and funny and fucking weird!! i wrote melodies to the songs in the books on my ukulele

[borninwinter81]

William Blake - an introduction for Good Omens fans

I have sent @neil-gaiman an ask regarding his feelings toward the poet/artist William Blake a couple of times, but no doubt due to the size of the poor man's inbox I haven't received a response. So I did a Google search to see if he's spoken about Blake before, and it did indeed come up with a fair few hits. I think you might enjoy seeing this Twitter post if you haven't already, the painting is from William Blake's illustrations to Paradise Lost.

It's not surprising that an author like Neil Gaiman might have an interest in Blake. A visionary from a young age, his imagination was such that he was surrounded by angels made visible in his mind's eye, and he interpreted these visions through poetry, painting and engraving, and self-printed and published many of his own works. This gave him complete freedom to say exactly what he wanted.

Though he had a passionate faith in God, he also had a deep distrust of the church as an institution, and disliked the use of religion as a means of control. This poem from "Songs of Experience" perhaps summarises his feelings best:

"I went to the Garden of Love,

And saw what I never had seen:

A Chapel was built in the midst,

Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,

And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;

So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,

That so many sweet flowers bore. 

And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tomb-stones where flowers should be:

And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,

And binding with briars, my joys & desires."

In his poetry there is often an incongruity with the generally accepted religious ideas of what is good and evil, Angel and Demon. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (there's a title that should make any GO fan sit up and pay attention) he tells us that "in the book of Job, Milton's Messiah is called Satan", signifying that he feels it is Lucifer/the devil who is the true Messiah of Paradise Lost.

He gives us The Voice of the Devil and Proverbs of Hell, and has Angels being transformed into Demons through enlightenment. He tells us that Jesus broke all of the 10 commandments, yet was still virtuous because he acted according to his own morality rather than rules.

The god-figure of his later works, Urizen, generally comes across as malevolent, seeking to bind and control, whilst Los, the Satan/Messiah figure represents freedom, imagination and creativity.

"Restraining desire" and acting contrary to your own nature seem to be the only real evils for Blake.

He expressed his faith through a love of the world and the beauty in it, summed up in this quote:

"When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea? O no no I see an innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty".

He saw "God" in everything, in all the wonders we have around us, and considered writers/poets and religious prophets as essentially the same, since they both have a connection to the divine, and express it through stories.

It's quite ironic that probably his most famous poem, Jerusalem (the one that starts "and did those feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains green"), was made into a very popular church hymn, yet it is supposed to be satirical in nature. The poem recounts the myth that Jesus may have visited England in his boyhood, and Blake is expressing his disbelief at that notion and the unworthiness of England.

Did I have a point to all this? Mostly to show my hand as a massive Blake nerd, but also to hopefully demonstrate that there's a lot of common ground between his ideas and those expressed in a show/book like Good Omens, and hopefully to inspire some of you who may not be familiar with Blake to seek him out. In particular I'd recommend The Marriage of Heaven and Hell to any and all.

EDIT: I should have thought to include this, here's Michael Sheen reading a Blake poem. I have the CD this is from, he reads several by Blake, as well as other poets I love ❤️ 😍

#william blake #good omens #good omens book #good omens 2 #good omens s3 #neil gaiman #crowley #aziraphale #english literature #literature #poetry #go2 #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #book omens #michael sheen #Youtube

[nerdynatreads]

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book review || Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

video review || 5 by 5: Holiday Romance || 5 Romance Reads and Reviews

Right out of the gate, this is a whole lot of shenanigans with a marriage of convenience and then the reveal of Ellie’s one that got away is related to her fake fiancé. It’s ridiculous and totally entertaining, which has made for a very fast read so far. The Christmas atmosphere is plenty strong in the first half, with tons of snow and festive activities being mentioned, but this completely disappears in the latter half, unfortunately. You could definitely tell the climax would likely have a blow-up of family drama as well, which is tea I will always drink, but holy shit, was it frustrating that Ellie does nothing to try and actually communicate her side of the story in a more coherent way.

Along with the main plot, we have novelized versions of a comic Ellie wrote about her wonderful one-day romance with Jack the previous year. While these can mess with the pacing, Cochrun has placed them well so they give us answers to questions that pop up in the current timeline. Jack and Ellie’s interactions in the current time are slightly awkward and filled with sexual tension, while their past ones are easier, though surprisingly deep, and equally as tense. I’m sort of in love with Jack, I’ll admit. Both Jack and Ellie are neurodiverse, which is well incorporated into their characters and actions, making them feel more believable and realistic. I enjoyed watching their feelings for each other grow and the spice was definitely good, 3 chilis worth. However, they’ve technically only been together for about a week, meaning a love declaration at the end felt really fast and odd.

Since we’re seeing from Ellie’s POV, we also have an added side plot of her struggling relationship with her mom. This has made me love Andrew and Jack’s family all the more for welcoming Ellie with open arms. We also see the extent to which that relationship has affected Ellie’s life. I greatly appreciated that Ellie was called out on her toxic thought patterns and paralyzing fear of failure, so we were finally able to see some growth from her, though most of it happens off-page. All of this made Ellie a very likable, albeit frustrating main character to follow who can be empathized with. Though she is pretty obtuse at times about Jack’s feelings, but I suppose that could be influenced by Ellie’s own demisexuality. Speaking of which, I’m not demi, but I have seen a few reviewers point out the oddity of having a main character that is demisexual and yet she partakes in a one-night stand. I definitely thought the same.

3.75 / 5 stars

#book review #bookblr #booklr #book tumblr #booktube #booktuber #book youtuber #studyblr #kiss her once for me #kiss her once for me by alison cochrun #romance books #romance book recs #romance book recommendations #holiday romances #holiday romance books #holiday romance book recs #holiday romance book recommendations

[saintarmand]

iwtv is insanity inducing bc every time you google some reference in it you find out theyre doing some 4d chess with the symbolism… like okay playing roosevelt's speech about the us joining ww2 in the background as claudia tells louis shes gonna kill lestat is pretty straightforward, and of course the chess game theyre playing foreshadows how she beats him in the next episode but doesn't "finish the game" ie burn him. and bc claudia later compares lestat to the nazis/hitler, that obviously makes lestat germany and thus claudia is poland and louis is the us/roosevelt in the speech we hear: "I had hoped against hope that some miracle would prevent a devastating war in Europe and bring to an end the invasion of Poland by Germany" etc. BUT THEN you get nerdy and google some of the chess terms lestat uses like the dutch defense and stonewalling which is pretty interesting and then you vaguely remember one of the writers said the scene was based on some famous chess game, and you realize it must be glücksberg vs miguel najdorf which turns out to be literally called the POLISH IMMORTAL. najdorf was polish and glücksberg is some unknown but based on the name likely german. this was najdorf's first famous game, at the beginning of his career when he was only like 19 or something although we dont know the exact details of the game (and ofc you watch a few videos on the polish immortal and they all heavily criticize glücksberg's moves which makes lestat's arrogance even funnier) and ALSO, in 1939 (literally at the same time as the chess scene takes place) najdorf was participating in a chess tournament in buenos aires and since he was not only polish but also jewish, he stayed there rather than return home. his whole family was killed in the holocaust but he lived a long life in argentina. why is this relevant? because BUENOS AIRES which btw lestat also calls "la reina del plata" so you google that and find the 1930 song by carlos gardel and the lyrics are literally— anyway so buenos aires is where lestat planned for them to move to in ep7. perhaps if they had indeed gone to argentina instead of europe… well… perhaps… perhaps…

#vampterview #spark in the dark #iwtv #interview with the vampire #i wonder if there will be more najdorf parallels in s2... theres a shot in the trailer where claudia is blindfolded #and najdorf set the world record for simultaneous blindfold chess in 1947 (!!!) which stood until 2011 #although simultaneous blindfold chess also does kinda sound like what claudia was doing in ep7 already #theres also the najdorf variation of the sicilian defense which was named after him but he stopped using it bc #(if i understand correctly) some amateur who simply memorized the moves from chess theory books managed to beat him at it. HMM #to be clear i know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about chess im simply reading this shit off wikipedia and chess.com and some youtube videos #i could absolutely be getting this all wrong i have no idea what any of this shit actually means #s #claudia

[eemoo1o-animoo]

Finding this image so interesting because Sebastian lets himself be photographed.

#he has no records so in the future I imagine him to be in one of this ‘top ten unexplained events’ youtube videos #and his face .. you can see pain but he’s obviously trying to look cool for the camera #black butler #kuroshitsuji #book of atlantic #campania arc #image #lizzie midford #lady elizabeth midford #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #I’m obsessing over this image #this image is brain rot #Grelle would do the same thing let’s not kid ourselves #edit: those

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Neil Gaiman was reviewing books on a YouTube video and he picked one up that was covered in slime and was like, "I appreciate the symbolism here but this is sloppily done."

#dream #neil gaiman #book review #youtube #book

[fordtato]

The Bill Cipher Smash or Pass

I've probably worked harder on this video than any video so far. I'll likely reblog this later tagging artists but I gotta figure out the logistics of that because there were over 100 Bill Cipher submissions (check the link in the video description for all the non- anonymous artists).

Thank you.

(P.s. watch the end for a surprise)

#gravity falls #bill cipher #book of bill #Youtube

[amazingphil]

Dan and Phil are MEAN GIRLS

#dan and phil #mean girls #Christmas #burn book #Youtube

[randimason]

EDITED TO ADD: St. Louis University posted the 2023 St. Louis Literary Award ceremony; Neil’s talk starts about 40 minutes in. (Thanks DanGuyF)

In an interview before the event [Neil] Gaiman said that when he started writing comics, he “wasn’t even in the gutter.”

He said: “I used to look up and admire the people in the gutter. The science-fiction people were in the gutter, the children’s literature people were in the gutter, too, and I was so far down, I was in the storm drain.”

Great writeup by Jane Henderson from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sharing highlights of Neil’s talk at the St. Louis Literary Award!

#neil gaiman #comics #st louis #st louis literary award #it does look like a fountain pen #writing #genre #quotes #book talk #fantasy #with love from florida #Youtube