#val garcia | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

filmtv2022 · 1 year

Text

All Series/Works Masterlist:

I'm going to compile my series masterlists & any standalone pieces that I write in this post (at least for now). The look of the list will change as I write more. Happy reading!

Please assume that ALL works are 18+

All reader pairings are written as female readers unless otherwise stated in the description

----------------------------------------

(Series) To The Bitter End: Doc Holliday x Earp!reader (completed)

15 Chapters (word count - approx. 47k)

Story Summary: The youngest Earp sibling joins her older brothers in Tombstone with the hope that the new climate will ease her consumption/tuberculosis symptoms and reconnect her family. But as she settles into this new life, will she find something worth living for? Someone who can tame the loneliness? --------------------------------------------- (Series) By Your Side: Rhett Abbott x reader (completed)

23 Chapters (word count - 115k)

Story Description: Returning to Wabang was never something that Y/N had planned on, but with the loss of her father leaving her the sole owner of her family’s farm she must go back. Time spent at home forces Y/N to face the people she left behind. Will Y/N be able to navigate the murky waters of her past and present as the lines between them blur?

--------------------------------------------

(One-shot) One More Ride: Rhett Abbot x Reader

(18+ MDNI) Rhett & Y/N spend their last night in Wabang together. Pushing away the weight of the world by falling into one another's arms.

-----------------------------------------------

(One-shot) When does it stop?: Jake Seresin x original character (reference to Bradley Bradshaw x original character)

Word Count - 397

Based on the thought of what would have happened if Bradley had been married before the Uranium mission, and Jake had been unable to save him and Maverick.

________________________________ (One-shot) Coming Home: Mickey ‘Fanboy’ Garcia x Reader

Word Count - approx. 5k

Story Summary: Mickey and Y/N are visiting Y/N’s hometown while away on leave. Shockingly, the pair find themselves invited to her childhood friend’s Halloween gathering. This might sound like a dream, but it’s been four years since Y/N’s had any real contact with her friend, but with a little encouragement she decided to face her fears and go. While Y/N expects awkwardness to ensue, she certainly never expected to catch a raging case of baby fever.

---------------------------------------

(One-shot) Summer Haze: Robert 'bob' Floyd x Reader

Word Count: approx. 3k

Story Summary: After years of dancing around their feelings for one another, Y/N and Bob find their way back to one another at a community potluck.

-------------------------------------

(Mini-series - Completed)

Together: Jake 'Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Together Part 2: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Together Part 3: Jake 'hangman' Seresin x Reader

Word Count: approx. 6k

Story Summary: Y/N and Jake have been friends since their time at the Naval Academy. The two of them acting as each others’ refuge during every up and down. But when a death in the family rocks Y/N’s foundation the two are forced to acknowledge the reality that their feelings for one another go far beyond just a friendship.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Series) Moving Foward Masterlist

Y/N Kazansky is many things. A loyal daughter, a world-class fighter pilot, and a fierce protector of those she holds most dear. But beyond the shiny exterior is a wounded woman looking to find her way back to the life she'd known and loved. When a mission brings her back to Top Gun, she is forced to confront the sins of her past while focusing on the uncertain future falling into place in front of her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

(Series) (In the Bleak Midwinter)

Left with the dying wish of her husband, Y/N finds herself in Birmingham in search of one Thomas Shelby. Old wounds for both will be brought to light as the pair finds a way to heal from the hurt of the past together.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

(One-shot) Every Part of You - Aziraphale x Reader

(One-shot) Ineffable Agony - Aziraphale x Reader x Crowley (gender neutral reader)

126 notes · View notes

the-authoress-writes · 6 months

Text

Bradley’s Uncle(s) (And Dad)

Synopsis: The Daggers look through Mav’s TOPGUN class yearbook.

What they see surprises most of them.

In other related news, Bradley would like to bleach his brain.

And his ears.

Author’s Note: This was inspired by this tumblr post, and I churned it out in about half an hour.

I posted this on my main blog, @oh-great-authoress, eleven days ago, but it makes me cackle to the point that I feel that you guys on my fanfiction sideblog should see this too.

Title is inspired by the Fountains of Wayne classic, “Stacy’s Mom”.

Warnings: None, really, but the events of TG:M are completely canon for this, so a certain Admiral is unfortunately not with us in this ficlet.

The daggers were gathered at Mav’s hangar for their weekly get together, when one of them—not Jake, surprisingly—decided to snoop around Mav’s bookshelf.

Fanboy was looking at all the gathered NATOPS’ from various aircraft, when he spied the thin, blue-spined book entitled “TOPGUN Class One, 1986”.

“Hey Mav?” Mickey called out.

“Yeah, kiddo?” came the voice from the trailer, where Mav was heating the food Payback had brought.

“Do you mind if I take a look at one of your books?”

“Knock yourself out!”

“Thanks!” Mickey replied, immediately taking the yearbook, and moving over to the living area, where most of the daggers were. “Hey guys, look what I found!

It’s—”

“Damn—haven’t seen that in an age,” Rooster breathed, rubbing a hand over his upper lip.

“What is that?” Hangman asked, leaning forward, curious as ever.

“It’s Mav’s TOPGUN class yearbook,” Mickey explained as he laid it out. “Mav said I could take a look.”

The first photo was of the whole class together, and more than a few of the daggers silently chuckled at the fact that Mav was one of the shortest people in his class.

There were a few photos included that were also visible on the hangar walls, the versions in the yearbook printed with a small “Courtesy of Carole Bradshaw” or “Courtesy of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell” in the corner.

Then they came to the section with everyone’s official Navy portrait, when suddenly, Phoenix reached out, and grabbed the book, wide-eyed.

“What?” Rooster asked, speaking for everyone, shocked and worried.

She pointed vaguely at the page, her mouth slack.

Halo immediately turned away and spat out her drink.

“Hey Cal, you okay?” Omaha rushed over.

“Yeah,” she rasped, coughing and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “I just—I never expected Admiral Kazansky to be hot!”

The other daggers immediately leaned to look at the book, and true enough, there was twenty-six year-old Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky in all his youthful glory.

“Well, I’ll be damned, who knew the late COMPACFLT could give me a run for my money?” Jake whistled, while everyone else save Bradley blinked incredulously, trying to reconcile the image they had of Admiral Kazansky with the image they were seeing.

Phoenix scoffed, leafing through the portraits section, “Most of Mav’s class could give you a run for your money, Bagman, you’re hardly God’s gift to women.

And even now, Mav could give you a run for your money,” she declared, ignoring the Texan’s dramatic gasp.

“I know, right, Nat—I mean, you saw those abs—who has those abs at fifty-seven?” Halo whisper-shouted.

“Oh, yeah.” She paused, then blinked. “Gotta admit, though, young Mav hits different.”

Halo leaned and nodded, an admiring smile on her face. “Ooh, yeah, he could totally get it.”

A sharp sound pulled the two women away from their musing, and they turned to see Bradley had slammed his beer bottle down on the coffee table, and he was striding away towards the airstream. “Roo, what are you doing?” Natasha shouted.

“Nope!

No!

I’m not listening to you guys thirsting over my dad and uncles!

No!!”

It’s Traumatize Bradley hours in this blog I guess 😂!

If you look at the nametags they’re all wearing in TG86, the second row says “TOPGUN 1”, so I’m assuming that there’s more than one TOPGUN session a year, at least in the TG/TG:M universe.

Taglist

@valmare (I know you saw it already, but I’m including you because it’s the taglist, sorry Mir!)

@callsign-skydancer

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

@tadomikiku

If you’d like to join my taglist, just send me an ask!

#this is completely predicated on the idea that none of them ever bothered to look at the huge photo of mav and ice in the TOPGUN foyer #which is wholly plausible #bahaha 🤣#the defense department regrets to inform you your daughters are *ded* because of the navy(al aviators)#officially in my val kilmer era #not me 👀 at men literally old enough to be my father #but phoenix and halo are i guess #top gun: maverick #top gun maverick #top gun maverick fic #top gun: maverick fic #mickey fanboy garcia #pete maverick mitchell #jake hangman seresin #bradley rooster bradshaw #natasha phoenix trace #callie halo bassett #neil omaha vikander #tom iceman kazansky

34 notes · View notes

broketraveler87 · 2 years

Text

I meant to post this yesterday but physically fell apart.

To The Top Gun Fandom,

Thank you for the best summer I’ve had in awhile!

Thank you for the stories, pictures, going feral on a Tuesday night, the camaraderie and generally being warm inviting people.

May our love of these Naval Aviators keep us warm during the long cold months ahead!

😘 ✈️ 🕶

BT87

296 notes · View notes

typical-simplelove · 2 years

Text

Top Gun: Maverick 2022 (dir. Joseph Kosinski) | End Credits

271 notes · View notes

juststayquiete · 2 months

Text

#dogtown is FUN #cyberpunk 2077 #fem v #val garcia #kleff vp

52 notes · View notes

newbordeaux · 14 days

Text

fallout tv show oc idea.... spoilers underneath the cut

Girl whose parents are from Arroyo, maybe her dad is Audrey's cousin/Felix' sister's son, Miguel (he looks like an adult in fo2 but I think he would have been small, maybe 6)

Also yes I changed the name of the arroyo citizens bc they were stupid as hell..

They both moved to Shady Sands and joined the NCR... then died in the blast

I have to do the math but I imagine she was young when it happened. She has siblings ho may or maynot have survived, but she doesn't know their fates... yet. she wants to find out

She grows up around the area, maybe even lives in Junktown for a while.

She's a gunslinger/bounty hunter (wannabe Cooper <3) but sucks at it, she's not intimidating at all, all she could bring in were a bunch of lowlife criminals too high on jet to fight back, and for a measily 5 caps -_- but that's life. Most of the time she's scavenging for valuables to sell.

I think she'd be smart... good intelligence stats and had a good education under the ncr, but it doesn't get her anywhere when she's elbow-deep in junk, fishing for electronic parts.

OH also speaking of Cooper I think she has a few holotapes of his old show, she's a fan. Maybe she finds out he's alive, but would she want to meet him knowing he's eating ass jerky now... maybe not

Also she doesn't have a name yet but her fc is jenna ortega :> EDIT: her name is guadalupe. lou for short.

#idk if miguel's last name would be garcia.. or montero cause his moms family is more important #it doesn't matter either way because i want unnamedgirl to have her moms surname :) just because #c: lou #I also forgot felix' aunt in the family tree. but hes my chosen one and val is my vault dweller. i also suck at these games..

5 notes · View notes

topgunruinedme · 2 years

Text

Sweaters

Synopsis: Bradley is oblivious, Uncle Ice told him it’s apparently a hereditary trait from the Mitchells. Bradly is determined to win over Pheonix any way he can, the only trouble is everyone seems to be sabotaging him.

Master List, Prologue.

Word count: 2,245

Requested by @seedroot

Prompt: Ot3 where bob and rooster are hardcore crushing over phoenix, rooster sees phoenix in bobs sweater and gets extremely flustered then realizes oh wait that’s not normal

I made this a 5 +1 post, 5 times they attempted to let Bradly down slowly + 1 time they hit him over the head with it.

A/N: I decided to change a few small things from my short post :) I hope it’s what you were looking for @seedroot.

It had started out friendly, Bradly had drunk too much. He had beer froth in his porn stash and a smile that never seem to fade, he was lounging in a booth with Bob watching people around them move around in the bar. Or particular one specific person, Phoenix, the only female piolet in their squadron a phenomenal flyer. He watched as she leaned over the pool table to that a shot all while snarking at Hangman who grinned at him, she flipped him off when he said something causing him to laugh. He signed as sipped his drink a smile flattering slightly, before he turned to Bob who was also watching the squad making fools of themselves. He did a doubletake at the pure love and adoration on Bobs face and turned to follow his gaze. Phoenix and hangman, he sure as hoped it wasn’t Hangman because that was a can of worms he was not opening. He let out a laugh starting the man beside him, Bob looked at him worried.

“You alright Rooster?” the amused look on Bob’s face caused him to laugh more, “she’ll never look twice at you,” he said firmly. Bob blinked at him as confusion flooded his face, “What?”, Bradly nodded his head over to Phoenix who had beaten Hangman and was now perched on the pool table chatting with Fanboy. “The flaming bird” Bradly grinned sharply, “She’ll never look twice at you,” he said cruelly, “You’re just her WSO, nothing else”. He had been told he was nasty when he drank but he hadn’t really noticed no one had mentioned it in years, he didn’t think about it. Until he saw the slightly hurt on the man’s face like he’d been slapped. Bob looked at him wide-eyed. “Don’t even try boy, your all baby” he leaned over and tapped the man on the face a little harder than he intended from the disorientation of moving while he was sloshed. Bob frowned at him and readjusted the glasses on his face he had nocked, “Rooster, I think it’s time you go home”. Bradly felt anger build up in him, but he forced it down and plastered a smile on his face as he leaned over the table into Bob’s personal space forcing the man back into his seat to keep space between them.

“Maybe you should. Isn’t it past baby’s bedtime” he pretended to think, when a hand gripped down on his shoulder tightly forcing him back onto his side, Hangman strained face came into his field of view.

“Is there an issue here?” Hangman asked his jaw tight; Phoenix was standing beside him frowning, not a good impression. He attempted to salvage it, “no” his smile was again pressed on, “I was just telling baby, how it was past his bedtime” he attempted so joke smoothly much like Hangman did to the man. No one laughed, Hangman grip tightened slightly, “I wasn’t talking to you” he turned silently to Bob, eyes trailing over the man for any type of injury. “I’m fine Jake” Bob said timidly, “we were just” he hesitated, “talking”.

Hangman looked at the man firmly before turning his attention back to Rooster, “it’s time to go home Rooster” he protested as the man manhandled him out of his seat. The man’s grip on his arm tight, “I wasn’t asking” Hangman jaw was clenched tightly and there was fury hidden underneath his calm face he could see it in his eyes.

The incident wasn’t mentioned again.

The next time he attempted to gain Phoenix’s favor he was much more sober, he pretended to ignore Hangman’s slightly protective stance he took any time he was near Bob. After a week the event was forgotten, he was lounging back on the classroom desk as they waited for their turn in the air. Fanboy and Payback were plainly ignoring them as they played cards in the back corner, Bob sat next to Hangman catting about some cool mauver they had seen Maverick do.

Phoenix was leaning over her desk writing down some notes, this was the perfect moment. He stood gracefully from the desk – meaning he attempted to swing himself up only to get his foot caught on the seat and ended up falling to the ground in a heavy bunch. He groaned as Hangman’s laughter filled the room “smooth”, the familiar southern drawl mocked.

He stood stubbornly, glaring at the man, and stepped up to her desk popping down in the seat in front of her desk backwards. Laying his arms on the back of the chair so he could rest his chin on them comfortably and watch her. She looked up from her notes irritated at being disrupted, the mood didn’t shift upon seeing who had disrupted her, if anything she held back a groan. She didn’t have time for this today.

“What do you want Bradshaw” she asked irritated as her focus went back to her notes,

“Being around you makes it hard to think” he smirked, waiting for her to swoon but instead she rolled her eyes, “good thing you never had a brain to begin with Bradshaw” she said flatly. He blinked and Hangman let out a gruff laugh, Bobs lip twitched slightly as he attempted to push down his own smile.

Maverick walked I before he could respond.

He felt like his grin would split open his face as he jumped into his jeep, finally. She had agreed on a date, ill met you at the diner.

He can’t believe it took him this long to get her alone and all he had to do was ask her to grab lunch with him.

He shifted in his seat of the booth, his excitement bleeding though and the waiter gave him an odd looking. His head shot up when the bell went off when the door opened, he turned to look, I wonder if she dressed up for him. If she would smile and admit that she had fallen in love with him at first sight too. But what he saw made his smile flatter, Phoenix stood in the doorway. Her hair was in its classic bun she wore a sweater that seamed a tad big and jeans with her combat boots, having changed. But what made him pause was the causal arm Fanboy had swung over her shoulder while Coyote walked behind them.

“Hey” she smiled sliding into the booth, “I wonder if they have good burgers here”” she mused picking up the menu. Rooster sat there silently sliding over when Coyote slid into the booth next to him, the two boys talking causally as if they had been invited and not crashing his date. He blinked in confusion, how had it all gone so wrong? He swore he saw Coyotes lip twitch in amusement at him, as if he knew exactly what he was doing. He sat there ignoring the conversations around him as he picked at his chips, “Not eating Bradshaw?” Phoenix raised an eyebrow at the sullen man. “Not hungry” he muttered,

Pete raised a silent eyebrow as he listened to his godson spew about his girl trouble, he tried to comfort him, but the man seamed despite. “Bradly” he signed “do you really think I’m the one to go to for dating advice?”, the line was silent for a moment “your right” Bradly admitted before hanging up.

Pete huffed in amusement as he burrowed back into his husband’s chest, Tom signed lifting his book so he could rest his head on the man’s chest. “He still doesn’t know?” Tom asked running his hand through Pete’s hair, the smaller man shook his head. “God he’s as oblivious as I am” Pete complained, Toms lips twitched “well then” he mused “then maybe he only needs a nudge in the right direction”. Pete eyed the man suspiciously suddenly not trusting the mans motive btu was quickly distracted as he was pulled into a sweet embraced as his husband captured his lips with his.

5. The time they were so close.

Bradly narrowed his eyes as he watched Phoenix smile at Bob and lean over to kill him, on the lips. That’s- that’s totally a friend thing to do he declared drunkenly. The two had been all over each other all afternoon, Phoenix had sat in Bob’s lap for a while casting a permanently blush on the boy’s face. He really must stop drinking so much, he was becoming delusional.

He was fairly sure, he had seen Fanboy and Payback jacking each other off behind Penny’s bar, beside the dumpster too. It had to be a delusion. The two men didn’t even like each other. What the hell was wrong with his head?

“so” he started hesitantly, “your together?” he asked the couple. Bob had burrowed his head in Phoenix’s neck and the Phoenix was running her hand through her WSO hair, something he often saw her do. She blinked as a proud and relieved smile beaming at him, “yes” it looked as if the world has slipped of her shoulders, “you finally understand”.

He blinked, finally understood what? That he was mentally insane? How could his brain even think that they were together? Let alone Payback and Fanboy, now Phoenix the love of his life. Was in a relationship with her WSO, the baby of the group. The man she hardly spared a glance to, the man who she only talked to when she had too when they were training for their mission. The same man who all those nights back in Top gun that she had admitted to finding the man following her head like a puppy enduring but annoying. The man who couldn’t pull anything if his life depended on it, he frowned his eyebrows almost touching in his confusion. He stood and walked out onto the beach, pulling out his phone calling the one person he was sure could help him.

“Uncle Ice? I think I’m going insane” the gruff laughter on the other end didn’t help his case, he stared dumbly at the phone in his hand. “No Bradly, your just dumb and in love, as oblivious as your uncle as-”. He zoned out of the conversation when his uncle hadn’t swayed to his side, he didn’t deserve to be insulted. He was better than that. In triumphant, he hung up on Ice mid-sentence when was attempting to explain the situation he had found himself in. Ice blinked at the phone when the call ended, “dear god, I did not ask to deal with two of them” he rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly “I’m getting too old for this shit”. He picked up the phone again calling Phoenix, he hardly gave her time to speak before starting his own Spiel.

“Aright so Mitchells area as oblivious as a bone, you need to spell it out for them. So, this is what you’re going to do...”

+ 1

This was his chance, he waited confidently. He had it all planned out, a dinner and a walk down the beach. He had managed to hide the plans from the others, despite Hangman’s frowned glances towards him. They couldn’t stop him this time, he smiled as Phoenix walked into the room towards her usual seat.

Only something was different about her today, she wore a large Sweater that hung of her shoulder, it fell over her well-fitting jeans. He could swear he had seen the sweater before, he frowned slightly. Where?

He didn’t think too hard on it, that was until Hangman whistled playfully, "bloody hell, Floyd you traded up".

oh, Oh. That’s where he had seen it before, it was Bob’s.

No harm no foul, he was her WSO after all. They hang out all the time, and they had some weird sibling relationship happening, the joking and lingering touches. He didn’t doubt she had some of his clothes with how often they spent the night together after nights out at Hard Deck.

His gaze lingered on Bob's flustered face, oh wait that’s not normal. He's never seen the WSO flustered like that before. Why would the man be so flustered?

The lingering looks and touches made sense now, the jokes and knowing glances like they knew something they didn't. He looked at Phoenix’s smug face as she leaned over Bob's shoulders her head perched on his head efficiently tucking the WSO firmly under her chin. She tugged the blushing WSO collar down revealing the love bites, her eyes connecting with his as she leaned down to trace them possessively. Staking her claim.

He was so very wrong. He never had a chance.

Bloody hell they had practically flaunted themselves in front of him and he still hadn’t seen it. He groaned and let his head drop onto the desk in shame and embarrassment to the amusement of the others in the class.

Maverick chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, "don’t worry kid, Ice had to do the same thing with me when we were in Top Gun. He practically had to make out with Slider in front of an Admiral before I believed he was even gay, despite he had been hitting on me since day one” his godfather said in amusement, “us Mitchells are oblivious to everything”.

“You knew” Bradly whinnied accusingly as he lifted his head to look at Maverick’s sheepish look, “Ice told me”, he said helplessly.

Tag list: @tallrock35

72 notes · View notes

chmerkovskiyvalentin · 9 months

Text

#❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️#jenna johnson #val chmerkovskiy #valenna #rome chmerkovskiy #maks chmerkovskiy #peta murgatroyd #artem chigvintsev #nikki garcia

10 notes · View notes

tcvkcu · 1 year

Text

#tom cruise val kilmer cinematic universe #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #mickey fanboy garcia

27 notes · View notes

therubyreader · 1 year

Text

My Review of Gods of Jade and Shadow

See a full list of my book reviews here

*Disclaimer: there will be spoilers later on in the review*

After months of waiting (since November) I was finally able to get my hands on Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and after all of that anticipation I finished the book in 5 hours and 45 minutes because I lack self control, and also self preservation skills because I stayed up late into the night reading when I had to be up early for work in the morning. I will admit I, probably like many others, was convinced to read the book because of people comparing Hun-Kame to Tenoch Huerta’s portrayal of Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and honestly I get it. Also I am a little biased because I’m Mexican so I’ll absolutely love any sort of Mexican media that gains popularity in the US, in solidarity, but this book was honestly very enjoyable without my biases. Before reading this my knowledge of Mayan mythology was pretty much nonexistent (with the exception of the little bit they included in Black Panther) which is due in part to being a victim of the American public school system but also because my family is from central Mexico which was the home of the Aztec empire so I’m much more familiar with Aztec mythology and language (technically it’s called Nahuatl). I did enjoy learning more about the mythology of one of the other great empires in Mexico and I’m glad more people are willing to read stories from my culture.

I totally recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in a coming of age story mixed with a mythological quest wherein a sheltered girl accidentally frees the Mayan god of death from her grandpa’s bedroom and they must go on a quest through Mexico to retrieve the missing pieces of his body in order to restore him to his throne plus some romance. Now I do have to mention there are some content/trigger warnings for the book (and also for the spoiler part of my review): self-harm, suicide but in the form of human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, physical and verbal abuse, colorism, racism, blood, and violence. If you are not comfortable with any of those topics please do not read this book.

As someone who has been a fan of Percy Jackson for the past decade (excuse me while I have a moment of feeling old) I loved the quest aspect of this story, god takes a mortal on a quest across the country is an underrated but wonderful genre. Is my only experience with this genre all of the Rick Riordan books and also now this one? Yes, but we’re not getting into specifics here. The fact that I got to see that trope with gods from my culture and mentioning places in Mexico I’m familiar with plus a main character that I imagine looks like me to a certain extent was something that healed part of my inner child. I’m a sucker for good Mexican representation and this book gave me exactly what I wanted plus written in a style that is authentically Latin American. This was also a pretty decent introduction to Mayan mythology, it’s very complex and this book made it easy enough to understand for someone like me who came into it without any prior knowledge. But I will add this here, if I see one more of you use Aztec imagery when you make edits for this book I will scream about it.

When I first put the book on hold I didn’t know that it was written by the same author who wrote Mexican Gothic, one of my favorite books I read last year and when I realized this I was even more excited to read it. Based on the only other book of hers I’d read I knew she had mastered the Latin American writing style that I was so used to reading from all of the literature classes I took in college, but in English, extremely poetic with multiple meanings and metaphors laced through it. I absolutely love this style of writing and I find that it’s hard to replicate in English translations of Spanish works because despite Spanish being my first language and my whole entire degree in it I am a little dumb when it comes to literature and understanding deeper meanings and it’s easier for me to understand them in English but I still struggle a bit. Luckily for me Silvia Moreno-Garcia is great at writing in this style and it makes the stories she tells that much more enjoyable.

This writing style also really complimented the way that Casiopea and Hun-Kame feel about each other, she’s an extremely sheltered 18 year-old girl from a very conservative society in pretty conservative time period who has no idea what it means to fall in love trying to explain her own emotions with a god who has, up until that moment, been incapable of feeling love how mortals do and not knowing how to express it. The way they use poetic metaphors when they’re trying to figure out their own emotions or even trying to tell the other how they feel really emphasizes the fact that they are both experiencing love for the first time and don’t know how to handle it. The line “I want to count the stars with you” being a substitute for “I love you” was honestly very beautiful and maybe I rolled around in anguish about it (hey God, it’s me again). It also adds to the mythological and magical feel of the story, since this book is technically magical realism (someone please ask me more about magical realism especially in Latin American books because I can talk about it for hours) the writing style really plays into the “our world but not quite” aspect that’s hard to describe, you just have to experience it.

Again, if you can stomach the trigger/content warnings above I totally recommend the book to you, it’s a great example of Latin American literature and is written beautifully.

Spoilers Below!!!

Let’s start at the end. One of the main complaints I’ve noticed about this book is how it doesn’t have a traditional happy ending one would expect from books, the ending is more realistic and some people are mad about it. I’ll let you all in on a secret, this is a very typical ending in Mexican stories, honestly this was a much happier ending than traditional stories. If any of you have watched any Mexican movies or read any Mexican books (in Spanish), you’ll know what I mean, because we love tragedy. Mexicans have an obsession with death and with extremely sad, heart wrenching stories with a more realistic or even tragic ending, so you all got let off easy with this one. I’m sure most of you expected Casiopea to become a Mayan Persephone but it’s not something that was accurate to the character, she just left an abusive household where she hadn’t even traveled outside of her small town and then immediately becoming a pseudo-death goddess and not really being able to leave Xibalba wouldn’t be what she wanted. Sure, you can probably imagine some future plotline where after her death and living a fulfilling life she accepts that role, but it’s not super realistic. She would probably meet a man on her adventures with Lorey and fall in love and get married or the idealist in me wants to think Casiopea and Hun-Kame would meet later in life and fall in love again. But within the parameters of the story and the characters Casiopea got the best deal she could’ve hoped for, freedom, a new friend, the ability to speak every language ever, and summon ghosts alongside some pearls she could sell for money (which I doubt she will do).

I would also like to think that Casiopea and Hun-Kame would remain friends, or as close to friends as you can be with a death god, they did love each other and flowers started blooming in Xibalba after Hun-Kame became a god again so the love wasn’t completely lost. Again, the idealist in me would want to believe that Hun-Kame is eventually able to love Casiopea in the same way he did when he was part human but it would take some time. Either way they both got a pretty decently happy ending and no one died, a win especially in stories like this.

My main complaint about this story is just how fast everything went. We really had no time to get to know how the characters were being shaped by the quest since they jumped from one location to the other and did very little in each place. You would think that Casiopea would’ve at least taken a little bit of time in each place to really explore, and even when she did the author didn’t let us experience that with her. I was genuinely excited to hear more about how those locations looked back in the 20s but was very disappointed when we got only a little bit of that knowledge. Also it would’ve been nice to learn more about how society was shaped by the revolution in day to day life, though there were some mentions of it I think hearing a little more would’ve been nice.

Also I think the quest was too easy. Yes they were racing against the clock but the way Hun-Kame was easily able to track down every single part of his body and get it back with very little fight was also a bit disappointing. I had expected and hoped for more of a fight when they were going around trying to retrieve the body parts, or even a little more intervention from Vucub-Kame since it felt like he was just letting his brother do whatever he wanted. I honestly felt like he did the bare minimum to try and stop his brother from succeeding, though he does admit he underestimated Casiopea but in all honesty she does very little apart from keeping Hun-Kame alive.

I also would’ve liked the romance aspect to be explored a little more, because Casiopea and Hun-Kame go from pretty much strangers to kind of flirting to in love with little explanation as to why. We do see it a bit from Casiopea’s point of view because she talks a lot about how handsome Hun-Kame is and how he’s really the first man to show her any attention and the only person aside from her parents who really cares for her, but I don’t think we really see the love story from Hun-Kame’s point of view until right at the end. He does mention how he finds her attractive but, at least for me, the jump from attraction to full on wanting to abandon his throne and immortality and let his brother’s plans succeed thus causing tons of death and destruction for her is pretty abrupt. He fully decides to give up everything he’s worked so hard to gain for her and it’s cute but also very strong emotions for such a short time they’ve spent together.

Overall I think that the book and the concept were really original and enjoyable. I would still say that Mexican Gothic is still my favorite book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and as far as I know, this being her first attempt at writing something based on mythology but in the real world, it was really good. I do love her writing style a lot and will definitely be reading more of her books in the future and I do kind of hope that she does something similar based on Aztec mythology next solely because I would like to see her take on it.

#val's book reviews #gods of jade and shadow #silvia moreno garcia #book review #bookblr #book worm

11 notes · View notes