#very cool book though

[helium-fox]

I'm not a book blog by any means, but I just finished reading A Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li, and want somewhere to put my thoughts, so here tumblr, have a random book review (with surprisingly little spoilers bc i'm used to talking in vague terms)

This book was advertised to me as a heist movie/show in novel form and while I get where it was coming from, I found it oddly paced from the heist format I usually come across. Most of the book was devoted to character development, which is not a bad thing! (In fact, it's my personal preference for novels) I love diving into character's motivations and exploring the relations between each of the team members. It was great and I felt all five of the main characters come alive, and I feel a lot of people couldn't have handled that many characters well, but Grace D. Li did amazing.

Each character had their own distinct background and relationship with their identity of Chinese American, and this affected the way they communicated with each other. While some character may have gotten a little more screen time than others, it was well balanced and I don't think any character got left behind.

However, I found the action scenes were quick and took up a small portion of the book in comparison. I could have used them a little bit stretched out to feel the action. I feel like the author was going for replicating the heist movie format of all these different camera angles, coming together to perform the heist. It had a nice quick, choppy feeling to the read, but when you spend 100s of pages developing these characters and building up the heists, and then the heist is over in three pages, it can be a bit anti-climactic for me.

But then again, there is more than one heist so I get where you don't want to drag each one out. There were definitely a couple of turns in there I enjoyed and the lead up to the final heist & the final heist itself were the highlight of the book.

The only thing I did not enjoy about the ending was the romance. (Probably the most specific spoilers in this part, if anyone cares) Was it really necessary to have every one of the five main characters end with a romantic interest? I get that one of them didn't end up in a relationship, but was still implied to have a romantic relationship budding in the future. Also, I found the romance to be a bit uncompelling. I get two of the characters ending up as they did, with their flirtation from the beginning, and they're young and ready to take chances. But I found the queer romance...rushed, I guess?

Like, there was a great build up, from the distrust, to the learning to work together and seeing each other in different light, but I just expected there to be a little bit more build up in their friendship before they jumped to romance.

There are moments implied off-screen. Plenty of time skipped in which they worked together one on one, but it was near the end of the book and wasn't a focus. I feel like the focus on this book was on the characters discovering themselves and healing, so I don't think the romance had to be at the forefront, but it also felt a bit unnecessary. Though, I really shouldn't complain about any queer romance I get, right? There is still a decent enough foundation there that I understand where it came from, even if I wanted more from it.

The fifth team member having a love interest thrown in was a bit much for me. I get that it was probably to show the character healing and moving past the person they've been hung up on, but I felt that character had already had a great arc exploring the relationship with their parent, and the love interest angle was just off-putting to me. It reminded me of books I read as a child where the only happy ending is ending up in a relationship even when the book wasn't a romance novel at all.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see the Netflix adaptation, and I will have to be on the lookout for more heist novels

#portrait of a thief #huh. most of my thoughts were about the romance :/ #was not what i set out to write but then i had to air my grievances lol #very cool book though #like there were a couple things that were off that i didn't mention bc they were small and i don't want to nitpick #but yeah. it's a book about heists and diaspora

[qbdatabase]

do you love the color of trans visibility?

(click on the link below each picture to view a list of titles, authors, and brief summaries for each book!)

#transgender #transgender day of visibility #trans rights readathon #trans rep #nonbinary #nonbinary rep #intersex #intersex rep #book recs #bookblr #I actually realized AFTER I made these graphics #that Wolf Willow Witch is the only book in the series that doesn't have trans or nonbinary rep ;n; #it's still by a nonbinary author though!! #the first book has nonbinary x trans masc MCs #and the third book has a trans female MC #middle book is bi4bi so still very cool but accidentally not on theme

[nickyroethemarinebiologist]

Norrington but my only goal was to make him as shaped as possible

#was supposed to be a character design practice but it just turned into norrington #I can’t complain really #I’m going to print him out. and stick him in my Book Of Silly Guys #art tag #pirates of the caribbean #I actually really like this #he’s VERY silly here. it’s charming #I hate his stupid hat though it’s so hard to draw #I mean it looks cool but oh my god

[astrowarr]

i actually don't think it would've made sense for martyn to get the boogey task.

it was literally.. a boogey task. you know, the mechanic where greens and yellows were forced to kill against their wills? because it wasn't actually a zombie apocalypse, remember. not to mention it would've completely destroyed the enter gimmick of the typical red life tasks, which are meant to be fun creative new ways of hurting/killing. also, I think red tasks are set up the way they are in part to increase the survivability of red names, which was super important this session seeing as there was only one left.

also, we all saw how low gem got leading that army through several kills. she died eventually, and even if it was scar killing her accidentally, she was so low at that point it was guaranteed she was going to die for that task. if that was martyn, he wouldn't have even been able to go get a new red task and get some hearts back you know?

"martyn didn't get to do anything because of it!" that was also his choice though! he could've said hey, you guys are slaughtering people? awesome let me tag along. instead he made the decision to stay far away from that because he was very concerned about the way that was going. he purposefully excluded himself from that; there was no stipulation in the book saying "red names can't be involved or help you kill people". I'm not sure if martyn thought that was the case, but it certainly wasn't

idk, I think the fact that it was referred to as "the zombie apocalypse" all session made people forget they weren't actually zombies. they were boogeymen. that distinction matters a LOT

#i dont even want to address the “it was so forced” thing #as if that's not this seasons entire gimmick #theres an all powerful being forcing tasks upon them.. this isnt even the first clearly orchestrated task #no one had qualms with the wither + warden from session 6 #but that was clearly very manufactured too #“everyone knew what it was!” #except they didn't though #not a single survivor ever spoke the exact wording of the book #almost all of them except joel werent even referring to it as boogeymen #but just “zombie apocalypse” #no one figured out the most recent infected had to participate in the kill for it to spread #idk! i think a cool mechanic from a past series was nodded at much like grians double life themed task #and people sort of took it the wrong way #secret life #trafficblr #ian yammers

[gayrogues]

the scene in evil dead 2 where ash gets his chainsaw arm is a metaphor for bottom surgery. i will not elaborate

#actually i will elaborate! #there's often phallic symbolism in the weapons used in slasher movies and i swear i'm not just saying shit i got this from a reading i had #to do for a film course i'm taking this term #chainsaws are one of these weapons #as demonstrated in that infamous scene from texas chainsaw massacre 2 #so like. taking a chainsaw and making it a part of your body? i think you can see the connections here #i'd try to analyze this a little more if i remembered evil dead 2 in more detail but alas... maybe after a rewatch #btw the book chapter that i'm very badly citing here actually mentions ash in a footnote as a character who could be considered like #a male equivalent of a final girl (though not entirely) #most of the chapter is about analyzing the final girl trope it's really interesting #(for the curious the book is called men women and chainsaws by carol clover) #ransom.txt #evil dead #(edit: i didn't know this when i made this post but carol clover didn't just analyze the final girl trope she was actually the #one who coined that term in the first place! cool as hell)

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath

YA fantasy

a young Indigenous girl finds & bonds with a dragon hatchling - the first time in many generations for her people - and is required to go to the coloniser’s dragon academy in their mainland city, to learn how to raise her dragon and the science of its magic

historical inspired setting on the cusp of industrial revolution with steampunk vibes

bi polyamorous MC, Black lesbian SC, nonverbal autistic SC

#To Shape A Dragon’s Breath #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #this is really really good i loved it! #the chapter titles are all like snippets of a story. or like sentence fragments that match up. which is cool #it is definitely more about being indigenous in a coloniser institution than Dragon School - not Super dragon heavy if you want that #I suspect the subsequent books will get into that when she gets big enough to ride and stuff #t’s also def YA! i’ve seen a few ppl assume it’s adult and be like its very young :( but like. I mean its perfectly reasonable for a 15yo m #definitely a Lot of racism and colonialism which is not fun to read! though it's still through a YA lens. there was def a part of me that #was imagining consequences of the narrative as if it were an adult novel #on that line of thought - at the end a lot of it is kind of solved by them going to the king and he's is like. oh no racism is happening? #that's bad i'll deal with those people! which felt like. a little simplistic. but maybe the easiest way to end the narrative for book 1 - #I don't think the author ACTUALLY is going to portray the king as a Good Guy throughout the series - it just felt conveniently like - #a simple YA solution to some very big and complex elements? if that makes sense? (but again - it is YA so it's allowed I suppose!) #some of the worldbuilding (like all the science learning) is probably setup for next books - we don’t really see any practical application #the romances are also subtle and not Overbearing In Book One which i like - leave some space for the series! #also her getting fanmail from a 10yo mixed race girl who looks up to her 🥺 #anyway. i really loved it! #oh also it reminded me a little of leviathan. i guess just the steampunk/time period/european culture.... #To Shape A Dragon's Breath

[liquidstar]

the goddamn show came out

#no actual hate tbf i dont think its BAD but. very annoying on a personal level if youre greek sorry 💀 #i think the past couple weeks have been horrible for a lot of reasons and i do not have the energy to like #be reminded of dull takes on our mythos every 3 seconds esp when they hardly even acknowledge greece exists its just fandom blorbo shit #its annoyingggg its annoying i dont wanna see it i want it Gone #i actually think pj itself is a pretty middling example of this though. again its not bad esp compared to like booktok shit #a lot of it is often the /fandom/ but even still i find it annoying #at the very least the show does have jason mantzoukas which is more than the books did w like. acknowledging greece lol #to be clear tho i dont think all the characters have to be greek or played by greek ppl i think its cool to have a diverse cast play gods #and their kids and whatnot. its mostly just abt like somekinda nod to where youre taking it from i guess? acknowledging the culture #that still exists! in the books they go to fucking italy ffs whats the deal #basically i have complaints and find it annoying bc it doesnt care about greece like most things about.... greek mythos #so im not excited to see it all over my dash i just think its very annoying personally sorry #ppl can still like it and have fun with it idc abt that but doesnt mean i have to like it either 🤷‍♂️ #ergo. blacklist my best friend do your thing and get it away from me. and we will all be at peace again

[jahiera]

sniffling and crying downloading 10 pdfs of dnd lore books so I can read about the universe so I can accurately write about it. start crying even more when I have a lore question and the reddit conversation reads like "you fucking idiot this was contradicted 15 years ago!" "idk ask your DM you can do what you want" "ACTUALLY you cannot do what you want. read THIS book--" "okay well larian plays fast and loose with the lore anyways." "kill yourself." "okay."

#head on the table trying to nail down some backstory potentials & specifics ........ #feels like: do what you want forever. if you fuck with the lore a spectral guardian with the rage of 150 Nerds will smite you dead. #but do what you want forever in the do what you want game. #spent an hour trying to figure out if (half-)drow can still have red eyes even if they're not lolth sworn #the debate was fierce. brother these words mean nothing to me #I looked up lore books and got hit with a list of TWENTY (20)!! novelizations which is very cool though #like I'm happy to deep dive; it's been awhile since I've had a thing to Deep Dive into; but good lord... it is overwhelming. #pers ⚔️

[fictionadventurer]

All the tour groups in Springfield should be very proud of me for how well I refrained from sharing all my fascinating Lincoln facts.

#there were so many school groups! #a giant one came in RIGHT AFTER i entered lincoln's cabinet room #part of me was screaming 'children i NEED to tell you about all these idiots and their insane drama!' #a smarter part of me understood that would be super weird #so instead i regaled different individuals of my own traveling party after we had the room to ourselves #then at lincoln's tomb we lucked out in getting there during the ten minutes of the day when school groups weren't there #which meant we got a personal tour from a guide who seemed thrilled to have grown-ups to talk to #he and my dad chatted about fishing for a long while in the entry #it didn't feel disrespectful because it totally felt like the kind of conversation lincoln would have understood and joined in on #and then we went on our way but the guide then chased us down to share all the fascinating lincoln stories as we went along #(shout-out to lefty you were great) #and then a school group found us so we made a graceful exit #but outside a teacher was explaining to a different group about how robert was significant in his own right so he's buried at arlington #and the RESTRAINT i showed in not immediately informing them that he was present at three presidential assassinations! it was rather heroic #and then when we toured lincoln's house the guide (who accidentally made it clear he was a revolutionary war buff) #(which made it a bit hilarious he was stuck with lincoln) #asked for questions before we started and someone asked about lincoln's 1860 election campaign! #aka one of my SPECIAL NICHE AREAS OF OBSESSION! #you cannot imagine how desperately i wanted to tell him ALL ABOUT seward and thurlow weed #anyway it was fun to go back now that i actually know stuff about lincoln #but it was also a bit frustrating because now i know how much they leave out #(though there was cool new info and artifacts) #(the blood-stained piece of laura keene's dress was very morbid and very cool) #also it reminded me that i still have that book on the 1860 election i've yet to read and the hype is so real #presidential talk

[prismatic-starstuff]

*blows a kiss somewhere in the general direction of the sky, and therefore space*

For HAL

#2001 a space odyssey #hal 9000 #i finished reading the first book today #first things first: beautifully written book! absolute masterpiece! 10/10 highly recommend! #but also #i'm still tearing up thinking about the murder scene (which is what it was) even though i read it a day ago #it was Not any easier in written form. not at all. still Extremely painful. #i love him and i hate what happened to him #can't wait to start 2010 so i can see him alive and well again #(sidenote: last time me and my mum watched 2001 i genuinely did blow a kiss at hal without thinking about it... #it's cool though #my mum understands #i told her before the first time we watched it: 'listen i'm Absolutely gonna fall in love with hal' #(and she expected that from me anyway) #and so my very immediate falling in love has been no surprise to her whatsoever ALSMSLXNSNXN)

[frostedfrog]

imagining dazai as a medicine cat

#ramble #bungou stray dogs #warrior cats #i think chuuya dazai forbidden love would be cool #very cool #i know a lot dont like it in the books #but i think it would interesting to see with them two #though if i were to make a bsd wc au #most likely i wont make dazai a medicine cat

[starboy-squeakers]

Again not a dungeon meshi reader/watcher but every time I hear about that laois guy I get reminded of how my system had/has a hyperfixation on dragons so intense that we got that big fancy dragonology book and we treated it like the damn dragon Bible for like years

Now, obviously, we understand that there's different interpretations on mythical creatures, and no one interpretation on a dragon is necessarily gospel, but that multiple interpretations on the classic tale of beasts of scale and fire are completely valid and to be expected!

however if you call an Eastern dragon a coatl I'm going to come to your house and slaughter your family

#THEY'RE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT #yes they have similarities but coatls have WINGS typically and dont usually have other limbs. they're more serpentine birds #meanwhile Eastern dragons (Chinese depictions for example) don't typically have wings and are more lizard-like #like Mushu !!!!!!!! Mushu is an Eastern dragon #and then there's drakes and wyrms. which are entirely different bc they can't really fly #drakes are more like draconic horses or dogs. no wings but four limbs and a tail with a reptilian appearance #wyrms are more serpentine with no limbs and no wings. though i think some interpretations of wyrms give them like.. two forelimbs #then there's wyverns. wyverns have two legs and two wings instead of the typical eight limbs (four limbs two wings) #(i also perosnally hold true to the interpretation of wyverns with poisonous stingers for tails but that's just me cause i think its cool) #..... how much of this is just me talking abiut dragons #explodes. #oh yeah and obv there's the HTTYD interpretations which i adore! they're interesting #the designs are so fascinating and from what ive seen seem to have some science behind them #and arent just the typical western style of dragons. which nothing wrong with the western style it's a classic ofc #but it's still fun to see some variation!! #and ofc there's WOF #which holds true to Western dragons in simple anatomy but has its own variations and of course its own lore #then there's. fuck i forget the name but it's a fantasy story based in China i believe #i loved it so much it was so cool #anyways it had a dragon character named Seryu. I love Seryu. he my favorite #anyways i liked the interpretation of dragons there bc iirc it held true to ummmmm some Chinese mythology involving dragons #cause Eastern mythology of drahons is . so much diffetent than Western #Western dragons are commonly very monstrous creatures‚ usually very animalistic #they tend to embody the Christian concept of greed/gluttony hence why they're so typically monstrous/villainous #which i find interesting but i wont get into that #meanwhile. i wanna say Eastern dragon legends more revolve around the idea of a dragon as more of a godly/fae-type creature? #that's probably a poor comparison but that's how i interpreted it. agian im probahly wronf about all of this #im some weirdo rambling about dragons on the internet. dont trust me explicitly #i need to get more dragon mythology books #HELP I REACHED THE TAG LIMIT I DIDNT THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE GOOD LORD OKAY I'LL SHUT UP NOW

[yourqueenb]

Okay bro’s got the guns out and his hair pulled back 👀 I didn’t mind his old look, but I think I might actually like this one a bit better

#choices bolas #choices blades #blades of light and shadow #choices stories you play #playchoices #I wish he still had the blades on his back though #those looked cool #I’m also not sure about this color scheme but I do like that his clothes are just a bit warmer in general #I think it makes sense considering his character arc #he was very cold to us in the beginning of book 1 and still remained a bit aloof throughout #but the group became a family by the end so now he’s in warmer colors to kind of represent that #choices #choices app #pixelberry studios #pixelberry

[snixx]

got queerbaited into reading a book by chatgpt. is this rock bottom

#girlblogging.pdf #apparently coding isn't the only thing that thing is ass at. fetching basic information is too #i mean i Wanted to read it anyway and i knew it wasnt queer before. idk why i let chatgpt gaslight me into believing i was making it up #whatever. neither the main character nor her best friend are textually queer or in love with each other. they're both pretty boy crazy tbh #but the mc is giving big aro vibes. like she's so done with her best friend every time she starts talking about men or crushes #also her crush on this guy is giving extremely platonic im not biased i swear #she just throws herself at him because she thinks itd be cool to date her besties crushs bff #so she could feel normal like her #they do have a cute friendship though. mc and the guy. also they start dating like 2 seconds after her bff dies so it's not really romantic #also theres a very cool lesbian who gets more pagetime than the guy and whos friendship with mc is super angsty so #w #its a really good book ok i just went in with really wrong expectations #like a sapphic hiaylm #but every day i grow closer to the great truth of my life that sapphic hiaylm will never exist #and i should stop looking for it and find the beauty in things for their originality and what they are #anyway in this case the lack of sapphicness did not detract from the book at all dont get me wrong #i just found it funny

[beatriceportinari]

Seahorse origami inspired by Bargibant's pigmy seahorse (x), folded with one square of mulberry paper

#origami #seahorse #mine #he's just a little guy :) #quick and fun model in the base of folding by Joseph Fleming! #the book is even free #i modified the model a lot though to give mine the characteristics bumps and also no back fin of course #also the huge bellies they seem to have in every photo i couldn't find if they were all pregnant or if they just look like that #i learned they have an orange color variant though! #if they live in a different corral that's very cool #anyway i love folding with this paper maybe it is giving kleenex but I don't care #love the tie dye dots too

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

The Sun and The Void

Venezuelan inspired high fantasy

follows a young outcast swordswoman taken in by her grandmother, the dark sorceress for a noble family, who relies on the magic to keep her alive after being attacked by monstrous creatures

and a young noblewoman who’s the shame of her family because of her mixed heritage and desire to use magic

both are manipulated by those with more power than them into a plot to free an ancient evil god

mineral based magic, politics, nonhuman MCs

#The Sun and The Void #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #hm. haha. surface level this is kinda interesting and cool but i am going to follow with so many complaints #though I feel like it didn’t go into the magic or worldbuilding as much as I wanted and it felt irrelevant to the characters #like how does the magic even work? idk man #though I feel like it didn’t go into it as much as I wanted and it felt irrelevant to the characters #very slow to start and the pacing is weird. it would also go ages without having the other POV. very disjointed? #it felt like the first 60% was just context for the group of characters getting together as a group and then it was a bit predisposed with #They’re A Group! even tho. they're barely a group for long #the authors note mentions that the story concept started with a line about the god and ritual and…..yeah I can kind of tell #I feel like everything was built up around it in a way that ultimately that part didn’t fit right #I never bought that any of them were actually like fully committed to the evil dark magic? and also there’s this plot twist #that they have to fully kill the sacrifices & I was like…did we not already know that? girl r you stupid what do you think sacrifice means #also #oh my god at like half way one of the MCs is like. oh finally this guy who I’ve been exchanging letters with for months turned up to get me #away from here! by the way I’ve been exchanging letters with this guy and we’re friends! and like. she’d been doing nothing much for the #last 10% of the book why was that not like….shown as something she was doing? and like build up the friendship for the reader instead of #just dropping it on us - and also that we know the character from the other POV. and hes a racist prick. and we're supposed to believe she' #charmed by him because of this letter writing WE DIDN’T SEE….. why. #and then also that is like. he’s a shitbag and it’s obviously not romantic at all. he’s manipulative and terrible to her #EXCEPT at the end it implies his bad behaviour is because demon and oh uwu he gets all beat up and maybe hes sowwy now #and starts to imply she likes and is attracted to him? and I get the impression the next book is gonna be like evil power couple dynamic? #which. feels like the first concept the author had; and then tried to build up to that but not effectively lmao #for the lesbians: #I DO APPRECIATE having an assumed love interest then realising that that was idealised and actually you have feelings #for this other person you’ve become friends with! nice slow switch up. though quite brief #I do however dislike that when she admitted her feelings to the first LI and she rejected her it was still framed as the other’s fault #for not reciprocating the feelings….worst trope….also like. it kind of conflated her not feeling that way to her having a bit of class disc #which. yikes? oh my god stop villainising people for not reciprocating romantic feelings (ALSO they turn out to be related anyway 🤪) #i just feel like the romance switchover could have been done with more nuance and complexity