I Feel God In This Chili’s Tonight

Meg (she/her)

[caffeinewitchcraft]

I read When the Moon Hatched by Parker.

Some thoughts I had while reading:

Covered in filth again, what a shocker

Bro, please go to therapy, you can't possibly shove all the bad thoughts down like that

I really hate the use of male/female in high fantasy lately and I want to blame Maas, but I havent read enough Maas to say for sure

I hope a nap is coming up soon, my girl is tired

This MC is fantasy John Wick

I really like how this author describes weather, specifically cold weather

This author handles complex fantasy settings really well, picking and choosing details to build atmosphere rather than getting too deep into the weeds and overwhelming the reader with too much detail

The MC is somehow impervious to hypothermia and bleeding out

I may write fanfiction where the MC eats a full meal just once

As someone who typically shies away from high fantasy, I was initially offput by the book having to have a somewhat extensive glossary at the very front. Luckily, I also have the nosiness of an unemployed neighbor when it comes to my friend's reads, so I persevered.

I think that WMH succeeded in capturing my investment within 70 or so pages which, considering the book is like 500 pages long, is a great balance. The writing was solid, the descriptions evocative, and the dialogue interesting. You spend a lot of time in the main character's head which is luckily an interesting place to be.

If you ever want to see an overpowered character done well, the amnesia trope done well, and a tragic dead-female-companions backstory done well, this books does all three pretty well.

The one downside for me which may prevent me from reading the sequel is that if you make me read 500 pages, you'd better give me an ending that makes me feel glad to have spent 500 pages translating words like "Luff" into ocean. And while WMH did succeed in wrapping up two narratives within those 500 pages, it also uncovered about thirty more plot points that need to be resolved in the sequel. But I've found that those unresolved plot points carrying over into the next book has become somewhat endemic of the high fantasy genre as of late, so I might give that a pass.

I think Parker is an awesome writer and I'd say if I read another high fantasy book this year, it'll be from her.

[basil223]

I AM a high fantasy reader, but I am NOT an amnesia trope reader. That said, this book was very well done. I feel like Parker did some interesting things that just kept me coming back to it. I’m not sure if I’ll read the second book, given the ending’s allusion to the next books major troupes, but I do think reading the first book was worth it

[avadoingart-imus]

A friend shared a fix-it ending and it reminded me of the sculpture named The Waltz by Camille Claudel, leading to thí drawing. I haven't been able to paint loosely for a while, so I'm rather satisfied with this one.

[http-tempted]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[dubiousculturalartifact]

The new Odyssey adaptation has inevitably gotten people talking about a Muppet version of it, and they’re frequently suggesting Kermit as Odysseus, Miss Piggy as Penelope.

I’m sorry but that’s thinking way too small, hear me out:

We need to have Miss Piggy as Odysseus, and Kermit as Penelope.

Think about it… who’s the more fickle, prideful, warlike one in that relationship? Who is absolutely ready to go ham, at a moment’s notice?

It ain’t Kermit

[anyroads]

Miss Piggy tied to the mast while Statler and Waldorf heckle her from the sea

[cluelessrebel1988]

I'd bet anything you'd like no one would be complaining about 'historical accuracy' for that version.

[ofswordsandpens]

it is a little funny, a little ironic, because as much as the Ember Island Players episode wants to be like "see?? you're silly for thinking zuko and katara's dynamic is romantic" it doesn't quite think through the in-world implications of the play because, conceivably, this play is built largely upon rumor, right? biased or purposefully distorted first, second, or third-hand accounts of the gaang and their journey? (and then of course, whatever artistic liberties the play writers want to take)

Because that all begs the question - why do the play writers think zuko and katara are together?? Like literally lmao was it just for the Drama of it all? Or do enough people in the avatar universe perceive Zuko and Katara to be a couple for it to be a far spread rumor?? Is June gossiping in taverns like "oh the fire nation prince? yeah he hired me to find his girlfriend. he had her betrothal necklace and everything"??

And how did the play writers (or anyone for that matter) even know that Zuko and Katara had shared a Moment with one another in the crystal caverns? Were there like, Dai Li Agents spying on them from afar? Watching katara huff and stalk around and yell at zuko then like five seconds later they see her cradling Zuko's face and they're just like "bro" "bro" "no way" "there's no war in ba sing se but we've got to tell people about that."

Then isn't it also implied this play is fairly popular in the fire nation? Like how many years after the war is the average fire nation citizen convinced that Zuko and Katara are an item?

[stardust948]

Wait till they find out they defeated Azula together.

[janadoesstuffwrong]

Wait till they find out how they defeated Azula together!!

Playwright: We've been making some updates to our recent productions and we were hoping you could fill in some gaps for us, Firelord to avoid the spreading of misinformation.

Zuko: Great.

Playwright: So, after you had defeated the princess-

Zuko: Oh I didn't defeat Azula, Master Katara did.

Playwright:... You defeated her together?

Zuko: No I was shot with lightning by then.

Playwright:.... You survived being shot by lightning?

Zuko: Oh yeah, but it's fine, Katara healed me.

Playwright: Interesting, and she put her hands on your bare chest to do this?

Zuko: Hold on, I know what this is and you can stop right now, it was a purely medical process of one friend helping another and I would prefer if it weren't made into some kind of ridiculous, romantic drama which it absolutely wasn't!

Playwright: I understand, although I might have to do something to engage my audience since I can't really sell 'the firelord got hit by lightning and was out for the count for most of the fight'

Zuko: Hey, I was only hit by lightning because otherwise it would have hit Katara-

Playwright:

Zuko:

Zuko: wait-

[strawberrymilkyumyum]

zuko: no no no you don't get it, she's just the person i trusted most to save my life if it came to that

playwright: so it was... just the two of you

zuko: i mean yeah but like after i helped her cope with her mother's death and she helped me face my uncle it just seemed right to have her there

playwright: you did what now?

zuko: yeah after i got her father out of prison

zuko: but i wasn't trying to impress her... okay i was but like you dont get it

[kiera-raelyn]

Honorable mention tags:

from @from-hater-to-lover, @furubatsu, and @ofswordsandpens.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

distressing yet poetic that the Door to Hell is located in a country with one of the most restrictive visa policies in the world. imagine a magic portal to a kickass demonic dimension opened, but you had to cross the world, evade the border guards, and break into a whole ass country just to access it. now THAT is a QUEST.

anyway gimme a story about a demon trying to get home to hell but she keeps getting foiled by immigration control

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

oh, the Door To Hell aka the Darvaza gas crater is a real place in Turkmenistan fyi. yes that really is its colloquial name. for uh, self-evident reasons:

it's a natural gas crater formed by a collapsed cavern. it's been burning for over 50 years!

[caffeinewitchcraft]

what the success of project hail mary has proven is that we need more movies about nerds. The original twisters, jurassic park, national treasure, Atlantis, all of these movies are centered around one big nerd and the people love it

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I always thought they were much bigger.

[dizzyghoast]

brain, heart: idiot bitches who never know what they want

stomach, genitals: idiot bitches who know exactly what they want and never shut up about it

lungs, kidneys, liver: pretty chill organs, all told. if these ones are complaining then i'm usually the one who fucked up

[goobergutz]

very big fan of when shows put wigs on actors and say ‘yeah. That’s him when he was younger fuck you’. No anti aging ai, no teen actor hired. Just. The same guy with a fuckass wig

[olderthannetfic]

[bread--quest]

[ID: Tags reading "we will live but god will we complain". End ID.]

[charlesoberonn]

Does toph know that zuko has a scar

Would be funny if she only found out after asking to touch his face.

She'd be super upset at him and the gaang for not telling her.

[charlesoberonn]

She'd march straight to the Fire Nation prison with murderous intent after finding out how he got it.

[cryoverkiltmilk]

"My favorite thing about the Fire Nation?

None of the cages are wooden."

*sounds of horrible metallic shrieking*

[aromanticduck]

Free service with ads: Well, if I'm not paying for it they have to foot the bill somehow.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

"We used to be a paid service without ads, but now we're putting ads in it! If you want the ad-free version you have to pay more for preeeeemium": Fuck you fuck you fuck you

[juststarsandthemoon]

Free service with no ads: Okay so these guys are stealing my data

[a-method-in-it]

Free service with no ads that stays afloat with regular donation drives: The backbone of society

[doyouknowthischaracter]

DO YOU KNOW THIS CHARACTER?

OBI-WAN KENOBI from Star Wars

Yes, I know them.

I've only heard of them.

No, I don't know them at all.

Voting ended onNov 18, 2023

[doyouknowthischaracter]

Somehow I doubt he's all of you.

[inthefallofasparrow]

[peoplegettingreallymadatghosts]

fell for the oldest trick in the book

[ophilosoraptoro]

[severeprincesheep]

It's on the wikipedia page that literal sea people attacked out of nowhere?

[peoplegettingreallymadatghosts]

Never doubt my shitposts again

[dontneedyourheroact]

Bro doesnt even know about the Bronze Age Collapse……..

[anywhoozles]