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Reminder for when he “saves” it. He was the one who wanted this, and now he gets to be the hero and win favour with young constituents. Don’t give him the credit for fixing his own problem.

alienpupy

dandelions are magic. literally tiny suns in the grass that turn into the moon and then the stars when you blow on them. fucking insane.

doodle-devil

Fucking insane

academic-vampire

𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔭𝔞𝔤𝔢𝔰

soft-lovely

exploring paris <3

escapismsworld

miss-what-a-d0ll

current mood: autumn cozy

ceeyoutea

emma swan: full body shots (3/∞)

#i want this outfit so bad #ouat

nearmercury

cottageaesthetic

shakespearesdaughters

Rereading Fourth Wing and Xaden said something that kind of got me thinking and I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this before and it may be nothing at all but I thought I'd share my thoughts. (Also I'm really not great at getting my thoughts out sometimes so I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense and I haven't finished my reread so I hope I am remembering things correctly)

So on pg 131 of Fourth Wing Violet is telling Xaden she is too short to scale the gauntlet and he says "the right way isn't the only way" this reminded me of a moment in the show Once Upon A Time, where Prince Charming, a fairytale character that is depicted as being a hero and a beacon of good says "we have to do this the right way" and another character says "no, we don't. We just have to succeed." They eventually do succeed by breaking the "rules" and working with some villains to defeat the main, worse, villain. (Gryphon riders and Venin maybe?)

I have a feeling that the way the rest of this series goes will follow that quote. The right way isn't the only way.

By the end of fourth wing we learn that the way they are taught is wrong, what they are raised believing is right is really wrong and they are fighting this war for the wrong reasons. The "right way", i.e., the way they are taught isn't the way they are going to succeed in this war.

By the end of Iron Flame Xaden is faced with becoming a villain. He makes a difficult choice and some could argue it was a wrong choice, it wasn't the "right way to do things" he didn't need to draw venin powers and he could've let Violet die but making that "wrong choice" helped them to succeed.

So what if by the end of Onyx storm Xaden is full venin (but not fully evil like he's still in there or whatever) and that somehow leads to them making a breakthrough about defeating venin. The right way would be to not turn venin obviously, but maybe going down that alternative route, making that wrong decision is what eventually leads them to succeed?

And then the next 2 books will be them taking that into action(and healing xaden) and by teaming up with their original villains and then by even becoming another villain is how they succeed in taking down that true main villain. The have to make the seemingly wrong decisions in order to win.

That quote just stuck out to me and I feel like it could have more meaning to it than just getting Violet over the gauntlet. I'm also sure I'm forgetting things like maybe there are more instances this quote could apply to so far. I really need to finish my reread and keep an eye on this.

But what do you guys think?

#fourth wing #iron flame #onyx storm #fourth wing spoilers #iron flame spoilers #fourth wing theory

peacefulandcozy

Instagram credit: not.so.well.read

bajoop-sheeb

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

spid3rgrrrl

If anyone has any recommendations give them to me please!

bajoop-sheeb

Gladly! The pieces on this list aren’t limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.

Anything by NK Jemisin. She is the best speculative fiction writer of her generation and probably the best speculative fiction writer alive. She is easily one of the best writers working right now, across all genres. That’s not hyperbole. She deserves all the hype.

Anything by Octavia Butler. She needs no introduction. Her short fiction is incredible; “Bloodchild” is one of the pieces that inspired me to write.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. Excellent. Just read it.

The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley P. Chan. It broke my heart and it'll break yours.

Babel by RF Kuang. You’ve probably already heard of this book because Harper Voyager marketed the shit out of it and was right to do so. It’s very, very good. Kuang writes a compulsively readable story, that’s for sure.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.

So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonial Science Fiction and Fantasy (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.

Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.

Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:

The Blood Trials by NE Davenport. Given the current chokehold romantasy has on the public it’s insane to me that this book hasn’t sold a billion copies.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. It’ll change you.

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera.

The Lesson by Caldwell Turnbull.

Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesn’t immediately center them and they don’t automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the story—even if it touches on (gasp!) racism—and maybe, just maybe, it’ll reveal something to you.

Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much I’m going to fling myself into the sun

Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didn’t want to do it but here I am

wakandama2

Oh! Please read EVERYTHING EVER WRITTEN by P. Djèlí Clark y'all! but start with this book first!

This is the epitome of Black Steampunk. It so refreshing to see science fiction written and just beautifully and authentic displaying of black culture(locations, language, practices, belie, ect) like black culture is extremely relevant and refreshingly written in this story. It even has some thrill of historical/ancestors revenge, along with messages of life and healing in it. It has all kinds of Black diaspora and queer rep in it too!