Dark Stories of the North

Vampires, Musicals, Horror Grishaverse, Locked Tomb, Hellsing, Dracula, whatever TV shows I’m currently watching, I also talk about books a lot Fic requests are always welcome!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Masterpost

Grishaverse Fics

Unmaking The Heart of The World — time loop AU, Nikolina, Darklina, Zoyalina, multi ship, grief, post R&R Alina marries Nikolai, but in another timeline, she’s only just been brought to the Little Palace following the discovery of her powers (ongoing)

Éminence Grise — Darklina, Nikolina, fake engagement AU where Alina is betrothed to Nikolai, despite her affair with the Darkling, who has also not showed his hand yet (ongoing)

Penance Without Penitence — Darklina, Nikolina, post R&R, the Darkling is resurrected without his power, so Alina takes him to Keramzin to make up for his wrongs (complete!)

And I Said to the Star, “Consume Me” — Darklina, Darknikolina, alt S&S ending, the Darkling offers Alina a bargain, if she marries him, he won’t kill all her friends (complete!)

The Scorched Sea — Darklina, Darknikolina, role reversal AU, tired of his mother’s austere and fear driven lifestyle, Aleksander Morozova seeks out the Sun Saint and the splendor of the Little Palace

Drowning — Darklina, role reversal AU (Scorched Sea sequel), Alina reaffirms her control after Aleksander agrees to wear the collar

His Creatures — Darknikolina, Volcralai, PWP, after the Spinning Wheel, both Nikolai and the Darkling visit Alina

Heartsickness — Nikolina, past Darknikolina, pre KoS, PWP, when the demon resurfaces, Nikolai flees to Keramzin, to see Alina. Conveniently, her husband is away

Collecting Ashes — Darknikolina, post R&R, bodysharing, Alina takes the Darkling as an amplifier, his consciousness seems to come along with it

Inconvenient Attachments — Darknikolina, past Darkolai, AU where Alina meets Nikolai in the First Army before anyone realizes she's the Sun Summoner

Worst Laid Plans — Darknikolina, light Malina for canon compliance, S&S divergence, accidental pregnancy, Nikolai seeks to make alliances with both sides of Ravka’s civil war

Promises Kept — Nikolina, PWP, during S&S, after her fight with Mal, Alina goes to find Nikolai

Uncharted Waters — Nikolina, post KoS, infidelity, Alina meets Nikolai on the coast. They’re both already married to other people, but that’s not as much of an obstacle as it should be.

Ad Libitum — Darklina, ballet AU set in a twentieth century inspired Ravka, Alina performs at a private event at the Grand Palace

A Reprieve From Thought — Darklina, S&S era PWP set aboard the ship

Spoils of War — Darknikolina, alt S&S ending, dead dove, PWP, Nikolai makes a deal with the Darkling

Tenderness — Darklina, dead dove, PWP, Alina is caught before she escapes the Little Palace on the night of the fete

Infinite Ruin — Darklina one shot, post R&R, Alina holds the Darkling captive

Silence — unrequited Nikolina, Darklina, post R&R, possession, Nikolai still hears the Darkling’s voice in his head

Half Measures — Nikolina, R&R divergence before the Spinning Wheel attack, Alina and Nikolai are married in West Ravka

A Little Evil — Darkolai, PWP, established relationship, pre-canon, Nikolai would really like it if the Darkling role played as the Black Heretic in bed

Vulnerability — Darklina, during R&R, Alina visits the Darkling and finds him unconscious, still recovering from their last encounter in the chapel

Clarity — Darklina, during RoW, PWP, Alina visits the Darkling through the tether one last time

A Reunion — Zoyalina, modern AU, the gang are snowed in at the Christmas Party

In The Morning — Nikolina, only one bed, fluff

Fondness — Nikolina, mildly fluffy character study, Alina has thoughts about her relationship with Nikolai on their wedding night

The Picnic — Genyalina, set during S&S if Genya was with them, fluff

Vanishing — Darknikolina, post R&R, Alina keeps visiting the Darkling's prison A Light That Burns — Darklina, background Nikolina, post R&R, the Darkling returns in Nikolai's body; the country is short a Tsar, and Alina a husband.

Benefits of a Gilded Cage — Darknikolina, Alina puts the third amplifier on the Darkling.

After Midnight — triple drabble, Nikolina, Alina readies for bed

Longing for the Sun — triple drabble, set during KoS, Nikolai has come to dread sleep

Hellsing Fics

Innocents — pre canon, Alutegra, Integra hunts a vampire on her own

Ice — monster of the week, something of a The Thing AU

A Dead, Inert Thing — Alutegra, Integra Hellsing had been held captive for about eight hours before Alucard had found her

This Is Where Monsters Weep — one shot collection about a variety of ships and characters

Hold This Heart In Your Teeth — Alutegra, dreams, angst, pining, mild bdsm vibes

In This Darkness, I Have You — Alutegra, PWP, angst, pining, unwanted love confession

The Hand Which Holds The Leash — pre canon, Alucard attempts to talk to Integra about responsibility, instead the conversation turns to her ancestors

Leave Them And Walk With Dust — Seras and Integra roleswap AU, eventual Sertegra, (ongoing)

Fragments, Glory, And What It Is To Lose — Alutegra, Alucard reflects on his servitude after that first encounter with Anderson

These Truths That Shape Us — Integra gets her first glimpse at the depth of Hellsing’s experiments, medical horror

Beautiful, Wicked, Brazen — Alutegra, PWP, Integra hasn’t heard from Alucard through their connection in awhile

Summertime — Alutegra, PWP, Integra rewards Alucard

A Diversion — Alutegra, PWP, set after the Museum scene

Spare a Cigarette? — Waltercard, pre canon, the first time Walter encounters Alucard after Integra releases him from the basement

If He Wills It — Aluseras, during the Rio trip, Seras realizes Alucard didn’t have to turn her into a vampire, and she’s angry about it

Waiting — Alutegra, angst, Integra is dead and Alucard has no idea what to do with himself

Dream of Daylight — angst, horror, a Hellsing soldier was kind to Alucard, he doesn’t take it well

Grief’s Cold Hands — Alutegra, angst, time skip, in the aftermath of the battle of London, and years after, Integra reminisces.

Mercy — during the Rio trip, Seras asks Alucard why he kills so… enthusiastically

Thirty Years of Silence — Alutegra, post time skip, angst, incomplete atm

The Locked Tomb Fics

Ever Ancient, Ever New — Dios Apate, John forgives Mercymorn, so he resurrects her without her memories. Augustine cannot forgive him

Generosity — Cytherea the First offers to spare Gideon one last time

Healing — Mercymorn is determined to make Cristabel whole again

Misc Fics

Duty — House of the Dragon, Rhaenicent, Rhaenyra helps Alicent ready for the wedding

The Wild Hunt — Forbidden Game, partial Labyrinth AU, Jenny wishes Zach away, Julian is happy to oblige

Burning For You — BTVS, Faith has a fever, she dreams of Buffy A Kindness — Kushiel’s Legacy, Melisande Shahrizai keeps Phèdre captive

Through Midnights Past — Winternight Trilogy, time travel, Vasalisa Petrovna and Medved traverse the Midnight Road

By Moonlight and Candle’s Flame — Company of Wolves, the Huntsman gets his kiss

Drop By Drop Upon the Heart — Gothic origfic, a young woman marries to escape her father’s occultist eccentricities, but soon discovers something is amiss in her new husband’s home

Apathy — Dracula (2020), Lucy knows Dracula couldn't mean well, she meets him anyway

A Worthy Sacrifice — Fate/Zero, angst, Saber gets to Irisviel at the theatre in time, but no matter what she’s destined to die

Laundry Day — Fate/Stay Night, fluff, Gilgamesh steals Kirei’s cassock

Fandom Discord Servers

Who Gave Dracula The WiFi Password? — Dracula, Vampire Chronicles, the Locked Tomb, other horror and goth stuff

The Gregs — Grishaverse books!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Have you read Innamorata by Ava Reid? If yes, could you share your thoughts? I always like seeing your opinions on books.

Not yet! I actually got an ARC for it but I couldn’t bring myself to read it in time for its publication. I will have to read and review though to maintain my netgalley ratio so you are guaranteed opinions… eventually

I am assuming you’ve read it? How did you feel about it?

My issue with Reid books tend to be that they are just so unpleasant! They all operate on this martyr framework where a character’s virtue is directly proportionate to their victimhood— which itself tends to fall along a very gendered division of all women as victims (unless they’re evil bitches) and all men as perpetrators, excepting the main love interest who is always the single unique male victim to signal his goodness and worthiness. Also she can’t plot her way out of a paper bag. so.

[a-silly-poll-side-blog-yay]

you just teleported to the last game you played how is it going? {you're plot involved}

good

bad

great

awful

dead

I don't play games/results

Remaining time: 4 days 6 hours

Soma 😔

[str-ngeloop]

everything you see on tumblr is biased towards the perspectives of the types of people who post a lot on tumblr. this is essential to remember

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

A fic called Boston Boys (Heated Rivalry) had an authors note that talked about how a publisher contacted them through Tumblr about publishing their fic. They met the team in the offices and now it’s official. They’re taking a 4 month break to make the fic an original book. I just think it is so odd that publishers and agents are really scouring ao3 for books.

I mean it does make sense though. AO3 is the closest you can get to a free test run of a story with zero risk to the agent or publisher. The romance and fanfic audiences at this point overlap a great deal, and a wildly popular fanfic will have its own built in fan base who’s ready to preorder and hype up the published version before it even hits the shelves. They’re printing money lol

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

ACOMAF Reread Notes Part One

My notes on the previous book:

Part one | Part two

As with the other book, I’m going to post some thoughts from reading through the first half, and then will make a second post for the latter half. A lot of it is just live reactions

Recap: Feyre opens the story highly traumatized and miserable. Tamlin’s own response to trauma is to be overprotective of her and refuse to let her do very much or leave the house. This gets worse when Rhysand calls in his bargain, and spirits Feyre away, interrupting their wedding. Rhysand claims that he only wants to work with them, that the King of Hybern, who had initially sent Amarantha to Prythian is planning to attack them all and this is an existential threat; Rhysand needs Feyre’s help finding ancient magical items that she will uniquely be able to detect due to her own transformed state, going from human to faerie. Tamlin will not hear it, and things get bad enough between him and Feyre that she escapes to the night court permanently. Most of the first half of this book is her trying to navigate her trauma, the unraveling of her relationship with Tamlin, and her new place in Rhysand’s court. There are many fetch quests

- I’m listening to the 10th anniversary re-recording that was done by the same narrator who did crescent city, so it’s kind of forcibly reframing it for me and making me compare the two a lot, and like how she’s improved in general and also had been circling some very similar topics

- This IS pretty unique (and something I’m not even sure she could really stand to repeat ?) how much she commits to Feyre still being in love with Tamlin while the relationship is falling apart. The framing and narrative signals are petty lmao but as far as pov SJM really commits. Which stands out to me very much on reread just with the knowledge of where this book and the broader series go, and next to other books doing similar stuff. like… this is Ms Leigh Bardugo’s major achilles heel! I also do not presume to know SJM’s business, but this is not really what I would expect to read from a woman who got married to her college boyfriend!

- I think it would actually be really funny if Tamlin was just sleeping through her night terrors. He just had no idea

- Obviously not the intent but this gay situationship Feyre is having with Ianthe. Sorry Ianthe is just really hot

- Really interesting to me how Feyre being abducted by Rhysand is like this mirror of Tamlin abducting her. and there’s so many implicit hints at why Rhysand is the more desirable captor. Like oh his house is fancier and he doesn’t call her a prisoner (though she can’t leave) and he’s soooo strong that there’s no use even barricading the door against him

- Crying at her Princess Jasmine ass outfit. The way we know Rhysand is a #feminist bc she’s given pants

- Him lying to her face about the bargain being the cause of the bond! This is also super similar to Tamlin lying about Feyre “violating the treaty” though I dislike that the fae outright lie in this and that in both books a central aspect of the premise is flat out untrue rather than it being like clever misdirection

- Forgot to make note of it before but that mirroring is also there in the first book with her getting a makeover under the mountain at Rhysand’s behest vs first getting a makeover in the spring court

- Rhysand is sooo boring

- Pretty rich of him to be like “the illyrians were gleefully serving Amarantha” as if his entire thing wasn’t pretending to be fully on her side

- So funny that a clear mark against Tamlin is that he doesn’t immediately fuck her when she gets back from the night court. Wanting intel before banging her is so evil

- The tithe scene is also silly bc like a) Tamlin was actively helping rebuild the villages but now he’s like no handouts ever!! b) the faeries are appearing and disappearing shit all the time why is there no fish and why is getting more fish hard?

- Something that’s really annoying me is that Rhysand is so straightforward. He immediately tells her that he’s not her enemy and he wants her to do xyz for him, and this is entirely true and correct. There’s no mystery or misdirection. The only real reveal later down the line is that they’re mates— among a couple smaller ones like the ring he has Feyre retrieve— but even that doesn’t change his motivations. There’s nothing that’s really hidden about this character. It’s very simplistic. We know exactly who he is. And that’s just an odd choice when he’s otherwise playing into some antagonistic tropes. Just doesn’t have the sauce

- Part of my ongoing thesis that Rhysand and Tamlin are the same. A big part of how we know Tamlin is shitty now is because of his volatile moods, and temper that is reflected in his magic. The exact same thing is happening with Rhysand! I had completely forgotten but every other paragraph he’s getting mad and leaking shadows (lmao) or his wings are appearing. I had misremembered him as way more chill— probably because half his dialogue tags are “he purred” but he’s very temperamental!

- The spring court suddenly being full of people and having actual infrastructure bc SJM realized the world was too empty “Amarantha had banned these holidays before for some reason” girl you clearly just hadn’t thought of them 😭 Mind you, this is like the second time she retconned the spring court to be more populated

- I still think she should hook up with Lucien

- Rhysand is always acting really offended when people call him Rhysand instead of Rhys, and it’s always at people who he barely knows or who don’t like him

- At the bit where Feyre and Tamlin have the last big fight where he locks her in the house and Mor goes to get her. I am finding it pretty funny that she’s kind of unironically at least selling the concept of both enemies to lovers here and the “I didn’t have anywhere else to go” trope that tumblr/fandom loves to talk about that doesn’t really exist anywhere. I am not enjoying it? But she is putting her money where her mouth is

- Deeply fascinating how much SJM tries to align Rhysand with freedom whereas Tamlin offers only protection that is control— but then Rhysand is still protecting her in ways that are controlling! Like having her bodily moved from the house or the entire concept of him calling in the bargain just to help her/give her a breather from the spring court

- Also just making the typical complaint that Rhysand is simply way too present and in her business to be fun. and at a baseline, navigating the abusive dynamics in the spring court is way more interesting to me

- There’s a beat where Ianthe suggests that rhysand may be trying to manipulate feyre/be motivated to just nab her bc she has the powers of every court and he’d want fucked up overpowered heirs from her. I’m not that jazzed about plots centering procreation but like, man I wish! give him something!!

- Anyway Velaris is SO ANNOYING I wish Amarantha did fucking tear it down damn

- It is weird actually reading ACOMAF though bc it starts out mildly more capable of being critical of Rhysand so it’s jarring seeing Feyre be annoyed or mad at him at all

- The court of dreams dinner party took me five million years to read. I find it so embarrassing and such a slog. Basically Rhysand wants Feyre to meet his inner circle and well they suck. Everything comes to a screeching halt for them to all trauma dump at each other

- Part of what Feyre was repeatedly upset about was people asking her about how she killed the middengard worm. But Cassian says the same thing but here it’s framed like him not being awed by her like all the other fae are. But it’s the same thing…?

- SJM gets so far ahead of herself with the inner circle characters. She is clearly extremely invested in them. It’s all so front loaded in their demeanor and how they present themselves as well as their backstories. It makes it impossible to actually getting any vibe for them. Like Feyre getting impressions of both Cassian and Azriel’s bearing and demeanor by overhearing maybe two sentences they speak *through a door?* Meanwhile she’s hasn’t even set eyes on them yet! It’s like this with all of them too. There’s too many characters who she wants to all be memorable and fun and vulnerable and complicated. It ends up too busy and overwhelming for any of the information to be meaningfully retained

- Their backstories alone feel like an entire arc’s worth of information of Feyre gradually getting to know them. This single conversation in the single scene is just carrying it all. I could nearly buy it when the framing device is that it’s an interview. If they’re deliberately like “this is who we are what we’ve been through and why you can trust us.” At least there would be a conscious reason for them to lay everything out like this, and it excuses the unnaturalness of it. But then it’s also explicit that they didn’t know that’s what that conversation was! So they were earnestly trying to put their best foot forward. Like that. That’s how they get to know each new people

- SJM just tells you how to feel about everything. She can’t let any impression sit. Which also backfires into it all reading very artificial. The dynamics don’t feel lived in. There’s also this weird clash of whether there is a political and social hierarchy and chain of command vs their personal dynamics? They’re frat buddies, they’re a government, they physically fight each other (and apparently destroy an entire building while doing so?). It’s just oddly cartoonish

- Re artificiality I also struggle with the inner circle all being the same age. It feels so contrived with their lifespans! Are the fae just regularly having this many children? Do their kids just regularly not making it to adulthood or do they have crushing overpopulation issues? I don’t think SJM has put any thought to that lol. And of course they’re all such mary sues. Like Rhysand’s dad being threatened by Cassian and Azriel being the most powerful Illyrian warriors in history just highlights the fact that… yeah of course Rhysand’s best friends who he grew up with would be the most powerful warriors in history

- More broadly, the series never contends with the lifespan of the fae that they have no natural end to their life span and how that would shake up their society. At the very least they wouldn’t be having kids like this if kids are a threat to the older gen’s power. And presumably they are with what we know of Tamlin and Rhysand’s fathers respectively. It doesn’t add up to a world that feels plausible

- Also Cassian and Rhysand read very gay in their intensity

- Feyre’s torture dreams about Amarantha are also very sexy lol I do not think this was the intended read. Like I am into the sexual menace here sorry 🤷‍♀️

- Everything Feyre sees is always the most quality she’s experienced. The oldest forest. The darkest prison

- First instance of the MMC using inappropriate flirting (and/or sexual harassment) to distract the FMC from being upset lol I forgot this book probably codified that terrible trope—at least in the way that it currently exists in mainstream Romantasy

- The bone carver and weaver stuff are much better than the dnd random encounters in ACOTAR but they’re… basically just side quests. still not beating the dnd campaign allegations

- Rhysand putting Feyre Through Trials reminds me a lot of the East of the Sun West of the Moon aspect of the first book. It’s striking to me that this feels like a redux where she’s deliberately not emasculating the male lead to make it happen. Feels like she’s circling the same stuff and finding what works for her which I can respect even if emasculating Tamlin was a positive point of the first book for me 😂

- Also re: Black Jewels similarities, Mor talking about how everyone could just Tell how powerful she was feels like a direct equivalent of the power tiers in the Bishop books but without bothering to make an irrelevant tier list. So handing it to SJM there for not bothering to try to do hard worldbuilding with that

- I forgot there was the weird psychic power contrivance to give Rhysand a couple POV scenes

- Ianthe is basically just Heketah Black Jewels huh? Evil slutty and scheming High Priestess…very similar genre of character at least.The beat where Rhysand breaks her hand (psychically!) also is very Black Jewels insofar as Daemon’s psychic powers and the beat where he crushes Greer’s hand into a claw. Notably Greer is Heletah’s lackey. The description reads as basically the exact same, though Ianthe healed eventually

- So funny that we know Rhysand’s a good guy bc he’s a libertarian that doesn’t believe in taxes. (But actually he does because SJM also seems to acknowledge that they’re necessary. So he just doesn’t believe in the symbolic tithe)

- And disobedience in his court is great as long as your heart’s in the right place :)

- Hey so night clubs should not exist in this world. Cannot believe that they’re talking about clubbing and sports teams

- I forgot how hard SJM was telegraphing Mor/Azriel before being like nvm time for the most offensive lesbian rep ever 💖

- It’s so absurd that the court of nightmares think they’re actually running things. How does that even work? Surely past a point they’d realize that their influence is… not influential?

- I like that the telepathic bond wasn’t enough they also need a piece of paper to magic back and forth to simulate modern day sexting

- Feyre is talking about how “Lucien patched me up a few times but no one risked as much as Rhysand to help me under the mountain” (paraphrased) BITCH LUCIEN STUCK HIS NECK OUT FOR YOU THEY PUT HIM IN A SAW TRAP

- I got to the bit where she’s training with Cassian and has this big moment about her break up with Tamlin and I was marginally impressed that SJM allowed such a significant beat to happen against a side character vs Rhysand. but then ofc he butts in and then literally wraps his wings around her to make sure no one else can be important in the scene

- Also just deeply stupid to be having emotional scenes like that happening at the fucking gym

- Rhysand, Feyre, and Amren end up going to the summer court to steal a mcguffin (all of the plot in this is mcguffins) and Rhysand is playing evil sleazy guy again and actually this is a really crazy time to deploy that particular persona. Feyre starts playing bored courtier too which makes ZERO sense when she’s supposed to be charming the very earnest and trusting seeming summer court high lord. Like they’re just acting like off putting sexy goths in a 2000s music video for the cool points but it seems actively detrimental to the plan

- The Feysand dynamic is so boring oh my god

- Feyre getting randomly jealous that Rhysand doesn’t care about her is so dumb! Honestly I think like he needed to actually not care about her (maybe despite the soulmate thing Getting to him) while generally being more evil so that there’s a real dichotomy between Tamlin who is ostensibly good and loves her but cages her in vs Rhysand who dgaf, is openly using her, but will allow her autonomy. But also like. very notably he is not allowing her autonomy so none of this works. She’s really in a love triangle with the exact same guy in two fonts

- I find it really underwhelming that the summer court knows/speaks so openly about Rhysand sparing that one guy under the mountain. It really undermines his whole deal about secretly trying to help but No One Knows or will ever appreciate him (which I know he will have a tantrum about shortly)

- Side note, it’s hysterical that “Amarantha’s whore” is treated nearly like a title! It’s bad enough that the narrative uses Tarquin as part of the heavy handed Rhysand PR campaign to outright state how he suspects that Rhysand only ever submitted to Amarantha for the greater good/as a self sacrifice. But then he’s calling him a whore…? I thought that was just a derogatory thing they called him 😭

- Why does Tarquin know she was locked up in the spring court!!!! Why does everyone know everything!!!!! I wouldn’t be shocked if there would be gossip about Feyre given that she made some pretty big splashes but a) nothing really suggests to me that the fae would really bat an eye at her being confined when just a couple pages ago they say as Tamlin’s (intended) bride she’s still basically his property b) the world is otherwise SO isolated! Do they have easy communication or not??

- We hear that Tarquin is like. pro lesser fae and believes they are discriminated against, so in the next chapter Rhysand has to make sure that the reader/Feyre knows that he had that idea first!!!

- Rhysand goes on a rant about how Tarquin is so easy to love (Feyre told him that) unlike Rhysand himself bc Tarquin’s life has been nice and easy. And lol he is making A LOT of assumptions about Tarquin like idk maybe he has his own problems damn

- The beat where Feyre manipulates Tarquin’s thoughts and angsts about how he’ll never forgive her and Rhysand is like “he’ll never find out 🙂 and well sometimes you just have violate boundaries it’s fine” is really interesting bc like yeah that is his motto. It’s very consistent bc he’s doing that to her CONSTANTLY and it could work if this was at all addressed later on or the narrative itself wasn’t so obviously holding to the night court party line of how this is all totes worth it

- I am of the opinion that the summer court heist probs should’ve just happened at the spring court. Way more emotional impact if she tries to get Tamlin to work with Rhysand. can’t. or maybe she runs away as usual, then has to make a show of going back so she can steal the piece of the book

- The water temple heist itself I am assuming is indiana jones influenced which I never saw but it is also reminding me of the queen’s thief series in terms of a drowning trap

- So. Their great intrigue is to go on a diplomatic meeting to another court (mind you all fae are basically immortal and grudges will last centuries), find their secret heirloom mcguffin piece. Then unnecessarily draw too much attention to their interest in the temple where the mcguffin is hidden, making themselves look suspicious. Steal it, leave the guards who saw them stealing this alive, and then run the fuck away back to the night court without a word. No subterfuge. No trying to smooth things over. Nothing. Great job guys

- Then Rhysand has the audacity to cry about his incompetence and Feyre tells him not to beat himself up over it

[onceiwashere]

repeat after me:

my experiences are universal and provide an undeniable framework for understanding all of reality

nobody else is capable of understanding my experiences and i am, nobly, alone in this world

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

How bad was the world building in crown of starlight? The whole Greek pantheon clashing with the seemingly repressed Christian subplot seems like a poor attempt at giving it an #aesthetic

It was a pretty direct 1:1 of Greek mythology, but in space and everyone talks like a YouTuber. The sci fi stuff was very flimsy and didn’t impact much at all beyond a surface level reskin. Space ship instead of boat. The river Styx is a wormhole. There was barely enough of a spin on it to discuss without repeating stuff I’ve already said. But here’s an example, for how it handles Theseus and the Labyrinth:

“[…] this com band was utilitarian. A narrow strap of black plastiweave with an unadorned face; powered down and dark. The only thing remotely distinctive about it is the number 2, embossed on the clasp.

“This is what the keepers wear so they can successfully navigated the Labyrinth. It’s programmed to track the relative positions of you and the Minotaur; follow the golden line and it will lead you to him.” I hold it out to Theseus.

He picks it up with his thumb and forefinger, holding it gingerly as if I’ve just handed him a live grenade and he’s half expecting it to go off.”

The real thread is just replaced with a digital thread on a glorified Apple Watch. But there’s no attempt at actually adapting it for the sci fi setting.

The only real choice Corrain made was to turn Crete into a Star Wars style empire that is singularly powerful and destructive, but also cut off from the rest of the world. Of course, they also have sixteen death stars lol

“If we need more sacrifices, then we will demand more. Fourteen should suffice, don’t you think?”

“But the ceremony is only two weeks away and King-Emperors Aegeus is sure to object—”

“That’s his prerogative,” my father scoffs, “but he will comply or face the consequences. Aegeus is obstinate, but he’s no fool; he understands that a handful of his soldiers is a small price to prevent a war between us. I’m certain that you will convey this message appropriately and that the Athenians will fall in line.”

He says “war,” but what he means is annihilation.

Even now, some fourteen cycles later, I recall the first time I was allowed to ride along with him and my brother Androgeus on an inspection of an orbital construction station. I gagged when we stepped out of the shuttle—not even the air scrubbers could filter out the stench of hot iron and it burned so powerfully in the back of my nose that I could taste it.

Neither my brother or my father noticed. They were too busy staring through a massive plex viewport, marveling over the half constructed dreadnought. With its naked struts, it resembled the rotting carcass of a gargantuan monster.

My looked at that starship with far more affection than he’d ever shown me, and I never saw him so happy as he was when the foreman told him that there would be two more just like it by the end of the next cycle. And another two the cycle after that.

Dreadnoughts are too large and unwieldy for fast-paced space combat. They have one use, and one use only. They’re world killers. And Crete has sixteen of them.

If Minos put his mind to it, he could reduce the Athenian Empire to rubble in less than a cycle. The only thing stopping him from doing so is that such an attack runs the risk of retaliation from their allies—and while none of them could challenge us on their own, put together they’ve got enough firepower to give him pause at the very least.

Their culture is the more traditionally repressed and Christian coded, and their planet is dark and miserable, which paired with the face paint wearing nuns feels more like a poor attempt at co-opting the Locked Tomb aesthetics? This is of course a terrible idea from the get bc sense of place is not something TLT is particularly good at!

The culture clash is justified in universe by Minos having renounced the Olympian gods in favor of the Moirai. Where all we really know about them is that they demand a lot of blood sacrifice (maybe?)

I honestly can’t tell in my father actually believes human sacrifice with convince the Three-fold Goddesses to save us from the desolation creeping slowly across the empire. But that doesn’t matter. Not when the Sisters continually insist that the Moirai demand blood, granting Minos an excuse to murder his enemies with impunity.

And also that doctrine is very strict surrounding sexuality and women’s gender roles:

I knelt on the stone floor, reciting the prayer of atonement for lustful thoughts on repeat for hours, until my voice gave out, and my eyes blurred with exhaustion.

The temptation to test the veracity of the Sisters’ dire admonitions against perversions lingers still[…]”

[different excerpt]

Despite their long, heavy gowns and thick black coats, the Sisters look frigidly miserable. Their white-and-silver face paint masks their expressions, but since the Sisters are always miserable, it's a safe assumption.

Ostensibly, they're here to protect my virtue-though from what, I can't say. Maybe they think a Ketos will rise out of the ocean and carry me off to make me his bride beneath the waves.

It's unlikely— but hypothetically, if that were to happen, I don't think there's much they could do about it.

I also don't think I'd complain overmuch about that turn of events. It would certainly be more exciting than the monotonous days spent affecting quiet piety and feigning interest in the "art" of conquering an asteroid colony.

The irony of learning to rule while being simultaneously smothered to death by rules meant to curtail the freedom of noble women is not lost on me, but pointing this out makes everyone angry.

This all only really exists to give Dionysus something to liberate her from though. So every single element just feels extremely thin. Her beliefs are OTT conservative straw men to easily be deconstructed, and his are carefully crafted 2020s Twitter politics.

"I'm not just the wine-and-parties god; I'm also God of Radical Self-Liberation," Dionysus says. "You've been under the thumb of some terrible people for a very long time and I thought that if you could see what my cult is about, you might decide it was what you needed after all that[…].”

But yeah… there’s just not a lot to get from a book written in this register:

“What in the name of Hades' left ass cheek is going on here?”

"My Lord," one of the Nymphs says deferentially, "were just taking out the trash."

"These bitches are interfering with the business of royalty—” Theseus begins, but the new voice cuts him off.

"A, I wasn't talking to you. B, I am now. C, did you just call my Maenads bitches?" There's a shift in air pressure as the unnamed lord addresses Theseus. The slur has vanished, replaced by an undertone of menace. A shiver runs down my spine.

"Well, I—

"Actually, I've just realized I don't care," says the stranger.

[roycohn]

inspired by a rant i was going on elsewhere bc someone tweeted something very stupid and uninformed about hamlet and it got my back up as someone who took two single-text-focus english literature courses in college and they were on wuthering heights and hamlet, i now put it to all of you on here:

what's "your" shakespeare play?

hamlet

macbeth

the tempest

merchant of venice

midsummer night's dream

twelfth night

richard iii

othello

julius caesar

king lear

another not listed (specify in tags) (i really just put my own top 10 here nbd)

i have no particular feelings about any shakespeare play/results tag

Remaining time: 4 days 13 hours

[map9810-blog]

[enodiamoon]

[dykeselfcest]

recent epidemic of adaptations that take lots of liberties with the source material and also, separately, are bad. but then if you say "this is bad" you get hit with "you're just being a source material purist and you don't understand the vision"...like. well actually I think it rules when people do new and different things with classic works. I just think these particular new and different things suck ass.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

wow I thought bram stoker single handedly invented vampires! surely there was no literature or folklore before that! gasp!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Monsters, including vampires, are way too malleable to try to pin down as how the Should be just like some kind of "canon". No, vampires are not "inherently metaphors of rape", because they did not originate in early 19th century British literature. They originate in Eastern Europe as ravenants of disease, child death, livestock death, and demonic activity during the change of seasons. If you are going to be mad that people are changing them into something different, get mad about them not being about your cattle suddenly dying soon after your husband died anymore.

Great, because I never said that 💖

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

count of monte cristo 2024 fully daughter zoning haydée is so fucking funny. whoever wrote that script was a die hard mercedes/edmond truther

[alysmond]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON | Season 3, Episode 7, "The Dragon in Winter"

[daisywords]

the plot chickens (becomes scared of its own premise)