Reading Under the Covers

Isla. She/hers. Book reviews and lists and rants

[loquaciousquark]

All right, kiddos, gather around for a completely necessary metatextual analysis of the most painful sentence in the Queen’s Thief series by @meganwhalenturner​, driven primarily by my recent reread and the fact that I can’t get this sentence out of my head or my heart, and that means you all must suffer with me.

Is it: “Please, please,” as if his heart were breaking.”?

Is it: “Oxe Harbrea Sacrus Vax Dragga Onus Savonus Sophos At Ere.”?

Is it: “Who am I that you should love me?”

Is it: “It was a kiss between a man and his wife…”?

NO IT IS NOT. I submit to you, dear readers, that the most painful sentence in the entire Queen’s Thief series is the following:

Attolia explained. “He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son.”

“So have we all from time to time,” Eddis said seriously.

MAN ALIVE WHAT A BLOW TO THE HEART, AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT

I see you doubt me. READ ON.

Keep reading

[artbykhuggs]

Young Irene under the Orange Trees Just finished re-reading Megan Whalen Turner’s “Queen of Attolia” and wanted to paint this scene from Gen’s POV. Up next, Gen+Irene’s dance in KOA 💕

[shebsart]

King of Attolia vs. Thick as Thieves

inspired by this post 

@shaelit @incorrectqueensthiefquotes

[monstress]

“IT WILL BE SO. IT WILL BE SO. IT WILL BE SO.”

[artbykhuggs]

Queen’s Thief Appreciation Week Favorite Ship : The King and Queen of Attolia

“Her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth.”

- Megan Whalen Turner, “The King of Attolia”

[missmentelle]

This is a big, giant list of Youtube tutorials that will teach you all the basic life skills you need to know in order to be a functional adult. There are a lot of important skills that aren’t included in this list, but this should be enough of a basic guide to get you started and prevent you from making a total mess of yourself. Happy adulting! Household Skills:

How to unclog a toilet without a plunger

How to fix a blown fuse

How to fix a leaky faucet 

How to clean soap scum from your tub and shower

How to escape from a house fire

How to make a budget and stick to it

How to sharpen a knife

How to clean a self-cleaning oven

How to clean red wine stains from carpet

How to clean blood stains from fabric

How to clean grease stains from fabric

How to do a load of laundry

How to iron your clothes

How to test your smoke detectors

Cooking Skills:

How to tell if produce is ripe

How to know if food is expired 

How to properly sanitize a kitchen

How to cook an egg

How to make rice

How to make pasta

How to put out a kitchen grease fire safely

How to use a gas stove

How to use a convection oven

How to cook meat safely

How to use a stand mixer

How to use kitchen knives properly

How to make mashed potatoes

How to make grilled cheese sandwiches 

Health Skills:

How to stop bleeding

How to treat a burn 

How to do CPR (on an adult)

How to do CPR (on a child)

How to do CPR (on a baby)

How to help someone who is choking

How to save yourself if you are choking alone

How to read a nutrition label

How to treat frostbite

How to recognize when someone is having a stroke

How to maintain a healthy sleep schedule

Mental Health Skills:

How to calm down during a panic attack

How to help someone who is suicidal 

How to meditate 

How to stop self-harming

How to recognize problem drinking

How to choose a therapist

How to deal with disappointment

How to cope with grief

How to raise your self-esteem

Relationship and Social Skills:

How to apologize

How to cope with a breakup 

How to accept criticism 

How to deal with bullying 

How to argue in a healthy way

How to ask someone out

How to break up with someone

How to recognize an abusive relationship

How to rekindle a damaged friendship

How to speak in public

Job Hunting Skills:

How to tie a tie

How to write a resume

How to write a cover letter

How to dress for a job interview (for women/femmes)

How to dress for a job interview (for men/masculines)

How to properly shake hands

How to nail a job interview

Other Skills:

How to sew on a button 

How to hammer a nail

How to change your oil

How to put gas in your car

How to jump-start a car

How to pick a good password

How to back up your files

How to write a cheque

[sacrificethemtothesquid]

If there’s ever anything you want that isn’t on this list…youtube it. Everyone always comments on my handiness, but everything I know comes from an old guy and his iphone.

[sitpwgs]

she was going to the wilderwood to save everyone she loved herself.  — for the wolf, by hannah whitten 

[reading-under-the-covers]

I stayed up until midnight last night finished Project Hail Mary

[ciaran-archive]

there is this tangible intimacy to art and murderbot’s relationship, from the first moment when murderbot walks into art needing help and in return offers it media - and then when it needs that media contextualized, murderbot opens its own mind and emotions up and offers that lens for art to filter the show through. it doesn’t get to do that with humans - not only is that kind of full sharing of your internality impossible for us, but also murderbot knows that most humans would be too scared of it to allow that, and that they’d never consider how vulnerable a position it would be for murderbot, how invasive and weird that would feel for it.

emotions are weird for murderbot - it prefers to have them quietly, in private, and preferably not about the real world. it certainly doesn’t like to talk about them and resents attempts by humans to make it try. art, however, needs murderbot to have emotions about media so art can understand the media. murderbot’s emotions are not an inconvenient imposition for art, they’re something new and fascinating - they open a window to the world that art didn’t think possible, and murderbot opens this window through itself. art respects murderbot enough to not squash murderbot’s mind and take over entirely even though it could, but also art knows that murderbot is special for being able to do this, and for wanting to give this to others like itself.

throughout artificial condition, murderbot and art function as separate units with separate goals that, nevertheless, work to help each other. and the fundamental trust murderbot placed in art at the beginning is the base of that - it’s what gets art to start thinking of murderbot as a partner, as part of its crew. murderbot can go where art can’t and do what art can’t.

and art can provide murderbot with the kind of help murderbot never expected to have. it’s a gigantic and insanely intelligent research transport, and it’s on murderbot’s side even if murderbot doesn’t know that.

in all systems red, murderbot was working by itself to rescue humans - clever ones that wanted to treat it as a person, yeah, but still working by itself and without much hope of reciprocation or actual help. and it’s so important to me that when murderbot is helping fragile idiotic humans in artificial condition, it also has help.

and then in network effect, when art needs help and has lost its crew and has no idea what’s happening to it or what it can do, it turns to murderbot for help. it trusts that murderbot will help it, even if it needs to be dragged in at first. and of course, murderbot flips out when it thinks art is dead and is conflicted and angry and upset when it finds out art manipulated it, but also - it does help. it does everything it can. a lot of people turn to murderbot for help, but very few bots do; art is something like itself, something alien to humans but still determined to care for its own people (and is cared for in turn).

and all of this even before they make murderbot 2.0 together - whether you think of that as having a baby or creative collaboration, it’s still making something together. it’s a mark of their closeness and trust and intimacy.

[lexicals]

All of the other crewmembers have one and ART didn't want its bbf (best bot friend) left out, that's all! It's definitely not teasing it by giving it a gift it literally has zero practical uses for, not at all

-

[ID: A series of rough drawings of the SecUnit from The Murderbot Diaries, with overlaid feed text from it and ART.

Panel 1: Murderbot, an androgynous humanoid with short, messy black hair, is sitting in a chair with its feet on the seat and its arms folded on top of its knees, with a neutral expression. It's wearing a shirt, hoodie, boots, and cargo pants. A couple of tiny drones are hovering around it. The view is from a 3/4 angle and slightly above. The feed text over the top reads ART: [POKE] / (A pause symbol) / MB: Do you want to watch something else? / ART: No. / MB: What, then? / ART: I made you something.

Panel 2: murderbot is in the exact same position, but its expression is now suspicious. The feed text reads MB: I already have enough clothes, ART. / ART: It's not clothes.

Panel 3: The view changes to a straight ahead view and from slightly below. Murderbot is looking up and to its right, a bored and slightly exasperated look on its face. The feed text reads MB: What the hell is it then? / ART: Looking at things is generally a good way to find out what they are. / MB: Ha ha. Just show me what it is.

Panel 4: The view is now from profile, Murderbot is now frowning straight ahead as one of its drones looks at one of ART's drones, which is hovering into view holding a mug that reads "#1 SecUnit". Feed text reads MB: Oh, fuck you, ART. What am I supposed to do with this? / ART: I can put it in the recycler if you don't want it. / MB: Fuck you. / ART: So you don't want it? / MB: I didn't say that. / ART: I'll just leave it here then.

The second image is a close up of the other side of the mug, which reads "THINGS THAT IDIOTS HAVE TRIED TO KILL ME WITH". The mug seems to have a serrated knife and several bullets in it. Large feed text reads ART: You're going to need a bigger mug for that. / MB: Shut up. End ID.]

[ciaran-archive]

there is this tangible intimacy to art and murderbot’s relationship, from the first moment when murderbot walks into art needing help and in return offers it media - and then when it needs that media contextualized, murderbot opens its own mind and emotions up and offers that lens for art to filter the show through. it doesn’t get to do that with humans - not only is that kind of full sharing of your internality impossible for us, but also murderbot knows that most humans would be too scared of it to allow that, and that they’d never consider how vulnerable a position it would be for murderbot, how invasive and weird that would feel for it.

emotions are weird for murderbot - it prefers to have them quietly, in private, and preferably not about the real world. it certainly doesn’t like to talk about them and resents attempts by humans to make it try. art, however, needs murderbot to have emotions about media so art can understand the media. murderbot’s emotions are not an inconvenient imposition for art, they’re something new and fascinating - they open a window to the world that art didn’t think possible, and murderbot opens this window through itself. art respects murderbot enough to not squash murderbot’s mind and take over entirely even though it could, but also art knows that murderbot is special for being able to do this, and for wanting to give this to others like itself.

throughout artificial condition, murderbot and art function as separate units with separate goals that, nevertheless, work to help each other. and the fundamental trust murderbot placed in art at the beginning is the base of that - it’s what gets art to start thinking of murderbot as a partner, as part of its crew. murderbot can go where art can’t and do what art can’t.

and art can provide murderbot with the kind of help murderbot never expected to have. it’s a gigantic and insanely intelligent research transport, and it’s on murderbot’s side even if murderbot doesn’t know that.

in all systems red, murderbot was working by itself to rescue humans - clever ones that wanted to treat it as a person, yeah, but still working by itself and without much hope of reciprocation or actual help. and it’s so important to me that when murderbot is helping fragile idiotic humans in artificial condition, it also has help.

and then in network effect, when art needs help and has lost its crew and has no idea what’s happening to it or what it can do, it turns to murderbot for help. it trusts that murderbot will help it, even if it needs to be dragged in at first. and of course, murderbot flips out when it thinks art is dead and is conflicted and angry and upset when it finds out art manipulated it, but also - it does help. it does everything it can. a lot of people turn to murderbot for help, but very few bots do; art is something like itself, something alien to humans but still determined to care for its own people (and is cared for in turn).

and all of this even before they make murderbot 2.0 together - whether you think of that as having a baby or creative collaboration, it’s still making something together. it’s a mark of their closeness and trust and intimacy.

[lexicals]

All of the other crewmembers have one and ART didn't want its bbf (best bot friend) left out, that's all! It's definitely not teasing it by giving it a gift it literally has zero practical uses for, not at all

-

[ID: A series of rough drawings of the SecUnit from The Murderbot Diaries, with overlaid feed text from it and ART.

Panel 1: Murderbot, an androgynous humanoid with short, messy black hair, is sitting in a chair with its feet on the seat and its arms folded on top of its knees, with a neutral expression. It's wearing a shirt, hoodie, boots, and cargo pants. A couple of tiny drones are hovering around it. The view is from a 3/4 angle and slightly above. The feed text over the top reads ART: [POKE] / (A pause symbol) / MB: Do you want to watch something else? / ART: No. / MB: What, then? / ART: I made you something.

Panel 2: murderbot is in the exact same position, but its expression is now suspicious. The feed text reads MB: I already have enough clothes, ART. / ART: It's not clothes.

Panel 3: The view changes to a straight ahead view and from slightly below. Murderbot is looking up and to its right, a bored and slightly exasperated look on its face. The feed text reads MB: What the hell is it then? / ART: Looking at things is generally a good way to find out what they are. / MB: Ha ha. Just show me what it is.

Panel 4: The view is now from profile, Murderbot is now frowning straight ahead as one of its drones looks at one of ART's drones, which is hovering into view holding a mug that reads "#1 SecUnit". Feed text reads MB: Oh, fuck you, ART. What am I supposed to do with this? / ART: I can put it in the recycler if you don't want it. / MB: Fuck you. / ART: So you don't want it? / MB: I didn't say that. / ART: I'll just leave it here then.

The second image is a close up of the other side of the mug, which reads "THINGS THAT IDIOTS HAVE TRIED TO KILL ME WITH". The mug seems to have a serrated knife and several bullets in it. Large feed text reads ART: You're going to need a bigger mug for that. / MB: Shut up. End ID.]

[st-just]

Also literally everything about this series seems like a tumblr meme that got out of hand and somehow became actual books.

Like I'm pretty sure I actually have seen posts like "why do people always thinks rogue robots will try and kill us? Maybe they'll just sit around and binge tv at 10x speed" on here, but I don't know if they were just references to the books.

[itmightrain]

I think Murderbot is one of my favorite POV narrators from anything I've ever read

[terrasen221]

Manon: I lured you all to my lair because I crave the deadliest game-

Aelin: *nodding* knife monopoly

Rowan:

Dorian:

Manon: I was actually going to hunt you all for sport, but now I’m interested in whatever knife monopoly is

[jeremy-knox]

@storyseekers event 11: travel — daughter of smoke & bone for @selwynkane

— IT DID NOT END WELL.

[the-knights-who-say-book]

no i’m not going to review the books i’ve read you should all simply have the knowledge beamed into your head