~I’m A Light Year Away~

Manasa | 24 | she/her A Desi lesbian astrophysicist with an unhealthy obsession over the Grishaverse, SJM books (to an extent), romance and fantasy novels in general, films, tv shows…etc. AO3 | Wattpad

[sourlemons262]

It's my 10 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

[sourlemons262]

Have you read better in black?

Yes I have.

Let’s just say I’ve learned that if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Also I mentioned I wouldn’t be posting about TSC anymore so I want to stick to that.

[snoocupz]

The Moons, The Suns & The Stars 🪶

Finished Six of Crows couple illustrations; Full versions below!

Kaz & Inej as the moons 🌗

Jesper & Wylan as the suns ☀️

Matthias & Nina as the stars ⭐️

[shimmerytimbers]

frosbite studios blessing us with this GORGEOUS fanart, as per usual

[maybemacdc]

sometime, somewhere in ketterdam

[sourlemons262]

BIB has e-arcs for “influencers” out now….

Not ONE ☝️ (1) Kickstarter backer (unless they’re an influencer ofc) received their copy of BIB yet. A shipping email went out to maybe two people yesterday, and those will take a week to arrive at least.

And now, influencers who never paid Cassie any money for this work (ofc unless they’re backed the KS) will get to read it before the fucking backers who MADE THIS BOOK POSSIBLE.

Also, this is not me getting mad at influencers or people who got the e-arc. They are doing nothing wrong, simply just existing—I have no problem with anyone who has an arc already. It was Cassie and her publishing team who made this move to send these arcs out before any KS backers received their shipment. It’s ALWAYS on her.

This entire shitshow of a Kickstarter has shown me the ABYSMAL nature of Cassie. I will never be monetarily supporting Cassandra Clare for the rest of my life for ANY books she ever writes. I will be selling every one of her books I have purchased over the years over the next several months. Fuck her.

I hope that million dollars you took from your fans helped, Cassie!!! I hope you sleep well at night knowing you fucked over some of your biggest fans!!! That some went broke trying to pay for this content that bookstagramers will get to read before the people who made it possible. If you actually cared about your fans, you would have also sent the e-arc to all of your Kickstarter backers who MADE THIS POSSIBLE in order to make up for the entire shit we’ve been put through for this ordeal. But no, you don’t care about that at all, don’t you?

Also, since there’s no point in hiding it anymore, below is the email Cassie sent to me in response to me saying that the Kickstarter was awful and she took advantage of some of her biggest fans. I have no use protecting this asshole anymore. If this is how she talks to people who supported her….”sorry you’ll get to read BIB 5 1/2 months earlier than others rather than 6”….what a fucking piece of shit AND a liar. Fuck you, Judith.

[sourlemons262]

Hi, one of those Poor People here (Asian in an Asian country) that cannot remotely afford the kickstarter due to all hit reasons- money, delivery and currency exchange rate. Yeah I'd be incensed too if I specifically paid for early content and a certain quality of the product and then did not, in fact, get either. Let alone on time. Especially if I had to pay 250 fucking dollars in this economy. Valid crashout

Thank you, I appreciate your comment and perspective. I never would want to speak for others who couldn’t afford the Kickstarter, I want everyone to have the content and I am glad we will, I just wanted what I paid for as well.

[sourlemons262]

I think you should think about how it sounds to say things like "cassies true fans, the kickstarter backers." It's mean and petty for no reason at all. I dont understand your reasoning for wanting to gatekeep content you purchased and got already from other fans or why you think you're so much better than us. You just live in a country that the kickstarter delivered to and had the money to buy it. You're not better than everyone else just because of those privileges . Even if you had troible paying for it, you were ABLE to, which is more than many fans of 10+ years have.

Yes cc could have handled this better and there are fair things to say about that, but going after other fans and trying to hoard stories like a dragon with gold is NOT it

Love that this is the framing you decided to go with this, since you actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Even tho you asked anonymously, I know who you are. You blocked me on Instagram and yet you continue to engage with me, but only anonymously because you don’t want the heat. If you have a disagreement with what I said, pls dm me and we can talk.

Now to address the points you made. Let me make one thing clear: I have never had any problem or issue with Better in Black being released publicly. My friends who aren’t in the Kickstarter or couldn’t afford (which was ALMOST me at one point btw, I saved up some checks for it so it wasn’t a quick purchase for me) would be able to enjoy the content and stories! My problem has always been the “6-month exclusivity” deal AND how horribly the Kickstarter has been run from start to finish. If things were being delayed, the release of Better in Black could be pushed just a few months to give us that exclusivity WE FUCKING PAID FOR. You might be okay paying for another copy, but I didn’t not spend 250 bucks on books filled with typos (SOBH), missing full important characters and art (the flower book), and a novella compilation for a kickstarter called Seasons of Shadowhunters which only includes ONE novella about a character who’s story was one of the smallest of the bunch (Careful of Books). The exclusivity with BIB is the only thing that mattered at this point since everything else was so screwed up. I *knew* BIB would be released for the general public and OFC I was happy for that! Her keeping the release date, having it open for preorder at several stories AND it having EXCLUSIVE CONTENT just drives it over the edge of clearly money-hungry. She wants us to buy both. She has no regard for the people who paid YEARS ago and wanted this story a while ago. How is it greedy to ask for 6 months of exclusivity when it’s always been Cassie’s policy for content AND THE KICKSTARTER PROMISED IT???

I also don’t want you shaming me for how I use my money and what I expect out of things I purchase. This kickstarter was an objective shit show and I wasn’t even on one of the higher tiers (some of which are OUTRAGEOUSLY priced). I barely was able to afford my tier BUT I justified paying for it because of getting Better in Black potentially early and supporting it to a public release, a nice flower book with ALL the characters (love that they excluded an Indian Lesbian character as both an Indian and a lesbian btw LMAO FUCK them for forgetting Ari), and a long novella about Matthew (I counted it’s about 20k words long, which makes it BARELY a novella, just scarping by as a novelette, seriously? She hyped up Matthew’s story for so long and he’s one of my fave characters). A Sea Change likely the only thing other than BIB that Cassie had to make originally for this kickstarter because she decided to just throw in her other non-shadowhunter WIPs into Careful of Books. And now that we know she wanted to release BIB with its OWN exclusive content at 20 bucks very soon after the kickstarter, possibly before people even get their kickstarter copies, it feels like I paid fro nothing but that Matthew novella. Which was honestly not worth $250. Sorry. 🤷‍♀️

People are allowed to be mad. Stop defending a multi-millionaire author who gives you nothing more than a boost of dopamine when she likes your comments. Me not paying for her new books will not cost her anything. She’s fine and will be fine.

While I won’t be supporting Cassie anymore financially, I will be forever in gratitude to the world and stories and characters she built. This was genuinely so fucking gutting to me as a reader to experience.

Once again, I know who the person who left this ask is. Please stop doing this. If you want to talk, don’t be a coward and just PM me or leave an ask with your account. I’m addressing this once and for all and will not be again.

[zieroses]

Idk if there’s an avid TSC community on tumblr but the way I will neverrrr back another of Cassandra Clare’s kickstarters.

I’ve backed four of Brandon Sanderson’s and they’ve been absolutely stunning. I love Shadowhunters and was so excited to get more TSC content. The products have been poor quality (novels printed on glossy paper??? Bizarre covers that in no way fit the vibe of the books or the aesthetic of the rest of the series?) and not as promised (a shitty paperback “notebook” instead of the tie-close hardback leather that was advertised? Incomplete and incorrect content in the flower book?) and now the content isn’t even exclusive. They’re announcing trad published special editions with additional exclusive content of the last book before we’ve even received the last book.

Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow. I wish there was at least a way to rate kickstarters/creators on KS to warn off future funders.

[sourlemons262]

I wanted to add that due to Cassie’s misleading description, overall terrible execution, and absolute dismissal of the Kickstarter and its backers, I genuinely have no interest in financial supporting Cassandra Clare in any form whatsoever from this moment onward. I have never felt more betrayed as a reader. I paid over $200 to have this exclusive content LAST YEAR, and now I’m being told there is content I could’ve gotten anyways plus exclusive content in editions I WON’T EVEN GET DESPITE BACKING AND SUPPORTING THIS PROJECT FROM THE BEGINNING.

Cassie never really cared about her true fans (the kickstarter backers). She only ever wanted money. She will not get that from me. I can wait until TWP is in the library. I’m done.

[kotwkawie]

SPOILERS FOR A SEA CHANGE!!!

so what is matthew and sylvain's ship name? verchild? i think verchild sounds really nice?

[sourlemons262]

do we know anything about anna? is she already in india?

Nope, we don’t hear about anyone’s whereabouts except that Cordelia and James are Constantinople (which in the timeline actually doesn’t make sense since they were planning on leaving right after the COT epilogue and A Sea Change takes place on Matthew’s last of his 9 months of travel. Like were they having a honeymoon for a year??) because Matthew is planning on visiting them there….yeah I don’t know how I feel about that other than I just didn’t like it lol. (Matthew arrives to Constantinople with a new boo aka Sylvian but he didn’t KNOW that when planning on visiting James and Cordelia on their honeymoon….like what if he didn’t find a man?? He’d just sit across Jordelia wistfully staring into each others eyes and ready to jump each other??? Awkward?? My policy is ALWAYS leave a couple alone on their honeymoon, that’s THEIR vacation. Yes, yes, parabatai are different and all but I still feel that matters ESPECIALLY SINCE MATTHEW MADE OUT WITH CORDELIA A YEAR AGO???) Anna is mentioned I think once when Matthew recalls her friendships with Downworlders. But nope, literally it felt so isolated and missed so many opportunities where it could’ve mentioned where Matthew travelled throughout the past nine months and what he did, the letters he would’ve written to all his friends, and just references to their current whereabouts. But no :(

[sourlemons262]

does he say anything about Kit or think about him? or is he forgotten

Oh he thinks about Kit a lot and in fact it’s was one of my favorite things about the short story and something I think Cassie did perfectly. One of his main conflicts has to deal with his guilt about Kit (*I only wanted it to be spread out over more time so the transition/change he goes through is over a more realistic period of time. Like just the exact scenes we got with him thinking of Kit just spread out over a longer story.*) I only wanted the story to be a little longer but EVERYTHING Cassie did here between Matthew and Kit is beautiful!

[sourlemons262]

Hate to be a Debby downer but am I the only person who read A Sea Change and liked it but was massively underwhelmed by how small it was?? Barely 70 pages for MY MATTHEW FAIRCHILD AND HIS ENDGAME??? I’d love Matthew and Sylvian so much together if we got more scenes developing them!!! I love Matthew so much, and his story in Careful of Books is the only one related to Shadowhunters but is somehow the SECOND SMALLEST STORY? I need more Matthew and Sylvian!!!!

[kotwkawie]

the prince and the sword catcher

[nanadeyo]

The Crowned Prince and his Sword Catcher

[sourlemons262]

My Review of Ragpicker King

Loved this book so much and so I’d decided to break my tumblr silence and share my review. I’d love you discuss with yall so pls DM me if you wanna talk spoilers!!!

SourLemons's review of The Ragpicker King (The Chronicles of Castellane, #2)

5/5: 4.75⭐️ rounded to 5⭐️ What an absolutely incredible sequel! I have been anticipating this book since Sword Catcher was released and i

[rinadragomir]

Guys if you ever get the Ragpicker King PDF or epub.... I just want you to remember that I'm here🖐️and— I love when people send me stuff you know. And I always send pictures of my cat as a gift!