under construction
First of all, THANK YOU. I am grateful for WHATEVER you write simply because you took the time to write it. I hope that first and foremost YOU have fun writing your assignment and do not compromise your ideas to please some or all of my whims.
Request 1: The Spiritwalker Trilogy (Catherine Bell Barahal, Andevai Diarisso Haranwy) (tag on tumblr)
I just love how Cat gave the verbal smack down to anyone who suggests that Vai tames/harnesses/protects her. I mean, she rescued him (TWICE if you include sacrificing herself to the Wild Hunt - which wasn't even a move that I can complain about her recklessness because she had a pretty good plan) and then LEFT him when his ego got too big and he needed reminded of his radical philosophies. I LOVE HER SO MUCH!
I also love how much she lusts after him. She has a VERY healthy sex drive and is never punished for it (although teased by Bee and Rory)
The scenes with just the three of them felt so natural, like I was reading a scene of me with my sisters. I have always loved the relationship Cat and Bee had in Cold Magic, but it felt strained in Cold Fire (probably because they'd been apart for so long and weren't living together/Bee was engaged to be royalty) but I felt like they were just as close as they were before in this book and I love their relationship because sometimes they are the only people who can call each other on certain things. I found Bee's love life a bit complicated at times, but it's not like it's impossible to like multiple people at the same time. I've just only ever really focused on one person at a time.
And in the narrative, it's the same for Cat, she thinks of Vai all the time, worrying over how SHE can protect HIM. I loved that Vai was starting a new Mage House that would support itself and also teach fire mages and set the villages free and just was all-around-wonderful.
I didn't mind that it ended without a sweeping END TO ALL CLIENTAGE ect. because that's not realistic. The war will go on for a few years, people's attitudes have to change, Camjiata's empire probably WILL dissolve with his death and so that will have to be navigated politically. All in all I think she laid out a pretty neat future life for Bee and Cat as spies and orators.
Uh, what else.......OMG. RORY LOVES PETTING. TARA BELL CHOSE THE FATHER SHE WANTED HER DAUGHTER TO HAVE. AMAZONS. THE PRIDE ON VAI'S MOTHER'S FACE. RORY HATING BATTLES SO MUCH. THE TALKING LATCH. VAI HOLDING A BABY WITH A 'DONT I LOOK SO HANDSOME?' FACE.
I probably need to read it again to pick on things I missed but I loved every page!
He's totally going to make their future kid a tiny carpentry apron, whether it's a boy or girl/they have cold magic or not. And make tiny carpentry tools to match! And it will be the best dressed child in the city!
Oh, I also had to chuckle everytime Cat wouldn't shut up, despite people warning her and stomping on her foot. I wonder how'd she react if she ever met James Drake's widow. Probably ask for a thank you for her services and offer her hopes that their child is nothing like their father!
....I wonder if Vai will ever ask to read the letter Cat left for him?
But everything about Cat I completely agree with. I'm really happy she worked things out with Bee and then that she left Vai when he was being dumb but also showing it cost her to do it because she loves him. Loves him so much and whether or not people like him they can respect her choice and that she knows who he is but are also there to support and protect her when she was struggling to deal. And understanding Vai's baggage was refreshing too. I JUST REALLY LOVED IT ALL. Including all the petting. ;)
Just imagine Bee as an aunt to their little baby. She'd argue over the latest fashion trends with Vai and constantly telling Cat that he will have to get over not being the prettiest in the family. Lol
I think my favorite aspect of the book was Cat finally got to understand and remember more about her mother and her fierce love she had for Cat instead of feeling distant or like her mother resented her. That was some pretty powerful backstory that I'm glad it was explored. YAY TARA BELL and everyone being in love with her. ;)
family feels kate elliott wrote this great post about how the trilogy has both a love story and an infatuation story and BEA is the love story BEA is who Cat loves from the first novel to the third every novel's end hinges on her welfare and they start and finish together Vai is important but Cat has just met him and is only starting to really know and truly love him by the end so their relationship is just beginning when the series ends
Request 2: Under the Dome (Norrie Calvert-Hill, Joe McAlister) (tag on tumblr)
was going through my drafts deleting old things and was reminded by how charmed i was by early Under the Dome teens #makingouttosavetheday
I want a 5 Times They Said They Hated Each Other (When Really They Meant Love) Fic #UnderTheDome
ugh, sweet babies mapping out a relationship! joe's doing complex math in his head & norrie's like 'how do i get him outta those pants'
And continues to surprise him in bed (he starts wearing proper pj's to bed for her modesty so instead she strips down to her underwear)
I need some Joe/Norrie makeout experiments ~for science~ where she takes the lead and pushes him up against walls
why hasn't anyone written sweet, fumbling sexytimes fic for the teens in Under the Dome?!
Request 3: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Door, Richard Mayhew) (tag on tumblr)
Not gonna lie, I got into this fandom through the BBC's most recent audio play and I pictured James McAvoy and Natalie Dormer as the character's they lent their voices to. And...I wanted them to kiss at the end. Or hold hands and walk off into the smoke of London Below, determined to stay by each other's side through thick and thin.
Request 4: Byzantium (Clara) (tag on tumblr)
I saw this movie over the weekend and it was REALLY good. More of a mother-daughter-on-the-run thriller than a 'vampire' movie. (Note: but it is quite bloody and gorey if that's not your thing.)
But underneath the sex and death and obviously unhealthy relationship between the two women, is this mystery around the shadowy, patriarchal Brotherhood who are peeved because a woman dared create herself and another. (OH NOES, we can't let the women take agency over their own reproduction choices! Kill 'em all!)
she's just been granted all this power this freedom this LIFE and yet she's still restricted she's still in a world ruled by men her decisions and voice are taken over by men she cannot even speak for herself all because she dared create herself and then create another a story of men trying to control a women's choice to create life she gives this second 'birth' to her daughter and they are condemned to live a life on the run
SHE WILL CUT OFF YOUR FUCKING HEAD. SHE WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE SHE LOVES. SHE WENT UP AGAINST A CREEPY BYZANTINE BROTHERHOOD. SHE CURBS THE POWER OF MEN AND MAKES THE WORLD A MORE BEAUTIFUL PLACE.
WHILE YOU EARN US A LIVING AND KILL OUR ATTACKERS.
HER PRAGMATIC SELF-INTEREST.)
ECAUSE SHE'S A WORKING CLASS GIRL, WHO TRIED TO DO HER BEST BY HER DAUGHTER AT ALL TIMES, AND WHILE SHE DIDN'T ENTER THE SEX INDUSTRY WILLINGLY, SHE MAKES IT WORK FOR HER NOW. AND SHE'S TOUGH AND BRAVE AND KIND AND LOVING.
THE MOVIE SHOULD BE MUCH KINDER TO CLARA
i just really fucking love clara and how ruthless she is when it comes to the one person she loves because she'd do anything for eleanor even let her go but she will also cut off your fucking head she uses her body and kills without remorse tells herself that she's making the world more beautiful and eleanor thinks she can do better but clara doesn't think of herself she knows she won't ever have eleanor's respect so she works to ensure eleanor's safety she was willing to endure immortality alone it was only when eleanor was dying that she stepped in basically: I LOVE CLARA and how she wants to curb the power of men
Request 5: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Catherine Morland, Henry Tilney) (tag on tumblr)
HIS PROPOSAL AND THEIR FIRST KISS!!! She's so excited! She doesn't care about the speech he gave his father, she is like "YES! KISS TIMES NOW?!" and then backs him up into the bushes in her enthusiasm. And Catherine's enthusiasm is her most adorable and charming feature and is what won over the younger Tilney's. Her enthusiasm to be liked and to live a life of adventure and to
#KISSING WHILST FALLING INTO SHRUBBERY #i put it to you there is nothing more adorable
Not gonna lie i loved that they added all this raw sensuality into this adaptation, that catherine is slightly obsessed with being found alone in her bathtub and held captive in her nightgown with bosom heaving and having two men fighting for her in just their shirts in the rain. Look how she stares at him here, utterly at his mercy and clearly wishing for him to kiss her.
(Although there is that initial inequality in the beginning of their relationship - Henry is the one who holds the upper hand for much of the novel, he is older and more worldly and thankfully he sees how innocent Cathy is and does not exploit it. He knows he could easily lead her on, leaving Catherine to think that he is offended or doesn’t care but his sister is too nice and placates all of her worries.) Also, Catherine has absolutely no guile at all. She doesn’t understand simple deceptions and lies since her life is devoid of them and every emotion is written plainly on her face. It must be horribly flattering for Mr. Tilney to have a pretty young girl be very obviously in love with him and caring so much about his opinions. I believe he began to fall for the idea of her before actually falling in love with the real Catherine and her crazy imagination.
Grigg : I thought Northanger Abbey was the final book.
Sylvia : Written first. Published last.
Grigg : That makes much more sense.
Sylvia : Why?
Grigg : 'Cause it's a novel about novels. You know? You see Austen as the young writer, questioning herself. "Who's a heroine? What makes a good story? Are novels a waste of time? Am I gonna write? What should I write about?"
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