Imagine Ketterdam centuries in the future, where all six crows have become saints, and their shenanigans have too many references sin history books to be written off as fairytales.
Kaz Brekker, the Saint of thieves who takes pity on the lost souls and evokes power into the hearts of crooks.
Inej Ghafa the Saint of the abused, holding a protective hand over those who share her story and causing slavers great misfortune.
Jesper Fahey, the Saint of treasure whose name those whisper at gambling tables for good luck and is said to guard all zowa.
Wylan Hendriks, a Saint of runaways who watches over the shaken souls and bruised children who slip out of their bedroom windows to start new lives.
Nina Zenik, the Saint of lovers who couples leave offerings to in hopes that their love will be eternal, no matter what.
Matthias Helvar, the Saint of soldiers who younglings going to war pray to for mercy, and known to protect Grisha when called upon.
In which, at some point between his brother’s death and the first book, kaz actually had somehow become a demon or something not-quite-human
WESPER DELETED SCENE
a the amazing devil song each for the shadow and bone characters *this is based off of the netflix series versions of the characters
Kaz Brekker - The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace 'Cause when I stand, oh all those folks will run And tell the tales of what I've become They'll speak of me in whispered tones And say my name like it shakes their bones
Inej Ghafa - The Calling And I promise you I'll write I love you With my fingers on your sleeping hand And when that fox howls I'll howl with it, in its cries I'll find an end And when I think I'm fine you'll visit And then you happen to me, you happen to me all over again
Nina Zenik - Ruin I will bring you ruin in everything I do It's never my intention but it happens all the same It starts with love and comfort Becomes a strength of will But all that strength made rubble of those towers we built
Matthias Helvar - Blossoms And my saint she is dancing As every step I choose to take begins to set the world aflame And the soldiers march behind me I can hear them beat their spears And for the first time in all my life I know I'm more than what I fear
Alina Starkov - Inkpot Gods Oh what these? These aren't tears It's just the rain that wasn't brave enough to fall And what they hear isn't laughter after all It's just your voice learning for once to stand up tall
Aleksander Morozova - The Horror and The Wild Think of all the horrors that I promised you I'd bring I promise you, they'll sing of every Time you passed your fingers through my hair and called me child Witness me old man, I am the Wild
Malyen Oretsev - Farewell Wanderlust Because farewell wanderlust, you've ever ever so kind You brought me through this darkness but you left me here behind And so long to the person you begged me to be He's down, he's dead Now take a good long look at what you've done to me
Nikolai Lantsov - That Unwanted Animal And you rip my ribcage open And devour what's truly yours And our screaming joins in unison I cry out to the lord 'Cause if we join our hands in prayer enough to God I imagine it all starts to sound like applause
Genya Saffin - Fair "'Cause outwardly," he says, "I try so hard to make you laugh at me" And she, she does, she laughs as though she's not heard the joke ten thousand times before And he adores her, he watches her get dressed as though she's hurtling through time "Oh darling, please be mine"
Jesper Fahey - Welly Boots And when you scream that it's not fair It's like I've gone off to the coast Left you behind just standing there Pretending not to see your ghost
Wylan Van Eck - Secret Worlds 'Cause I will suffer silence for the strings you tune And I'll withstand what's written for the writer in you Write me well my love, write me weird Write me willing, write me well
one thing the show missed how deadpan and hilarious kaz is like he had such a slick mouth like in the books one of the reason why he was such a fun character was because how ruthless he was but also he was so outta pocket all the time like he had so much witty one liners
not to be dramatic but we desperately need a punk movement to come in and wash away this Instagram model airbrushed picture perfect trend. it’s so damaging……teens, young adults, kids, the Grown….all of us need to just. we need to be sweaty again. we deserve it smeared eyeliner…..idk just. it’s okay if ur hair is greasy please just relax & then get mad about stuff that’s important to you.
this is a super funny comparison but i actually really liked bunny for a similar reason. like the bunnies are, on paper, trying to make samantha happier, friendlier, more free in her creativity, its just that happiness in their world means a certain sort of thing which someone like samantha cant achieve without being hollowed out and brainwashed first. the bunnies are all about enabling their most surface level self-indulgent desires, and thats not all bad. its in fact kind of a good impulse that comes from wanting to free themselves and each other from shame. samantha craves validation and companionship and thats not a bad thing either, but it turns her into someone who goes along with acts that fundamentally disgust her for the sake of feeling valued.
its not a one-to-one comparison to what i was talking abt earlier with reanimator but i do kind of love horror dynamics that are all about like a well meaning protag with normal human desires and follies that gets drawn in by a villain(s) who like enables those desires until the protag cant tell the difference between what they want and what theyre simply willing to endure in order to get that superficial validation.
okay so bunny by mona awad succeeded in areas I think my year of rest and relaxation by otessa moshfegh failed in which she created a satire that actually had something to say. the way awad deals with the concepts of loneliness (both incidental and self inflicted), female friendships, class and the pretentiousness of New England college culture actually feels purposeful. and the reason I compare it to moshfegh is because both books are satires with unlikeable protags but while moshfegh is too busy kissing her own ass and hiding behind “oh all art is apolitical” bc shes to scared to admit that she actually cares about the topics shes talking about, awad cares very deeply about what she’s writing which made it unsurprising to see she based it on her own experiences at brown university.
Samantha is not the most likable character and you’re either gonna cone away from the book hating her and her pity parties or deeply understanding why she throws them (especially if you read her as a woman of color like I did). there’s a constant theme of her being obsessed with her own otherness and its true especially when you consider (Spoiler) She created her best friend Ava from a swan in the pond . Ava is Samanthas ideal friend but also the ideal form of herself: cool, self assured and beautiful. If Ava is the good part of herself, then Max is the bad. Her dark thoughts, negative impulses and hatefulness. But he is also how she sees herself as well, or at least what she thinks Ava would find attractive, he’s smooth, attractive in a dangerous way, poetic without being pretentious (he’s a literal vessel for her to say what she feels about Ava all of which is written in her diary) and what I think is very very important he can fuck Ava. Something the bunny-boys couldn’t do.
there’s also the sense of how we lose ourselves in our friends, as female friendships tend to be all consuming to the point we really do melt into a hive mind and I think even the friendship with Ava is tinged with co-dependency. Samantha dehumanizes the Bunnies calling them by nicknames she gave them, robbing them of agency because of their perceived perfectness but once she is invited to the Smut Salon she begins to call them by their real names until finally in honestly the most disorienting section of the book they all become Bunny, to the point its hard to tell who is talking and I loved that I wish we got more of Sam as a Bunny.
the atmosphere and aesthetics of the novel were so fun a candy colored dark academia where we even see that the bunnies also put on airs around each other like how Kira’s voice deepens when she thinks shes alone, no longer concerned with sounding like. bunny. I like how each of the women have a genre assigned to their writing and personal style showing how even though they are indistinguishable from each other, they were their own people beforehand but they allowed themselves to get sucked into a vacuous pretentious bubble.
the commentary on class was great, especially with how sam is said to be too obsessed with being poor to have been poor her whole life and I think thats a very accurate representation of someone who’s financial status has been precarious for much of her formative years and why despite herself shes so intrigued by the bunnies and feels out of place in her writers cohort. rich people love to blow smoke up each others asses, which allows the bunnies to write horrible work because at the end of the day they’re rich it doesn’t matter they’re never gonna have to improve themselves. its also why sam feels reluctant to speak her true feelings on their work because she doesn’t have anyone to rely on lest she gets ousted
the usage of the all female writing cohort with the singular teacher was a great nod to the secret history honestly the whole book was
I loved how it was a creation horror story as well as coming of age the horrific parts were truly gross and the way the cannibalize themselves (metaphorically) towards the end was satisfying as fuck
and a lot of ppl hate the ending but sam choosing Jonah was honestly cathartic, she isn’t healed things aren’t sweet and nice but she makes a connection with someone who has been reaching out to her instead of being obsessed with her own otherness
when i’m going about my day but then classical music starts playing and suddenly i am nothing in my soul if not obsessive
“he’s so kaz-coded.” no, he’s just an intj. we are brooding and hot and here to win. you love us.
Stupid faces
Very much a show!wesper enjoyer I’m gonna be honest! Especially in love with Jack Wolfe’s acting