I think the way ruin and rising ends is really beautiful. Just hear me out lmao-
"They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that." is such a gentle, peaceful ending. Yes, alina is a very strong character who should've gotten a life filled with more adventures. But in the end, she got to build something that meant the world to her. She got a quiet life after all the fighting and war was over. She deserved it. It's a realistic ending, because sometimes characters choose to rest and be happy and that's okay :).
DARKLINA RIGHTS THOUGH SMH
When I was reading the part where Alina does that vision-mind travel-connection thing with the Darkling for the first time I was like ugh this is gonna be the same old him making her feel stupid but DAMN
The "You might make me a better man." "And you might make me a monster." !!!! The "We would be equals till the day I dared to disagree with you." !!!! The "You are stronger, wiser, infinite in experience...But I am an apt pupil." !!!!!
Imagining that conversion happening in the show.
Brb screaming into the void.
“Someone else’s choice doesn’t change who you are.”
“I feel like it does,” Alex tells him. “I wanted to believe in some people being good and doing this job because they want to do good. Doing the right things most of the time and most things for the right reasons. I wanted to be the kind of person who believes in that.”
Henry’s hands move, brushing up to Alex’s shoulders, the dip of his throat, the underside of his jaw, and when Alex finally looks up, Henry’s eyes are soft and steady. “You still are. Because you still bloody care so much.” He leans down and presses a kiss into Alex’s hair. “And you are good. Most things are awful most of the time, but you’re good.”
~Rwarb
“Is he with her?” Otho asked.
“The Lady Lillian belongs to herself, and no one else.”
“So she’s not with him?”
“No.”
Otho shrugged. “That’s strange.”
“Why?” Chaol had the sudden urge to strangle him.
“Because it looks like he’s in love with her,” he said, and walked away.
~Throne of Glass, Sjm
“Do you think it will always be this way?”
“What?”
“I mean, when do we start feeling like the world belongs to us?”
I wanted to tell him that the world would never belong to us. “I don't know,” I said. “Tomorrow.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.
WHEN INEJ THE WRAITH GHAFA SAYS SHE LIKES IT WHEN MEN BEG THEN WHATTTT THEN FUCKING WHATTTTTTT
I die, that's what.
No thoughts, just this. IT'S THE RAW FKING EMOTION FOR ME-
“Zoya, say something spiteful.”
“Why?” she asked faintly.
“Because I’m fairly certain I’m hallucinating, and in my dreams you’re much nicer.”
“You’re an idiot, Nikolai.”
“Not your best work.”
“I’m sorry I can’t deliver better wordplay right now. I seem to be paralyzed with fear.”
convincing you to read kingdom of the wicked because the sequel comes out in 10 days!
this post won' t contain any major spoilers, but a few slips might happen-
Let's start out with the premise :)
It's basically a historical fiction- a murder mystery, based in the 1800s in Italy. BUT IT'S NOT JUST ANY OTHER MURDER MYSTERY, it has witches and super hot demons and not so hot hunters and- and chefs<3 AND POSSIBLY THE BEST FANTASY ENEMIES TO LOVERS I'VE SEEN IN A WHILE.
I cannot begin to explain how beautiful the entire ambience of this book is,,, the town in Italy is a very warm, cozy, and welcoming place. So that makes the whole murder situation even eerier and more intriguing. This isn't one of those mysteries where you can guess from the start who it's gonna be, and the murder part isn't that IN YOUR FACE. It's delicately woven throughout the rest of the plot. There's a lot of chilling stuff going on, everyone has secrets and everyone is super sexy and scary- all in all this makes for the perfect autumnal read :)
PLOT!!
We start out with two twin witches who's family owns a restaurant (i mean those lucky bitches get to COOK AND BAKE AND DO WITCHCRAFT ALL DAY LIKE- *dream life*)
Emilia and Vittoria dicarlo- one of them is super outgoing and loud and EDGY- she isn't like other girls!! she has secret affairs and gets in trouble all the time,,, the other is kind of chill and reserved and loving.
BUT THEN SOMETHING LIFE CHANGING HAPPENS- one of them makes a mistake and ends up six feet under.
Now, witchcraft is like super illegal because women with gifts and knowledge are a threat to society!! Witches have been ending up dead in many towns across Italy and since witchcraft is super hush hush, our protagonist can't exactly ask the police for help. So she does one better- SHE ASKS THE FUCKING PRINCE OF HELL- wrath. Go big or go home honey :)))
The magic system in this book is really interesting because it's quite realistic- they use herbs and blessed candles and chalk and really aesthetically pleasing things. Some witches practice dark magic and go nuts because they have these visions which is so cool. The twins come from an ancient family of witches and their nonna is super badass and grumpy i love her.
The villains(seggsy antiheroes?) are the malvachi aka the princes of hell. Each prince has domain over one deadly sin(pride, envy, wrath etc). And they can like control those emotions which IS SO SICKK aaahhhh. Throughout the story, the main characters meets these princes and gets influenced by them but also learns new things to uncover the bigger mystery going on and they're all very intriguing and sexy.(I've used the word sexy so many times like is that not reason enough to read it?)
The restaurant- I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ARC. It just enhances the reading experience by adding these touches of how invested the characters are in their recipes and flavours which makes it so comforting and also hilarious because one moment someone is like "OMG NO LOOK A CORPSE aaahhh" and the next they're like "hmmm i want your recipe for cannoli *puppy eyes*"
vibes you can expect- mysterious, spells, herbs, candles, witches, church, family love, demons, betrayal, forced alliance, grumpy + sunshine trope, revenge lotsss of revenge, angsty, comforting yet also somehow on the edge of your seat feeling, secrets and darkness, hidden agendas, AND LOTS OF ITALIAN CUISINE.
The romance<333
aka the reason I picked up this book. At this point the romantic interest could be like "aahh you're ugly i hope you die" and then two seconds later be like "you're the most beautiful thing in this world you are the sky and the sun and you could walk over me do you want something to eat? do you want a kitten or a blanket or a cup of tea??maybe we could bang and get married????" and you have the AUDACITY to call that enemies to lovers????
BUT THIS BOOK PORTRAYS that hate to forced alliance to secrets to betrayal to mistrust to slight understanding to maybe some hints of romance. The slowburn is just *chef's kiss*
I ADORE how you can never tell what the love interest is gonna do and you're like daddy??sorry-daddy?? sorry. NO DON"T MAKE ME HATE YOU.....da-
ALSO there's a slight corruption arc because the main character is so driven by her rage and that for me is the cherry on top.
AT ONE POINT, THE DARK ANTIHERO kisses the protagonist to save her life(?) AND SAYS "LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO HATE ME FOR THIS" LIKE SIRRRR??
Quotes you might like-
“I feel your gaze on me when you think I’m not paying attention. You track the dagger every time I move. You need to know where it is." No ma'am he's looking at you-
"Young women died. Life resumed. Such was the way of the world, at least according to men." I didn't come here to cry but okay-
"I couldn’t begin to understand why Wrath had said “my Emilia’s.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if the demon even remembered my name since he only ever tossed around “witch.” EEEEEHHH THE POSSESSIVENESS TROPE
“You have something I want.” “If it’s my still-beating heart, I’m afraid I must decline.” “No, but I imagine you’ll end up giving that to my brother one day.” excuse me WHILE I GO SCREAM.
"My sister was the adventurous one—I was satisfied with safe, clean fun. Give me a steamy romance novel with forbidden love and impossible odds. That was the kind of adventure I could get behind." same, literally same.
This book as Taytay songs because why not?
•Look what you made me do
•No body, no crime
•Treacherous
•Dancing with our hands tied
•Mad woman
•I did something bad
•Wildest dreams tv THISSS SO MUCH
•Delicate
•Haunted
•So it goes >>>>
Just before you go,, THE SEQUEL HAS THE "I DON'T WANNA KISS YOU UGHHH"// "LIAR" trope and also the "YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T GIVE AF ABOUT ME"// "I LIED." trope
so you don't wanna miss out.
~Nina Zenik, King Of Scars.
SOMEONE ON TWITTER SAID THE PARALLELS BETWEEN PERCABETH AND KANEJ~ two guys who can always sense when their invisible gf is nearby :')