Another Thing Pissing Me Off This Morning Is Fucking Allistics Thinking They Need To Teach Me "manners"

There's this book I read as a kid. I don't remember what it was called and I don't remember the author.

It was about this princess who had long, curly red hair. I don't remember her name. She had three older sisters, two of which were twins. She was being tutored by the eldest's love interest. I don't remember why, but her family got put under a curse, and her eldest sister turned into a weeping willow tree and the twins into swans. So she had to run away, and she cut her hair to pretend to be a boy. And there was a girl named Megan or Meghan with her (the only character whose name I remember), and Meg(h)an had blonde hair that was slowly turning black because she was infected with evil raven magic. I don't remember how it ends.

Anyway, it's not so much that I want to read it again but more that it bothers me immensely that I can't remember what book it was.

I tried to look up what book this could be. There are endless books about older brothers being turned into swans, but I couldn't find anything where it happens to older sisters. The tree one got me a lot of recommendations for parks and botanical gardens. And the hair search returned a bunch of articles about Megan Thee Stallion.

So I have no idea what book this could be.

But I did find a website that might be able to help you out

I am heading out of town for a few days and will have very limited internet access.

So this will be my last stream until at least Monday.

Please join me for Diablo III, a.k.a. The Easiest Game Ever

The power at my house is flickering due to the storm, so no stream tonight guys. Sorry

sarah j mass antis you say? look. i checked out the first throne of glass book from the library when i was ten years old. and my friend, i was obsessed. finally i’d found what i would later realize was my favorite trope in fiction: female heroines rejecting the call. women saying "i’ve suffered enough." the first book is off to a great start, fifth grade me will not put it down. this girl is badass, she’s ruthless, she’s selfish, and she feels no obligation to save the world. "but it’s your destiny!" calls the journey, "but you’re the only one who can save us!" and the heroine says absolutely not. i will not die for you after everything i’ve already lost. and then — and then !! we make it another book or two and we discover: our heroine, who has staunchly declared that saving the world is neither her obligation nor responsibility, is in fact a long lost princess! and a magical one too! now, i don’t know about you, but i think the ruler of my country has an obligation and a responsibility to save said country. unless she wants to give up her crown and let the country democratize, her absolute power had better be used for good. i was devastated. i finished the series out of spite and never reread.

My main issue with Maas, aside from the racism and colonialism in her real life (and books), is that the fae have been my Special Interest since I was born. And what she did to them is unforgivable. Especially since she's sparked a trend and now every single fairy book (unless it's by Catherynne Valente) is the exact same garbage over and over again. I finally understand why all the vampire girlies got so mad about Twilight. But, hey, at least Meyer still had her vamps drinking blood. So they at least retained the main defining feature of their kind. Can't say that about Maas-Fae.

And I agree with you about heroines. I love a murderous, independent woman who does not care if she's the chosen one. We absolutely need more of that. But! If girl wants to be an actual literal monarch, she's gotta answer that call. If she wants to say "shove this crown so far up your ass it comes out your mouth" that's cool, no qualms there. But otherwise, no. No no no no. If she wants that position, that power, she's gotta take the responsibilities that come with it

Marvel movies have completely eliminated the concept of practical effects from the movie-watching public’s consciousness

Join me for State of Decay 2 tonight at 11:30 EST

1) TIL Hank Green is bi. Neat.

2) Of course the replies on this immediately devolved into 10 year old bs about how John Green is bad because he wasn't cool with people calling him a pedo based on vibes. Good grief

in hysterics

“Don’t kill yourself you have to outlive panic! at the disco” is old. It’s tired. P!ATD literally broke up this morning. “Don’t kill yourself you have to outlive MCR again” is new. Fresh. They’re definitely vampires but you can give it your best shot

I have no idea how old your book rant post is, but here I am, about to be your problem

I HATED THE SUNBEARER TRIALS

Yeah, okay cool, it’s a book with a trans author and trans main character. EVERYTHING ELSE WAS TRASH

It starts off great, with the MC graffitiing (spelling???) a wall with two birds and then he never does anything interesting again in favor of pining over/think about/hate a guy from his childhood that was mean to him once ten years ago. Before you go thinking the MC’s hatred of him is justified, just know all that is because the guy pulled a mean girls and said YOU CANT SIT WITH US a literal decade ago.

His best friend is a part of a group he hates, but it’s okay because she’s one of the good ones

And now: The cardinal sin

THIS BOOK IS MARKETED AS PERCY JACKSON MEETS THE HUNGER GAMES YET HAS NO CHARACTER DEATHS AT ALL AND SAYS **** IN THE FIRST LINE

WHO IS THIS FOR????????

I adore Hunger Games, but I mean it when I say that if I could travel back in time to stop those books from ever being published, I would do it in a heartbeat just so I would never have to see a book marketed as "X meets Hunger Games" ever again.

If you put even the slightest hint of competition in a YA or YA-adjacent book, it gets called Hunger Games. I could write a full rip-off of Bring It On, but the competition element would guarantee that it would be marketed as an HG style book.

The same thing happens with Mean Girls. Does your book have teenage or early 20s girls being in proximity to each other? Well it's Mean Girls now.

And it's really not doing these books any favors. Cause people pick them up expecting something in line with the brutality and messaging of HG, and end up disappointed as hell when that's not what they get.

I think publishing houses might actually be my mortal enemy

⬆️ Me fighting publishers for all the bs they pull (especially Red Tower - hate them)

Shout-out to the time I told my boss that I would close the department three hours early and go home if he kept trying to make me run it by myself