I was very troubled to learn, upon receiving an ARC of the so-called "official" Fourth Wing coloring book, that it only features Dylan on one page, as part of the group lined up for the parapet. Moreover, there is no pullout insert page showing the beautiful picture of Dylan's fiancée. I can't believe Rebecca Yarros Industries would do this when Dylan has been so important to so many of us, the fans who made the book a success. It seems like they're really disrespecting our headcanons, which are just as valid as anyone else's, by implying that Dylan is a very minor character and his fiancée doesn't appear in the book at all? Anyway I'm started a campaign to get this coloring book withdrawn and a new one made that has pages designed by the FANS.

(Changes in italics, also this is a tl;dr of the original cause … tl;dr.)
——

I'm beginning to remember why I gave up on the Romance genre the last time I tried to get into it and went back to Classics and Literary fiction. The majority of the writing I come across in Romance is too bland for my personal taste. In all honestly, I would go as far as to say that plenty of it is objectively bad.

It just makes me sad because I really, really, really want to love this genre. All the best stories are love stories! I want to fill my life with horny joy!

Why can’t we resurrect Charlotte Brontë? She was the last, best, greatest romance writer! We need her to come back and rewrite Fourth Wing— the ugliest of all romance books!

I’m so tired of all this ugly writing and so sad and it having ANY FUN!

This post totally isn’t looking for recs but if you could give me some recs of BEAUTIFUL writing, like Jane Eyre!

apologies in advance for the word vomit, this is my first post and i have A LOT to say seeing a s none of my friends have seen the series.

so recently i started seen the sw series for the first time after hearing about it just about everywhere and i must admit, it is definitely worth the hype. i saw the first two chronological films a couple months ago and i must admit that i couldn’t initially get into them until Duel of the Fates but once i did get into it, i had the absolute time of my life.

**spoilers ahead**
so first let me get into the first two films. i enjoyed them, with anakin finding his footing in the Jedi and his own way to fit in. one of my favourite characters was definitely Count Dooku because when I was a kid my friend had a Gogurt tub with him on it. i also enjoyed the way palpatine was portrayed in the situation and how Lucas used the in ROTS. overall, i enjoyed the first two movies but knew i needed the next one to see how anakin handled his powers and his relationship with padme of the hell they endured.

so moving on to ROTS, wow. what an amazing and not poorly paced watch. i enjoyed this one wayyyy more than the first two, although its more focused on building the characters. i already knew from the first book that something was inevitably going to happen between palpatine and anakin but still enjoyed the build up to it. I also enjoyed the way Lucas portrayed Jedi and anakin dynamic shift and the way the relationship was built to show the toxic, abusive relationship was well written and wasn’t romanticised like in soo many other books i’ve read. the fact that even after anakin had decided that she wanted to be a sith but still felt bad for sorry I can’t go through with referencing padme’s death in a jerk but I think OOP needs an Allison rec spam .

Some people in this genre couldn’t handle what it would really be like to live in these situations and it shows. I’m so tired of mmcs smelling like he just rubbed up on a tree and his fingernails magically didn’t give her a uti, whatever happened to realism? If she can’t smell him after a 4 month journey across the realm and still want him it’s not for me.

And I care a little too much.

Can we get some MMCs with better, balder heads? Like, I GET IT, in these worlds men typically have hair. Whatever.

But hair just gives me the ultimate ick because ew femails have that. It’s just a preference and a requirement so don’t come for me lol. A nice humpty-dumpty vibe would help me swoon.

Am I the only one? Haha just kidding I know I’m not. I can’t be. Right?

People have asked why we do this every week in a sub dedicated to snark.

Because you sloopies asked for it. It seems we can't stop reading this stuff. But also, it's to answer back "well, if you hate 4th Wing/ ACOTAR/ Spork/ Alchemized so much, why are you here?"

What did you love this week in Romantasy?

Recommendations, swoonworthy romances, actually witty banter, you have full bragging rights and humble brag privileges. 

I was researching on a new monster fucker, tongue-in-cheek, Campy, satire Romantasy (a circlejerking dream, in other words) on reddit {How to Lose An Orc in 10 Days} and stumbled on the sub.

Idk if it’s already talked about here, if so i apologise and i guess the mod can remove this post or whatever.

People that are against HAVING FUN (fine if you don't like a genre) created a subreddit to talk negative about circlejerking and circlejerkers. And it’s basically screenshot of people reheating each others’ nachos via Sloopie Seconds from this sub.

Idk how to feel about that.

🚨 EDIT 🚨: it's been brought to my attention the group in question is NOT a snark group. my apologies.

It’s not actually [r/romantasycirclejerkcirclejerk](r/romantasycirclejerkcirclejerk)
It’s ACTUALLY [r/AntiRomantasycirclejerk](r/AntiRomantasycirclejerk)

Uj/Orpheus is my ultimate beast king

Welcome to the first weekly discussion for our Rage Read book of the month: Daggermouth

This week, we are discussing up to chapter 10. If you've read past that or previously read the book in its entirety, please try to avoid spoilers for those who haven't. If you're unsure if something is a spoiler or not, please use the spoiler function in your comment.

^{To use the spoiler tag, please put > ! these symbols ! < on either side of your spoiler but without the spaces between characters.}

We want to hear it all! The good (is there any?), the bad (every little pet peeve), and the ugly (the snarkier the better).

Just a reminder: while this may be a rage read, some people will absolutely end up enjoying this book, please don't bully or downvote people who feel differently than you do.

And I DO care.

Can we get some MMCs with better haircuts? Like, I GET IT, in these worlds men typically have longer hair. Whatever.

But long hair just gives me the ultimate ick. It’s just a preference so don’t come for me lol. A nice skin fade mullet would help me swoon.

Am I the only one? I can’t be.

Uj/I had to do so little work here

Also, that's just plain silly. Everyone knows dragongirls want to boink their dragons, men are just paltry substitutes whose parts line up better.

Ok so I read fourth wing and I absolutely loved it. Best book ever.

Will i still like it when I read it for the second time? Please this is a big decision and I cannot make it myself.

I recently reread many of my other Romantasy books and enjoyed it, I do have a good taste as it turns out but I just don’t know if the empyrean series will be any different, who knows I might hate it this time around.

Someone please advise me on what to do. Also I didn’t like the spice level in FW, I’m a pumpkin spice kinda gal myself, so please take that into account when you make this major decision on my behalf.

Thank you sloopies. Xadain forevaaa

Do you guys notice that Reversible-Mail-K9’s comments dictates what type of posts you can handle reading?

When I’m doomscrolling, I can focus on and remember the tiny details like the lore, jokes, and various Mails.

But the second I hit an actual post, my tolerance for words or multifaceted Mails drops to absolute zero. My illiterate brain cannot tolerate the meandering Mails or additional Numbers that aren’t tied to Reversible-Mail-K9 participating in the snarking. Especially after their recent vet visit.

Does anyone else experience this shift in brain capacity? Do you have recs?

Basically I still want an interesting snark roast, Cavills, sarcasm, and gifs - I just need it to not make my brain hurt from having to remember which Mail is which when Reversible-Mail-K9 isn’t participating.

It needs a quick hook, clear punchline, limited Numbers, words I can understand. It doesn’t have to be smart or witty, I still enjoy a good watery bowels joke even after Reversible’s recent experience with them.

Good jerkers borrow from other jerkers. Great jerkers steal outright. 

So let it be with alignment charts. 

Thanks to the amazing u/Camellia980, we have been graced with the knowledge of whom we felt fits a standard alignment chart. 

But we’re not standard. 

We’re sloopies. 

Thus I have taken it upon myself to generate a more individualized alignment chart, with some helpful theft of a joke from u/RemingtonRivers. (Note: I also spent way too long finding the exact goddamn shades from the sub banner and matching them in the Updated Alignment Chart. The boxes for our winners are the color of Alchemized’s pages (and currently filled with about as much meaning and quality.)

For the rows, we have {Helpful, Sloopy, Chaos Gremlin¹}. 

For the columns, we have {Literate, Sloopy, Stupid}. 

Similar to before, nomination rounds will be open for approximately at least two days. Different than before: there will be a “row” round, where I will put all of the nominations in at the same time, because I like removing interfering variables whenever possible.²

Other things, like how many winners we have, have yet to be decided. 

So let’s have some fun! Who do we think are the members of RCJ to represent Sloopy Helpful? 

Thought of someone for Literate Helpful?  There’s still time, because Sloopy Science is fluid, just like the morals of our main characters.

Snarky Footnotes (as required by the Gods of Science)

¹ Punk was not right. Troll was not right. Punk-ass-bitch was not right.  But then the lamentation and accusation posts for our currently-AWOL and SWOL Numbers began, and I understood the true extremes of the spectrum.

² Example of the "row" round. 

• Day 1: Literate Helpful nominations open
• Day 3: Sloopy Helpful nominations open
• Day 5: Stupid Helpful nominations open
• Day 7: "Row" Round, where Literate Helpful, Sloopy Helpful, and Stupid Helpful are comments in a post, and every single nominee is added as a sub-comment to their respective group. That way, everyone can vote on all nominees at once and late nominations are not unfairly penalized.

/uj take two because my poor sloopy brain has been fried by writing up an explanation of why BookTok leads to crappy books having good ratings that I can turn in to my PhD seminar instructor. My apologies to the early nominators.

Hey sirens, do you guys notice that the water cycle dictates what type of books you can handle reading?

When I'm in advection and condensation, I can focus on and remember the tiny details like the plot, setting, characters, residence times, biogeochemical cycling and so on.

But the second I hit my precipitation phase, my tolerance for a story with actual world building or proper reservoir modeling drops to absolute zero. My rainy-phase brain cannot tolerate meandering subsurface flow routing or additional plot points that aren't tied to the main characters kissing in a downpour.

When I’m wet I can’t read.

Does anyone else experience this shift in brain capacity? Do you have recs?

The book I DNFed is Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema.

Basically I still want an interesting fantasy world, romance, tension, and demonstrations of fog drip - I just need it to not make my brain hurt from having to remember anything when I'm busy with infiltration.

Completed series only!! It needs a quick hook, clear plot, limited POV, world building i don't have to take notes to remember, fast pacing so I don't get bored by developing characters or said world building. It doesn't have to be cozy or low stakes, I love a good steamy romance too.

What did you struggle with this weekend? Did you force yourself to read through that last 15% just to finish that book? Did you have to read through 60 posts of what do I read after ACOTAR? Did someone ruin your enjoyment of slutty fairy porn with their stupid opinion?

Hey omegies, do you guys notice that your estrous cycle dictates what type of books you can handle reading?

When I'm in diestrus and anestrus, I can focus on and remember the tiny details like the plot, setting, and characters.

But the second I hit my proestrus phase, my tolerance for a story with actual world building or multifaceted characters drops to absolute zero. My proestrus phase brain cannot tolerate meandering plot lines or additional plot points that aren't tied to the main characters getting closer to boinking.

When I’m in heat I can’t read.

Does anyone else experience this shift in brain capacity? Do you have recs?

The book I DNFed is Manacled.

Basically I still want an interesting fantasy world, romance, tension, and plot - I just need it to not mak my brain hurt from having to remember anything when l'm in this part of my cycle.

Completed series only!! It needs a quick hook, clear plot, limited POV, world building i don't have to take notes to remember, fast pacing so I don't get bored by developing characters or said world building. It doesn't have to be cozy or low stakes, I love a good dark romance too.

Complaints about the new books.

So. From what I’m seeing, a lot of people have been constantly complaining about the new books.

I see people complaining about how they’re disappointed about what the books might be about, even though they have no fucking clue what’s in the books.

Complaints about the covers.

Complaints about late release.

Complaints about how our Lord stayed in the dark for a lot of it.

Complaints about what characters might have the spot light this go around.

Complaints about how they don’t want this or don’t want that for the storyline.

ALL THIS FUCKING COMPLAINING.

STOP.

Like damn are you writing the book??? Did you spent years upon years creating this fucking master piece? No.

Our Goddess is.

I’m so sick of people’s complaining. It doesn’t matter what YOU want. It’s what SHE wants for HER STORY.

You’re a reader. Not a writer.

If you want something else, write it yourself.

Do you guys notice that your menstrual cycle dictates what type of books you can handle reading?

When I’m ovulating, I can focus on and remember the tiny details like the plot, setting, and characters.

But the second I hit my luteal phase, my tolerance for a story with actual world building or multifaceted characters drops to absolute zero. My luteal phase brain cannot tolerate meandering plot lines or additional plot points that aren’t tied to the main characters getting closer to boinking.

Does anyone else experience this shift in brain capacity? Do you have recs?

The book I DNFed is Blatant Self Promotion.

Basically I still want an interesting fantasy world, romance, tension, and plot - I just need it to not make my brain hurt from having to remember anything when I’m in this part of my cycle.

Completed series only!! It needs a quick hook, clear plot, limited POV, world building i don’t have to take notes to remember, fast pacing so I don’t get bored by developing characters or said world building. It doesn’t have to be cozy or low stakes, I love a good dark romance too.

I tried r/cleaningtips but they said that one of the fantasy romance subs would have more experience?