Still working on I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. I'm much more satisfied with it at the 75% mark, now that the plot's well under way. I think I may try to fit something else by him into my list for 2025 bingo, because I'm really enjoying his writing style.
misericordiae
joined 1 year ago
I did tweak a couple of the curves slightly in the file I sent Mem, but nothing really noticeable.
Yay, glad you like the changes!
Did you recreate this from scratch?
I just traced over your version with vectors. Only changes I made were pointy book corners and slightly flatter ears on the sides (b/c I'm lazy). I'll DM you the file to do with as you please.
I like the idea (and it's very cute!), but it feels a little busy. I think that could be solved by simplifying the book shape, if you're down to give that a shot (feel free to ignore me, ofc). Two suggestions to try, not sure if either will work:
- Get rid of the inner black line and the orange, and use a single black line down the middle for the crease instead. If the book shape isn't strong enough at that point, you can always try thickening up the edge, or coloring the whole shape.
- Alternatively, remove the black outline (and the orange fill) entirely (apart from a center book crease), and just have the ears, nose, and whiskers (maybe also eyes?) be a different color. Let the book be the highest contrast shape, so it's obvious.
EDIT: Ok, look, I was impatient to see what it could look like, so I did it myself. (I may have gotten a little carried away.)
@[email protected], YOU DID SO GOOD! LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS.
Still reading I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. It's still light and fluffy fun, but it's starting to feel kind of muddled. Like, I thought I was getting a story about a dragon catcher that hates his job, but that's been sidelined in favor of a story about a prince that doesn't want to rule. There's been a sprinkle of "legendary dragon? nah, that doesn't exist anymore" foreshadowing, but the plot's been very low stakes otherwise. Not sure if it's a framing issue (there's a lot of POVs) or a narrative one, but maybe it'll all come together later on.
Finished The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. Twistier and grimmer than the first book; hoping the third (when it comes out) will have a satisfying conclusion. One note: if you decide to read this one by itself, with the thought that you might read the rest of the series later, just be aware that it spoils the ending of the first book.
Started I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Light and fluffy fairy-tale-type story so far, without the melancholy undertones I remember The Last Unicorn (understandably) having. Reviews seem mixed about the second half, so we'll see how I feel about it when I get to that point!
Last week, I read The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, and now I'm reading the sequel, The Truth of the Aleke. These are both African-inspired fable-like fantasy novellas about teenagers saving oppressed desert cities. Obviously, I enjoyed the first well enough to read the second, but I think they would have been better listed as YA, as both volumes feature not-so-subtle lessons about the bad guys and predictable plot twists that might have seemed fresher/more relevant to that audience.
(Sidenote: if you're doing book bingo and need a quick disability rep. hard mode, The Truth of the Aleke is only ~100 pages, and seems to work as a standalone so far.)
Yeah, I'd agree with that (although idk what Left Behind is). There was some level of criticism of Christianity throughout most of it, but the end sort of... yeah.
Tentatively started A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney.
Finally finished Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman; I found it enjoyable and well-paced. Knight-turned-brigand and divinely-touched orphan tween go on a quest across France during the height of the Black Plague. Medieval fantasy religious horror; very heavily features Christian mythology, so if that's not your thing, skip. Do check content warnings.
I'm 80% through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. My plan to set aside more reading time last week failed, but I'm nearing the finish line nonetheless!
It's a combination of being 400+ pages and sometimes only getting through a few pages at night before I get sleepy. Thankfully, I'm not finding it slow on top of that.
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Finished I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. In general, I think it has pacing and tonal issues (be aware that it's not cozy all the way through!), but it was also cute in, like, an 80s-YA-fantasy kind of way. I don't regret reading it, but I think there are better books to recommend.
Currently reading Fever House by Keith Rosson. I guess I'd call this action horror? There's a severed hand that makes people near it want to be overly violent, and various players trying to acquire or get rid of it. Fast read, enjoyable so far.