The Literary Dinner Party Tag

Dammit - I'm a bit late with the blog post this week!
I'm kind of loosening up with my schedule a bit, since everything in my life is kind of getting busy again and I need to do a lot of things before I can get to blogging and writing. So I'm sorry for the weird times of posting!
Anyway, let's forget about that and get to today's blog post, because that's what we're here for, aren't we? 
Let's get into the Literary Dinner Party Tag (because I'm in a food-mood, hehe)

 One character who can cook/ likes to cook

Uhh... Well I do hope for all the characters that they can cook, especially with everything they can find, because otherwise I'm pretty curious about how they survived without being able to cook or eat properly! I know I would die. Although I can't cook.

But a character who can cook or likes to cook...

Benfro, our good ol' dragon, (The Ballad of Sir Benfro-series) who's mum was a medic of sorts? I mean he can make medicine, with all that he can find, so surely he can cook, right?

I mean he can breathe fire and stuff.

...

One character who has the money to fund the party

Uhm, every prince or princess from any book, I suppose? So let's change the question into a character who has the money to fund a party ánd can throw a good party.

...

Puck from the Iron Fey. Okay, okay - he probably doesn't have the money. But we all know that he'll probably just steal it from King Oberon and will make sure he and Titania are gone from Arcadia so he can throw a party for all the fae, where all get drunk and high and pass out and then Oberon gets back from his trip from god knows where - already anxious because it was Puck who sent him there - and sees fae from his court and from other courts - even iron fae! - and his head turns red and then he finds Puck passed out, half naked, laying over a few other people and he slaps him in the face and Puck says these nasty things and he slaps him again-

Erhem. He'll probably get banned for eternity.

One character who might cause a scene

Ron Weasley from Harry Potter.

Don't get me wrong - I love Ron and all the Weasleys, but he's the kind of person who would believe when you say that the red punch he's drinking is actually gnomeblood.

Or that the ice cream will turn freeze him from the inside.

Or that his favorite ice cream will actually freeze him to death someday.

That's Ron Weasley in a nutshell.

One character who is funny/amusing

Patrick from the Perks of being a Wallflower, helloooooo!?!?

He's got it all; he's gay, he's sensitive, he's girly, he's a nice goofy smile, he's loud, he's shameless, he's a dramaqueen and incredibly, stupidly, uniquely kind!

Like Puck, he'll probably get us all drunk and high and he'll probably start dancing on the table or try to be extremely philosophical when he's actually is talking about The Rocky Horror Picture Show or soemthing like that.

Ahh - he'd be fun at a party.

Well, if I liked parties :$

One character who's super social/popular

Alaska from Looking for Alaska. Maybe 'popular' isn't the exactly right word here, but she's definitely worshipped in her group of friends. She's funny, she's kind, she's cool, she's brave and she's goodlooking.

That's popular, right?

One villian

Dorothy from Dorothy Must Die, because she's probably the only villian I know that is really bad but also a partyqueen. I mean, she lives in Oz in a nice castles with probably the most colourful parties ever. People force a smile, true, but the place looks amazing.

At least she doesn't kill the mood. Well, that is, unless you make her angry...

One couple - doesn't have to be romantic

Viola and Todd, obviously. They are so cute and sweet and kind and they'll probably awkwardly hold hands and get each other drinks and stuff. They'll hide in a corner of the room and maybe attempt to dance for a bit.

Oooh - so cute :$

And they seriously need a break from all those aliens and all the chaos over at their planet!

One hero/heroine

Aren't all our characters heroes of sorts? 

But I think that the most heroic person I've read about, has got to be Todd Hewitt. 

I mean, he basically saved a whole planet on his own.

Starting out with just a knife and a dog. And a town of men chasing behind him.

And a girl who barely spoke to him in the beginning.

That's hero material, I tell you.

One underappreciated character

Well, I'm not quite sure what characters are underappreciated, but I think Severus Snape is one.

I mean, he's definitely gloomy and big ass towards Harry, but he's not truely bad.

Just a bit grumpy.

But extremely loyal.

"Always."

He deserves some partylove <3

One character of your own choosing

The alien (I don't think he has a name other than Professor Andrew Martin) from The Humans, yaaayyy!

I mean he'll probably look at all of us being weird; Patrick dancing at the table, Puck going crazy as well, Severus hiding in a corner in a dark cloak while sipping his drink and quickly scanning the room for annoying little brats, Todd and Viola being all awkwardly cute. He'll probably walk up behind everybody and tap them on the shoulder, asking what their doing and if it's okay if he tried to.

Patrick and Puck will probably get him high.

Poor Andrew. Maybe I'm going to have to protect you at that party.

Well, this was fun!

I hope you enjoyed me sharing my weird literary dinner party - feel free to join us, if you'd like, haha.

Anyway, that's it for this blog post!

Until the next one, then! :)

Review The Golden Cage by J D Oswald

Hey guys!
It's been a long while since I've written a review on the blog. Also, it's been a long while since I've finished a book. This book in particular took me quite a while to finish - two months or more - can you believe it?!
The first half was just sooo hard to get through!
I love these series but sometimes it tends to drag on...
Anyway let's continue the review!

Summary

Our two heroes finally meet each other in the third installment of the series, but things are a bit awkward and tensed, since Benfro still holds a grudge against the men who took the life of his mother and Errol is severely injured, but has to manage on his own, since the dragon is not willing to help. Meanwhile the boy is haunted by dreams of his beloved Martha, imprisoned in a Golden Cage, that try to tell him something.

Not too far Queen Beulah sends off inquisitor Melyn and his troops to bring about a war in Llanwennog, her enemies and tastes the power of the Obsidian Throne.

How will our two heroes fare? And what disasters are waiting for the whole of Gwlad?

My Opinion

Rating: 7.5/10

Well, I really enjoyed the first two books. Being introduced to a new world with its own laws and magic systems and inhabitants was really interesting and our two heroes and two villains made a very interesting reading experience indeed.

I still stick to those points that I've mentioned in my previous posts on the first two sequels - which were made what feels like ages ago hehe; I love the way the world and characters are set up in this book!

That brings me to a new point in this book that really is apparant in the second half mainly: the character development, or maybe more accurately, the relationship-development that causes the changes in viewpoints of our characters, slightly.

Though it didn't change our characters that much, not in a way that turned them into new or better versions of themselves anyway, the new relationships did affect a lot of their behaviour and fixed thoughts that were formed in the first two books.

I think it was seen almost perfectly in the relationship that Melyn and Frecknock, another dragon, formed. Though Melyn hates dragons and sees them as dumb and primitive creatures and he only uses Frecknock because she useful information, still you see that he gets used to her, doesn't find her that bad at all. He mentions this when says that he wonders when he got sick of the sight of the dragon or when he wants to brag about his skills but realizes it would be unnecessary. The feelings of the need to brag, because he knows less about magic than the dragon, apparantly, and the cooled off hatred against hatred slightly change him into a different person or at least shows you a different side of him. And I really liked seeing that.

Who knows, maybe Melyn will even start liking dragons because of Frecknock!

But the most interesting things only happen in the second half of the book! The first half is slow and very descriptive. It's not like Oswald ever stops writing things so thoroughly, but in the first half he is and describing everything to the point and he is not making our characters do much. Mainly sit around in a clearing and being awkward and everything. Literally. I've had this feeling in the first two books, too; I felt like everything was really happening at an extremely slow pace. And in the first two books it was okay, but in the third book I was hoping for way more action and a quicker pace.

It really was disappointing, since the book was 500 pages long and the first 250 really tended to drag on, which caused to take months to finish this book.

In the end is was worth the wait, because the last 250 pages were really a joy to read! Cool stuff happened like Benfro breathing fire and Melyn and his troops going through crazy strong magical barriers, which was awesome! I just wished the book had given us more of that and less of those very detailed descriptions...

Hopefully the fourth book will a bit more fast paced!

That's it for this blog post!

Until the next one, then! :)

Storytime: Verpus the Snake

There is a world somewhere that is known for its large jungle. The jungle contains trees that reach the top of the sky, ground so nutritous and green that everything can grow on it and it has the most extraordinary animals.
And one of those animals is a snake called Verpus.
Verpus was a very large snake. His body could wrap itself around four trees in a row and he could pulverize bushes with ease, although he never did such a thing.
He had skin as black as the cave in which he lived and to which no animal dared to come near and he had eyes that glowed green in the dark.
That cave and the rocky and ugly ground that surrounded it was his part of the jungle and no one could nor would come near this part. And he wouldn't leave it either.
Still, Verpus liked to glide through the jungle, to the other parts of it, even though Leon, the King of the jungle, forbid him to. But his black skin made him invisible between the dark bushes and at night.
Whenever he dared to get away from his part of the jungle he would go to the other parts of the jungle as quickly as he could, skimming through every place he went and taking in their beauty and food, while carefully avoiding the other animal clans.
But if he happened to stumble on them accidentally, he couldn't help but to keep his green eyes lingering on them, from the dark bushes where he stood.
And he would see them sitting close to each other. He would hear them laughing. He would feel the warmth the mother radiates as she forces her children to bed.
And he would feel alone.
Because he didn't have clan.
He didn't have a family.
One night, he went through the jungle again and it was this night in particular that he stumbled on what seemed like thousands of families.
First it were the monkeys that happened to live in the trees he passed, then it were the jaguars who happened to live across the bushes through which he moved. There was a fish family in the lake he drank from and even on the ground he saw a family of ants passing by.
And then he stumbled on the biggest family of the jungle.
They were spread around the rock that stood close to their den. The women were leaning close to their men and the children played around them.
On top of the rock sat the King of the Jungle with a little welp next to him. He lay his paw on his head and licked his face. The little welp laughed and tried to push him away, but kept on licking him.
He paid no attention to the other lions around him; he only had eyes for his baby boy.
And Verpus could see how close they were sitting to each other. He could hear them laugh.
He could feel the warmth the King of the jungle radiated as he looked at his son.
And he felt alon again.
Because he didn't have a clan.
He didn't have a family.
But then, he heared a scared roar. His moved his head toward the sound and, to his surprise, a little welp stood a few feet away from him with terror in its eyes.
The other lions snatched their head in his direction and roared out of anger when they saw the black snake with its glowing green eyes in the bushes.
And Velpus hurried away as fast as he could, hoping the lions couldn't catch him.
I mean no harm! he thought as he was moving away quickly. I just want a family!
But the angry lions were nearing him, breaking branches, pulverizing bushes, leaving claw marks on tree trunks.
And soon he felt claws in his skin and one of the lions jumped on his back to prevent him from going further.
And he was forced to lay there, unable to get away.
Then he saw golden paws moving towards him and he looked up to see the King of the jungle looking down on him, his darkbrown and grand mane around his face.
"I thought I banned you to another part of the jungle." His voice thundered as he spoke.
Verpus didn't answer.
"You dare to disobey my order, snake?"
Verpus didn't answer.
"Fine then," he said and he turned away from Verpus. "Kill him."
And they ripped Verpus' body to pieces.
But instead of being envelopped by the darkness that the death brings, a white light came to him.
Suddenly he found himself in a strange, but peaceful place.
And in front him stoof a gigantic snake with golden green skin and yellow eyes.
And she smiled a warm smile at him.
"Hello, my son," she said.
My son? Verpus thought.
His eyes widened. My son!
He scurried towards the golden snake, his mother!, but didn't seem to be able to move.
The golden snake shook her head. "No, Verpus. You cannot come here, not yet. You must return to the jungle."
Verpus shook his head violently. but didn't say anything.
The snake came closer to him. "Yes, you do, Verpus. It is your home."
Verpus shook his head again. 
Why doesn't she want me near? Do I not belong to any family, then?
"You do, my sweet Verpus. But family does not need to share the same blood and looks. Family must be a bond of love."
Love? But how can I be loved when everybody hates me? When they banned me?
"That is only because they do not understand you. You must speak, my son."
Speak? But they won't listen!
"Just speak, my son. This time, speak."
Her voice turned into an echo and the bright place disappeared.
Suddenly he found himself on solid ground, unable to move, a heavy weight on his back, claws in his skin.
He saw golden paws moving towards him and when he looked up he once again saw the face of the King of the jungle, who looked down on him with his darkbrown and grand manes around his face.
Verpus gasped.
And the King asked him the same questions and he didn't answer and his body was ripped into pieces.
"Again."
He saw the King of the jungle again and he asked him the same questions and Verpus still didn't answer and his body was ripped into pieces.
"Again."
He saw the King of the jungle again. The King asked him the same questions and this time he did answer. The King listened intently and asked him more questions and Verpus answered them, too.
The King's face had softened when Verpus had finished.
"I'm truly sorry, Verpus. I did not know it was a family you were seeking. If you had told me, I wouldn't have banned you, thinking you were a cruel predator."
"I'm at fault here, too, milord," Verpus said, "I should've spoken up."
The King smiled and invited Verpus to come and eat dinner with him and his family. And Verpus came. And he talked there to the other lions and soon other animals wanted to talk to him, too.
They, too, invited him for dinner and talked a lot to him.
All the animals grew to love Verpus and saw them as a member of their family.
One day Verpus glided through the jungle again in the beautiful daylight. He was on his way to the elephants, because one of them, elephant Mori, had just gotten a son. He carried a little present with him for the baby boy and was very excited to give it to him.
But then, suddenly, a golden green snake appeared in front of him and she wore a warm smile on her face.
"So you spoke," she said.
"Yes, I did," Verpus said and he smiled, too. "Mother."
"Did you find a family you belong to?" she asked.
"Yes, I did," Verpus said, "many of them, actually. The whole jungle became my family!"
The golden snake smiled, "Good."
And she disappeared again.
Verpus smiled to himself and then to the blue sky above him. "But you will always be my true family, mother."
And he set off again towards the elephants.

So that was it for this blog post guys! I hope you enjoyed the little story I made up and I'd love to hear your reactions in the comment section below and on social media and stuff!
Until the next blog post, then! :)