Ultxian - Riya

Mo-dern zu shi   

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I'll stick to my single-log bridge until it's dark

finally pushed away everyone in my life now i can go back to isolation

a while back i read a post along the lines of “if you feel like everyone hates you, it’s time to rest… if you feel like you hate everyone else, it’s time to eat” and honest to god i’ve never used any piece of advice more than i have that one

JAY :: monitoring the members’ interview

Do you have someone in your heart?

txt’s cant you see me hits so much harder when you realise none of your friends understand and see that you’re falling apart or maybe they just don’t care anymore

DIY session with the fearsome Yiling Laozu

social media has made it extremely difficult to like any artist. there's something wrong with everything and we're just all expected to be this perfect human being who isn't capable of making mistakes and growing from them. even though i'm aware no form of media i ever consume will be without its problems but i can't physically stop myself from seeing everything so critically to the point i hate myself for liking it in the first place. not to mention now i just assume things from the smallest gestures, so at this point someone i like could say one thing and i will be sitting here thinking of 100 ways it could be taken in a wrong context. there's no way to know either cause you don't know any of them personally. then it ends up in extensive searching and breakdowns in the middle of the day. in a way i am just so scared of them actually fucking up and seeing everyone hate them that i try to villainize them to save myself from the pain.

hello!! do you have any book recs for historical fiction/ non- fiction or something similar to the palace of illusions? thank you!!

A short list because I'm not well:

Song of Draupadi by Ira Mukhoty

Indian mythology retelling

Mahabharat from Draupadi's POV

Descriptive prose and lush worldbuilding

Everything Mukhoty writes about Indian women is readable

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Egyptian history retelling

Nefertiti's reign from her sister's POV

Morally grey central characters

The writing style is so descriptive and nice

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan

Queer Chinese history + fantasy retelling

Breathtaking, immersive worldbuilding

Wlw and mlm hostility; two evil non binary leads

Mulan but with a sapphic romance

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Indian mythology retelling

Ramayan from Sita's POV

Exploration of duty vs desire

Not as good as The Palace of Illusions, but still worth a read

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Indian inspired fantasy

Sapphic romance between central characters

Cool magical systems

Morally grey female lead

Circe by Madeline Miller

Greek mythology retelling

Morally grey female lead, lyrical prose

Same author as The Song of Achilles

I have heard divisive stuff about it tbh

Sati Series by Koral Dasgupta

Indian mythology retelling

Feminist historization of female figures from Indian myth

Includes Ahalya and Kunti so far

I hope you find something to your liking from this list!

Kofi: papenathys