Book Review: El Paso by Sam Moussavi (spoiler filled review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for El Paso by Sam Moussavi, which I finished reading at the end of November. 

This review will have spoilers. This isn't a very common book, so I figured it was fine for me to have a spoiler filled review.

Let's get into the review!

El Paso is a YA novel that follows Armando Salguera, a junior at El Dorado High School in El Paso, Texas. His dream is to become an NFL tight end. This book is part of the Texas Fridays series by Sam Moussavi that is a 6 book series with various standalone novels that take place in various Texas cities. The cities Moussavi has written about for this series are El Paso, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Odessa.

The synopsis is as follows:

"Armando Salguera is a tight end at El Dorado High School in El Paso, Texas, and is aming to make his NFL dream come true. At the beginning of his junior season, things are going according to plan as Armando wows his coaches and teammates with his dominating play. But Armando's NFL dream is threatened when--after 15 years of silence--his estranged father, Oswaldo, sends word that he will be coming across the border, back into Armando's life. Could this mean that Armando's dreams of making the pros are over?"

I saw this book at my local library, and because El Paso is my hometown, I was actually really excited to see how it was portrayed. I was disappointed, though I can't say I expected the portrayal of El Paso to be accurate. As someone who grew up in El Paso, this book gets the community almost entirely wrong.

First thing I noticed: Armando is unbelievably tall, especially for an El Paso Mexican kid. 6'5 is incredibly tall. It is incredibly rare to come across an El Pasoan kid who is that tall. 6'3 I could believe. 6'5 not so much. I looked at the football rosters of many of the 6A schools in El Paso. The tallest kid I found is 6'3. 

Fallacy number one is this: Armando's girlfriend, Anna de la Puente has a 4.5 GPA. In El Paso, there is nothing higher than a 4.0 GPA. I was homeschooled, and even I know that. Also, it's said that Anna is in El Dorado's Model UN club. There's one problem with that. El Dorado doesn't have a Model UN club. Only one school in El Paso has a Model UN club, and I can guarantee it wouldn't be a school like El Dorado. That school is Coronado High School, which is on the complete other side of town.

For this next fallacy, let me educate every non-El Pasoan reading this review. El Dorado doesn't have a football stadium. Very few SISD (Socorro Independent School District) schools have football stadiums. They play at the SAC (Student Activities Complex). At the SAC we have home games for Eastlake, El Dorado, and Pebble Hills High School. We also hold band competitions there, such as our initial UIL competitions.

There is a section toward the end of the book that states that "El Dorado's stands were packed for the first game of the season against crosstown rival, Eastlake High School". El Dorado doesn't have a football stadium that is used for games. They have a practice field. But they don't have a football stadium that they use for football games. 

For another, Eastlake and El Dorado are not "crosstown". The schools are literally 16 minutes away. Like, I don't know how small the author thinks El Paso is, but that's not crosstown. They are both on the Eastside of El Paso. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the city, we have the Northeast, Westside, Eastside, Central, and Downtown sides of town. You have other small areas too, like the Upper Valley and Lower Valley. 16 minutes is not "crosstown". Canutillo High School and Horizon High School are the farthest schools from each other in El Paso that I can think of. Those schools are 41 minutes away from each other. that's crosstown. Not a simple 16 minute drive. That's practically a hop, skip, and a jump away. 

Traveling from Pebble Hills High School in the Far Eastside to Franklin High School on the Westside is 39 minutes away. That's crosstown. Sorry, but 16 minutes is positively close. It's far depending on what time it is and what side of town you're on (what'll kill you is the traffic, particularly if you're on the Eastside, not the minutes). But it isn't crosstown. 

I'll show you all a map.

El Paso Proper

The red lines indicate everywhere that is El Paso proper. 

El Paso Proper

The red dot indicates more or less where El Dorado High School is located. The purple dot indicates more or less where Eastlake High School is located. The yellow is the boundary line of El Paso proper. When there's still all that much city left, El Dorado and Eastlake are not "crosstown". 

El Paso Metro

Red indicates more or less everything that counts as El Paso, Texas, metropolitan wise (I mistakenly didn't circle San Elizario and Clint). Baby blue indicates where El Dorado High School and Eastlake High School are located, distance wise. I'm sorry, but that's not "crosstown". Those two schools are literally on the same side of town.

El Paso is the 6th-largest city in Texas, and the 2nd-largest city in the Southwestern United States. The city is also the 23rd largest in the country. But yes, Eastlake and El Dorado are "crosstown". We have like 29 high schools in the city and Eastlake and El Dorado are crosstown? No.

Also, this book literally shows no other side of El Paso except the Eastside. Which border did Oswald come through? There's multiple gates. Did he come through the downtown gate? Another one? There's 5. Which one was it? Some details were left out that, in my opinion, should've been there.

The green circle on this map indicates all this book showed of El Paso. This is literally it. Armando didn't travel to anywhere else except this side of El Paso. I know he's in school. I know there's little time to show other sides of El Paso in a 200 page book. But there was not a single mention of any other part of town. Not even Downtown. There was no mention of UTEP or any of our community colleges. 

I saw a review on Goodreads that mentions that this book gives some perspective on what it's like living in a town like El Paso. No, it does not. I could tell when I read the 1st page that the author wasn't from El Paso and has likely never been to El Paso in his life, and also had done very little research on El Paso.

 
This is not a good representation of my hometown. My hometown is all about community. Almost everything we do is about the community. And there was very little community.

Also the focus on Mexicans and everything was a bit bizarre. I understand El Paso is a minority-majority city that is full of Hispanics, particularly of the Mexican heritage variety. However, because it is a predominantly Mexican-American city, why were Mexicans and Hispanics mentioned so much? 

There was a part where Armando and his mother attended church on Sunday. The cathedral part was all wrong. I'm going to say it straight up. It was wrong. It was supposed to be a Catholic church. I know that for a fact. And it was wrong.

 
For one, Catholics don't have sermons. That's a Protestant thing. Catholics have homilies. There is a difference. For another, the part where it says that the congregation said that all colors and all denominations were welcome, that wouldn't happen. I have never heard that in an El Paso cathedral, and I've been to dozens of services. I've never heard it, not even once. 

Why? Because skin color doesn't really matter to most El Pasoans. You have Black people, White people, and Hispanic people. El Paso is a minority-majority city full of Hispanics who have Mexican heritage. It's full of a bunch of Mexican-Americans. The whole "all colors and denominations are welcome" sounds like a white Protestant church located in a city up North or down South, not an El Paso cathedral that predominantly has Hispanics of Mexican descent.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

How to Write a Death Scene

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be going over my tips to writing a death scene. 

There are spoilers for Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, Frozen, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Titan's Curse, and City of Glass, which I use as examples.

Without further ado, let's get into the post! 

Today I'm going to be talking about how to write a death scene. I'm predominantly talking about novels, though this applies to any form of writing. 

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a professional nor published author (despite the fact that I have published two short stories onto my blog). However, in my semi-structured 5-6 years of writing (I have written for longer than that, but I started my first novel at 13-14) I have researched and have found some tips that are incredibly helpful.

1. Figure Out the Tone

The tone of the scene is largely what's going to shape how your readers are going to feel about the death itself. If it's your villain's death scene, maybe the characters are relieved. Write your tone that way.

If you're killing off a child, then you're likely going to want it to seem sad, sudden, and tragic. So write your tone accordingly. Tone is set with word choice. The type of words you use are incredibly important when writing tone in any scene, but death scenes in particular.

If the tone of the scene isn't written as you intended, you may get a reaction from readers--and maybe even yourself--that you didn't intend to get.

2. Make the Readers Care

In order for the death to mean something, the readers have to care about the character you're killing off. Sometimes this is direct, in that the audience cares about the character because they're likeable. 

Other times this is indirect, a situation where the audience cares about the killed-off character because one of the protagonists cares. In indirect situations though, the reader must first care about the protagonist. After that, they'll usually proceed to care about the character you've killed off.

This is a tip especially true for the characters in your story that are good. If the reader doesn't care about your character, they aren't going to care about that character's death. They're likely going to feel cheated.

This is where character development comes in. Show their personality. Show their interests, likes, and dislikes. Show their relationships with other characters. 

Make them feel like a person who has their own goals and desires. Make them three-dimensional. Make them feel like real people. This will usually make readers care about that character. 

And, make sure your character is either relatable or somewhat likeable. If your character isn't likeable, the reader may feel relieved or happy that that specific character died.

So make sure that if you have a character who is somewhat of an anti-hero, they have redeeming qualities.

3. Leave a Goal of Theirs Unfinished

There's nothing that saddens readers more than a character they like dying before they complete their goal. 

This goal could be large, or it could be small. Sometimes the smaller the goal, the more sad it is. But that isn't true in all cases. Sometimes the goal can be huge, and it's just as sad. Most of the time though small goals are the most effective at accomplishing this. 

This goal could be something as simple as seeing the ocean, or it could be as large as saving the world. It's really up to you and what your story is about.

4. Make Their Death Count

Nothing cheapens a death more than a resurrection scene. In some cases this works, but in most cases it doesn't, and it only succeeds in cheapening the character's death. 

This is especially true in cases where the main character watches that character die. Sometimes you can get away with it if the character 'died' off page and is presumed to be dead. These are the few instances where a character's 'death' may be 'erased.'

However those are very particular instances. We're talking about death scenes though, as in deaths that happen on page. 

The only instance where this works is when there's a 'cure' introduced sometime before the death. However, if this isn't written well, it can feel very cheap. 

5. Don't Get Melodramatic or Rely on Cliches

I'm sure we've all read a death scene where the character who's dying gives a speech before they die, and is able to tell the character everything they need to know despite the fact that they're bleeding out. 

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that. It makes the death feel inauthentic. This drawn out speech death scene is likely not going to make your readers cry (if that's what you're aiming for). It's going to make them roll their eyes. 

I highly recommend not making your death scene cliche or melodramatic.

Now, there are some types of writing where melodramatic death scenes recurrently appear. That would be writing such as plays.

However, when writing a novel that isn't intended to be a satire or play, you want to strive for realism. Unless of course you're purposely making your novel melodramatic. 

Most deaths aren't dramatic. That isn't to say that the character that is dying can't say anything, they most certainly can. This happens in real life. But in real life, people don't give half an hour speeches as they're dying. 

If you are trying to write an authentic, emotional death scene, avoid melodrama. There are instances where deaths are portrayed as melodramatic for humorous purposes. 

For example, let's take Thor: Ragnarok. There's a scene in Thor: The Dark World where Loki dies. However, Loki is also a trickster who can use illusion magic, so sometimes when he dies, he doesn't actually die.

This is the case in Thor: The Dark World. When Thor returns to Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok, he stumbles across Asgardians putting on a performance that reenacts Loki's death in Thor: The Dark World. 

Odin is sitting by, watching, quoting and overall enjoying himself. We soon find out that Odin is actually Loki, and Loki put on this production as an homage to himself. 

This reenacted death scene is melodramatic. But it's supposed to be. It fits into Loki's personality in that he's an arrogant person who always thinks he's some sort of hero. 

So this melodramatic reenactment serves to show Loki's personality and be humorous. This scene is supposed to be funny.

However, this is intentional. If you're writing a death scene, and you aren't trying to be melodramatic, sometimes you can accidentally fall into melodramatic territory.

Also keep in mind that this performance wasn't Loki's actual death scene in Thor: The Dark World. His death in that scene was way less dramatic. 

6. Show How It Affects the Other Characters

This is especially true if the character was someone close to the protagonist. Grief can be such a useful tool in fiction. It can change some of the way characters react in the future.

Make sure the grief makes sense with the character though. The loss of an acquaintance isn't going to affect your character as much as the death of a sibling. You want to make sure the character's reaction is realistic. 

Remember that different people go through grief differently, and some people take longer than others, so make sure you know how you want to deal with grief in your character.

Showing how a character's death affects other characters usually makes scenes even more emotional. I've learned that this is the key to making my sister cry about a fictional death. She doesn't usually cry when the character themself dies. She cries because of how other characters react. 

In Frozen, my sister didn't cry when Anna 'died.' She cried at Elsa's reaction to Anna 'dying.' In Avengers: Endgame, while she liked Iron Man, she didn't cry when Iron Man died. She cried at how Peter Parker and Pepper reacted. She cried when Morgan was shown the video from Stark. 

These reactions, when done well, are going to create an emotional impact, and sometimes this emotional impact is worse/better when it comes to a character's reaction. 

An example from my own adventures reading. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I didn't cry because Fred died. I cried because of the reactions of the Weasley family. On its own, death in fiction means almost nothing. In most stories, death is going to happen. 

In fiction, death is common. It's even common in real life as much as we'd rather deny it. On its own, the death doesn't have much of an impact. But, rather, it's the remaining living characters (in real life, the people who are living) that'll really make that death mean something. 

That isn't to say that death is meaningless. It isn't. But in fiction, that death has to mean something. It has to impact the characters, sometimes even the plot. It has to help move the story. It can't just be a stagnant piece of information that happened. You don't want a character's death to be forgettable and have done nothing.

7. Make Their Death Unpredictably Predictable

This may seem confusing at first. I'm going to get there. 

What I mean is that the character's death shouldn't come out of left field, but it shouldn't be completely predictable either. This is where foreshadowing comes in handy.

There are cliches with this though. Unless your reader is young and hasn't caught on to a lot of death cliches in books, I wouldn't foreshadow in a predictable way.

A predictable way would be the main character promising another character something. This usually doesn't end well and results in a death of some kind.

I have two examples of this. One is The Titan's Curse (book 3 in Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan. This book introduces Nico and Bianca Di Angelo, two siblings who are revealed at the end of the book to be children of Hades. 

Sometimes promises are made to a character, and if the reader has seen it before, then they know that character is going to die.

Percy promises Nico that he will watch out for Bianca and make sure nothing will happen to her. What happens? Percy can't keep this promise, Bianca dies, and Nico gets mad at Percy at the end of the book.

This same thing happened in City of Glass. Not long before Max Lightwood dies, Clary teaches him how to read his Naruto manga, then promises to take him to Forbidden Planet, a comic book store located in New York City. 

This promise isn't fulfilled either. This is a cliche used sometime before a character dies. Something is promised to the character that dies, or a character who's related/friends with the character who dies.

If a reader knows this cliche, then this is one way to make a character's death predictable. Instead, I'd recommend trying subtle ways of foreshadowing a character's death, something that makes sense but something that can't easily be predicted.

Things like death symbols are more obvious as well. Things like crows and that sort of thing. These types of symbols can be overused. There are other animals that symbolize death as well as plants and types of weather.

Those are my tips for writing death scenes! I hope you enjoyed this post!

Until next time,

Lexi K🖌

How to Write a Disabled Character/Character with a Disability

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be going over my tips to writing a disabled character/character with a disability. 

I have read and seen a lot of disabled characters in media. Some are good, some are bad. These are tips for writing disabled characters from an actual disabled person.

Without further ado, let's get into the post! 

These tips can apply to pretty much any disability, however I will mostly be explaining using terminology and medical conditions I am intimately familiar with. 

1. Don't Gloss Over Their Disability

If you want to write a disabled character, make sure that their disability isn't glossed over, especially if they are a super important character to the plot. If they are a main character or a main side character or a family member of a main character, don't just gloss over it. 

This doesn't mean that you should focus on it, on the contrary, don't do that either. It should generally be clear what the character's disability is and how it affects them, however it shouldn't take up the majority of your story if that isn't what it's about. 

2. Don't 'Cure' Their Disability

There are numerous types of media out there that cure characters who have disabilities. This is considered a big mistake in the disabled community. It may seem completely innocent. 

However, this is generally a bad thing. Especially don't have the character be cured and then have them talk about how they are 'whole' now. This is offensive and dehumanizing. 

A disabled person is a person. They are a whole person despite their disability. Most disabled people don't wish to be cured. And the vast majority of disabilities aren't cured.

For this one, let's use cancer as an example. While doctors will say that someone's cancer has been 'cured,' there technically is no cure for cancer. Cancers are treatable with medications and other measures, and remission can even be reached, which is a period where either cancer cells are not detectable or where very few are detectable. 

However, cancer can only ever reach remission. Even if someone is 'cured' of their cancer, there's still a chance it could 'come back,' even after the initial 5 years where doctors say it's more likely to come back. 

But there is no cure for cancer. Disabilities are not ever completely cured. 

Now, this is a somewhat split topic. The majority of the disabled community hates media where a disabled character is cured, however this varies sometimes depending on how new someone's disability is. Meaning, people with newly acquired disabilities sometimes wish that they could be cured, whilst people who have lived with a disability for most, if not all, of their lives, they would actually dread being cured. 

You'll never 100% please every member of a group, but there are things you can do to make it less harmful. A lot of newly disabled people, and sometimes even people who have been disabled for a while, struggle with internalized ableism. This means that they have some issues coming to terms with accepting their disability. They may believe what society says about disabled people.

They may believe that their disability makes them inferior to others. So before you decide which route you want to take with your character, decide this: how new is your character's disability? If they have lived with their disability their whole life, don't have them think about a cure. 

If your character's disability is new, they may think about a cure, and might even wish for one (this still doesn't excuse curing a character of their disability). Someone who has lived with their disability for a long time will find ways to do the things they can't do. They'll find ways to live their lives. If you have a character who was born without a right hand, don't have them struggle to do certain day-to-day tasks when they are a teenager. 

If your character has lived with their disability for most of their life, and you want to explain how they do certain things, this will require some out of the box thinking. Most disabled people are pretty creative.

3. Don't Rely on Disability Stereotypes

What I mean by this is, don't rely on stereotypes for your disabled character(s). These are what I call 'stock' disabled characters. These are characters that have a certain disability, but are just as stereotypical as any other character with the same disability.

This includes things like the autistic character that loves trains, the disabled evil villain who is evil because they're disabled, the disabled character with powers that they have because of their disability, the character who is pitied or viewed as helpless because of their disability, and the disabled character who is the butt of the joke, to name a few.

Now, there's no problem having a villain who is disabled. However, it's always best to have a character with a disability who is also good.

4. Don't Use Disability as a Plot Device

So, I think I need to clarify something with this. This doesn't mean that disability can't be part of your plot. It absolutely can. However, when using disability as a predominant plot, tread carefully and lightly.

Make sure that your character's disability isn't their entire personality. It can affect the decisions they make and aspects of their personality, but don't have their disability be their sole trait.

Disability is a part of my identity, and it has shaped aspects of my personality. But I have other interests and other personality traits besides my disability.

5. Research

Research is key to creating realistic and accurate representation of people with disabilities. Research the disability your character is going to have. Watch YouTube videos about that disability. Find blogs written by people with that disability.

You may think it's hard to find people who have disabilities, but they're actually really easy to find if you look in the right places.

Dear J.K. Rowling: A Question About Disabled People at Hogwarts

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be talking about Harry Potter and disability.

In general, I like this series. However, from a disability perspective I do have some questions. There will be spoilers for this series, so if you haven't read it, I'd recommend reading it then coming back here unless you don't care about spoilers.

Without further ado, let's get into the post! 

So, I loved the Harry Potter series when I originally read it almost a decade ago, however the other day I was thinking about disabled characters in movie adaptations of books and randomly thought of this series. It made me wonder a few things about the school.

Question 1: Why does every disabled character in Harry Potter die? Examples: Mad Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and--arguably--Albus Dumbledore. I understand that all their deaths had a purpose and moved the plot forward. In no way am I saying that this information makes J.K. Rowling ableist. However, it is something I thought about.

Question 2: Why is Hogwarts so inaccessible? Based off descriptions of the school and the way it's shown in the movie, Hogwarts has stairwells galore. They have revolving staircases, which are--for more than one reason--not wheelchair accessible. There are seemingly no ramps whatsoever. 

Question 3: Is the Wizarding World just ableist? Okay, just hear me out. To illustrate my points, I will be using an article from the Wizarding World website that details J.K. Rowling's thoughts on disabled wizards (I'll link it here: Illness and Disability - Wizarding World (opens in new window)). To quote this article,

"I decided that, broadly speaking, wizards would have the power to correct or override ‘mundane’ nature, but not ‘magical’ nature. Therefore, a wizard could catch anything a Muggle might catch, but he could cure all of it; he would also comfortably survive a scorpion sting that might kill a Muggle, whereas he might die if bitten by a Venomous Tentacula. Similarly, bones broken in non-magical accidents such as falls or fist fights can be mended by magic, but the consequences of curses or backfiring magic could be serious, permanent or life-threatening."

Based off this knowledge, it would seem as if the Wizarding World is, at least partially, ableist. While many people would love to be cured of disability, there are many others who wouldn't and are happy just being themselves. Personally, I wouldn't change anything about my life. I wouldn't cure myself because the life I have has made me who I am. My disability has taught me so many things in my life that I wouldn't want to erase it. I've had these issues since I was a baby. It's the only life I've known. 

So to know that wizards can just cure anything that's of a 'mundane' nature is kind of disheartening. At least in my opinion.

One last question I have: Do disabled students have a place at Hogwarts? Or would their 'Muggle' disabilities automatically be cured upon arrival at Hogwarts? And what about wheelchair-users who are witches and wizards? What about witches and wizards who have wheelchairs due to magical maladies? What about students who use them due to magical maladies? Hogwarts doesn't seemingly accommodate them. Are they just left at St. Mungo's for them to be taken care of there? 

There are a lot of questions I have, and a lot of questions that won't be answered.

That's it for this post! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan (spoiler filled review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan, which I finished reading earlier this week. 

This review will be partly spoiler free, however there will be a spoiler section toward the end of this review.

Let's get into the review!

Daughter of the Deep is a Middle Grade/YA novel that follows Ana Dakkar, a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy (HP for short). This book is inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. 

I loved every single character in this book. 

This story is told from 1st person point-of-view from Ana's perspective. 

This book has a pretty diverse cast. Ana, the protagonist, is of Indian descent and follows Hinduism. Gemini Twain, prefect of House Shark, is a Black Mormon. One of Ana's best friends, Nelinha da Silva, is Brazilian. Ana's other best friend, Ester Harding, is autistic, has an anxiety disorder, and has an emotional support dog named Top. 

💥🔥SPOILER ALERT🔥💥
Anything below this is a spoiler
You have been warned

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I absolutely loved the characters in this story, particularly Ana, Gemini, and Franklin. Gemini was probably my second favorite character after Ana. I loved the way Ana's and Gemini's friendship formed and developed from the beginning of the novel to the end of it.

I also loved the character descriptions. I tend to have a hard time imagining characters and imagining scenes, so the description of Gemini looking like Miles Morales really helped, seeing as I know what Miles Morales looks like.

___________________________________________________

I hated the ending. It was bad and tragic, and I didn't like it. I know that in real life, many children with medical conditions die. I know that. I just didn't like how it happened randomly. There was buildup, but at the same time, there wasn't. 

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✔👍SPOILERS OVER👍✔

Overall, I loved Daughter of the Deep. I rated it 5 out of 5 stars on my Goodreads. It was fantastic, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves Rick Riordan books or books with aquatic/marine themes. I loved these characters, and I loved the plot. This is definitely the best book I've read so far this year.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which I read last year.

Let's get into the review!

A Princess of Mars is the first book in the Barsoom/Mars/John Carter of Mars series. Edgar Rice Burroughs is a classic author, also having written Tarzan of the Apes, which I have not read this. A Princess of Mars follows John Carter, a Civil War veteran from Virginia who ends up on Barsoom/Mars. 

This book is a classic example of 20th century pulp fiction. It was originally published in a pulp magazine in July 1912, so this book is now over 100 years ago. I was quite surprised that this book is told in first-person POV by John Carter himself. 

I was also not expecting this book to go by so fast. My sister had checked this book out from our local library right before the pandemic hit. She didn't get to read it, but I did. I thought it was going to take longer than it did, but I read it in one day, taking a total of about 17 hours reading it (though I did have to take breaks during those 17 hours to eat, so it was probably closer to 14 hours). It was a very quick read.

It was enjoyable. John Carter's voice was interesting. I don't really care much for the damsel in distress trope (as I've mentioned before), which was included here. This book also had insta-love/insta-lust vibes, which I didn't too much care for either, but other than that, it was interesting.

The romance was a subplot and didn't take over the whole novel, which I appreciate since I expected a science fantasy novel. That was (for the most part) what I got.

Overall, I rated this book 4 out or 5 stars on Goodreads. As far as classics go, it wasn't my favorite. However, it was a nice quick read, and it was an enjoyable sci-fi novel.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (spoilers for Throne of Glass)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be doing a book review. This review is for Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas, the second book in the Throne of Glass series.

Let's get into the review!

I'm going to be honest: I don't remember this book that much. I read it in November 2020. That was a relatively long time ago, but I remember books that I've read before this one. 

Because I don't remember this book much, I am going to use the Goodreads summary for this book:

""A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.
It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for."

I can't say I'm the hugest fan of this series. I don't like Celeana all that much, and Dorian and Chaol are just okay. There isn't anything particularly interesting/spectacular about them. Dorian is a prince who likes an assassin. Chaol is a member of the king's guard who also likes said assassin, creating a love triangle of sorts (that I know is virtually nonexistent in future books as I started Heir of Fire immediately after finishing this one).

I don't know. This book just isn't that spectacular. It wasn't that memorable, I know that for sure because I would've remembered it more if it was.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

My Least Favorite Fantasy Tropes in Fiction/Media

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be talking about my least favorite fantasy tropes in fiction/media. This is the first post with my new banner as well. These tropes aren't going to be in any particular order. 

Let's get into the post!

1. Tolkien-inspired Worlds

Technically speaking, I have nothing against Tolkien, and I will confess I have never read one of his works completely through. However, Tolkien-esque worlds constantly pop up in epic fantasy novels, and I'm honestly tired of it. I'm not saying Tolkien wasn't a good author, but aren't there other fantasy authors and ideas to get inspiration from? Last I checked, Tolkien didn't have the epic fantasy monopoly.

2. The one magical item that will either save or destroy the world

Why is it always one specific magical item? And why has the villain never thought of retrieving this item until the exact moment the hero intends to? This is just another fantasy trope that will never make sense to me.

Milestone 3: One Year of MoaA

Welcome to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going to be a special post. Today is the day right after Musings' 1 year anniversary. I can't believe I've already been blogging for a year. It doesn't feel like it's been that long. 

For this post, I'm going to reminiscing on day one. It's hard to believe that it's already been 5 months since I officially started this blog. 

Let's get into the post!

It's crazy how a year can just come and go. I originally did not know what to do for this post, but I have now decided. I'm the kind of person who gets bored very easily, so--for my one year anniversary--I have decided to reveal a new blog banner I created using Canva. This is going to be the image that appears at the top of every post that isn't a book or movie review. 

I think this one fully encompasses with this blog is all about. This blog is about various things. Writing, reading, dance, art, and photography. Autoimmune disease and arthritis. This blog isn't one size fits all. This is my space, full of my interests and whatever I feel like posting week to week. 

So, without further ado, here's what my new blog banner looks like:

This banner has all of my interests as well as my blog's description/tagline. I really love this banner. I love my original banner, but I've been craving one more elaborate. One that fits me more, and I really love this one. It has all of my interests. 

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I am going to be doing another book review, this one a review of Fifteen by Beverly Cleary.

This review is spoiler free.

With that aside, let's get into the review!

Fifteen is about a plain girl named Jane Purdy. This is a YA first love romance novel that was written in the 1950s. Jane meets Stan Crandall, a horse meat delivery boy.

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This story was so cute. I read this back in January 2019, when I was actually 15 myself. I had been reading a different book (a Love Inspired romance), but my mother wanted me to read something about characters who were around my age instead of in their 20s so I could relate to them more. My mom and I found this one, and my mother suggested I read Fifteen. I have a feeling she suggested I read it because it's by Beverly Cleary, one of my mother's favorite childhood authors.

This was my first full dive into YA contemporary romance, and while it isn't 2000s-2020s contemporary, it is quite obvious that this would've been considered contemporary at the time if the genre had been completely around. 

While there were a few things that dated this book (rotary phones, drive-ins [I miss going to those], and small diners [few exist like the ones that did in old photos I've seen from the 50s-60s]), it was largely relatable, even for me, a homeschooled girl who has never dated in her life. I did, after all, have a major crush on a boy I was friends with during my brief voyage to 1st grade public school around my middle school age, despite not seeing him often, nor actually going to the same school he did. Because of that, I could definitely relate to some of the feelings Jane experienced.

This book was a very quick read for me. I started and finished it in the same day. The plot and writing were so engaging to me that I finished it very quickly. I remember reading this on my Amazon Fire 7 tablet in the front yard of my old house. I finished reading it that night while lying in bed. I remember sitting on the sidewalk of my old house the next day, still thinking about the book, and how much I had a crush on Stan.

It was a fun time. It was a simple time, that was a very enjoyable experience. I love this romance. I love Jane, and I love Stan.

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Overall, I really enjoyed Fifteen, and I'd definitely re-read it. It's a nice clean, first love romance that has nothing suggestive. It was a perfect read for me at the time, and it's a book I genuinely love. It's been three years since I read this book, and I still love it. I'd definitely recommend it, but it's definitely not for everyone. 

This book is very old-fashioned, but that's one of the things I found so charming about it. I do realize though, that not everyone likes old-fashioned romance and societal romantic norms.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads when I read it because I just enjoyed it that much. It was definitely worth my time.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thusday, 

Lexi K🖌

Book Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I am going to be doing another book review, this one a review of Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.

This review will predominantly be spoiler-free, however, there will be a minor spoiler section.

With that aside, let's get into the review!

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a children's/middle grade novel about three villains who wish to kill a fox and that same fox trying to escape harm. The story in of itself is very simplistic in nature. 

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This is the second Roald Dahl book I've read, and it's the first I've read in about a decade. My last exploration into Roald Dahl's literature was Matilda in the summer of 2013, when I was the mere age of 10. I loved that book. I have to say that I didn't like this one nearly as much, but it was still fun. 

The writing was simplistic, but it was enjoyable and it got the job done so I don't feel as if I can complain too much, especially since this is a book written for children. However, as far as classic children's authors go, I much prefer E.B. White's writing and storytelling to Mr. Dahl's.

Let's get into the spoiler-esque elements.

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💥🔥SPOILER ALERT🔥💥
Anything below this is a spoiler
You have been warned

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Honestly, I have a feeling that I would've abhorred this book as a child. I've always been incredibly empathetic, and the main focus of this book is three men who try to kill a fox. That is the entire plot. It's about a fox trying to avoid being killed. There are more adult-ish themes (cigar smoking and gun use) in this book, though that is largely a product of its time.

I also think I would've hated the part where Boggis, Bunce, and Bean shoot off his tail, and I have a feeling that I likely would've cried or put the book down, fearing the violence in it. 

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✔👍SPOILERS OVER👍✔

Overall, this book was enjoyable. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst. It was a quick read that didn't bore be. This book would've probably taken me a lot longer as a child, so I'm glad I read it at an older age. I rate Fantastic Mr. Fox 3.5 out of 5 stars.

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it! 

See you Thursday, 

Lexi K🖌

Short Story Show-and-Tell #2: Nèas Agàpis (Young Love)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! First off, I'd like to wish all of my readers a happy Valentine's Day! 

 

Today's post is going to be another Short Story Show-and-Tell, a Musings feature where I share a short story I've written. This is the second one I've done. This story is shorter than my first one. 

For those who haven't read my first Short Story Show-and-Tell story, it's linked here: Despondence, or A Presage of Hope (opens in new window).

I wrote this short story in November 2021, so it's fairly recent. In honor of Valentine's Day, a day celebrating love, I've decided to share a story titled 'Nèas Agàpis,' which is Greek for 'Young Love' (Nèas Agàpis is the anglicized form; in Greek it's actually νέας αγάπης). 

I'm not going to get into the details of this story until the end of the post after I've shared it with you because I don't want to spoil anyone for what happens. 

With the introduction aside, sit back, relax, and enjoy my story! 

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

Nèas Agàpis (Young Love)

by Alexandria K (2021 [18 years old])

I was born the youngest of three daughters. When people began to worship me instead of the goddess of beauty, I was whisked away by a westward wind. I suppose the gods had a hand in it. Perhaps I've angered them, though it isn't like I encouraged anyone to worship me; they did that of their own volition.
   I don't remember how long the journey took, though I do remember ascending into the clouds. I arrived at the home of a man. A man whom I now call my husband. A man who gives me everything I could ever ask for, except one thing: I'm not allowed to see him.
   In the amount of time we've grown closer, I've tried to convince him numerous times.
   "Please?" I used to ask. "Just one look? One peek?"
   "I'm sorry," my husband always replies. "That's the only thing I cannot give you."
   "Why?"
   "I can't tell you." He always sounds heartbroken when he says this, as if the mere sight of him will make me leave.
   I've given up asking. I don't bother anymore. Even though I can never see him, I trust him. If he wanted to hurt me, he would've already. No. He loves me, of that I'm sure. It doesn't matter if I'm not permitted to gaze upon him. I've seen his heart, and that's good enough for me.
   The morning my sisters come, I'm surprised. They walk into the house, and I observe them; the way they gape at the lofty ceiling, the way their eyes widen. The three of us sit in the sitting room. As I sit and relax, I force myself to not scoff at their shocked behavior. My sisters aren't the only people who think I live in an impoverished shack. I love my sisters, but they anger me sometimes.
   "How's your marriage going?" Azelia asks. "Is he still not allowing you to see him?"
   I shake my head. "He's still secretive about his appearance. As always."
   Azelia hands me a dagger. I run my finger across the blade, not thinking about its sharpness until it's too late. There's a sharp sting in my finger. I set the blade down, pressing the hand I just injured to my leg, refusing to wince in pain. I don't want my sisters to laugh at my stupidity.
   "What is this for?" I ask, picking the blade up with my other hand. I examine it. Its hilt is white and adorned with small pearls.
   "Stabbing your husband," Azelia replies, nonchalant and condescending, as if I'm the most idiotic person in existence. I'm really glad I didn't mention that I cut my finger.
   I stare at the blade. "I don't know." Something about this feels off to me, and I don't think it's just because it'd be a betrayal of the highest degree.
   "Father says he's a dragon-like monster," Cosima says.

   "We don't know that," I answer. "He treats me well."

   "Why else would he forbid you from looking at him?" Cosima's eyes are full of sympathy. "He's using you, sister. He's manipulating you. What husband doesn't allow you to gaze upon his face?"

   I don't answer. Truthfully, I don't know what to say. I've never really thought much about it. Sure, it confused and saddened me for the first few months, but I've grown used to it. So what if he doesn't let me see him? Maybe he's self-conscious. Perhaps he's deformed and believes I wouldn't love him anymore if I saw him. Not that it would matter to me if he was visibly the ugliest man in the world. Inside, he's the most beautiful man I've ever met.

   "Stab him tonight," Azelia continues.

   "I'm pregnant with our child," I say. "Why would I do such a horrible thing?"

   "Just think about it," Cosima says. "We're just trying to look out for you. We're trying to protect you."

   My sisters leave an hour later, and I've never been more grateful for the silence. I retreat to my room. It's empty. Typically, Erastes doesn't come home until after midnight. By that time, I'm usually asleep. Instead, I lie awake in my bed.

   I don't know how long I lie there, though I know it's been many hours. Erastes comes into my room. He often does to make sure I'm okay. Just before he leaves, I call for him.

   "Why am I not allowed to see you, Erastes?" I ask.

   He sighs. "We've been over this," he says.

   I sit up, staring at his shadowed form. I can't make out any details. I can't even tell if he has limbs. "And yet, you never give a valid explanation."

   "You cannot see me." Erastes's voice is firm.

   My husband departs the room, leaving me alone in the dark. I glance to the left at my bedside table, which hides the dagger my sisters gave me. I don't listen to them. 

   I won't stab my husband tonight.

---

It's been a few days since my sisters came. I've been grappling with their words since. I'm alone in mine and Erastes's house, with only the West Wind nearby. The fetus inside my stomach kicks me. My child must be getting larger. I smile at the thought.

   The dagger is still hidden in my room. I've become increasingly curious about who my husband is. My stomach feels tight, though I'm sure it's not because of the baby growing inside me. 

   Once night falls, I lie down early. I stay awake all night. Surely my husband must be asleep by now. I decide to carry out the plan my sisters devised. I cannot stand wondering any longer. I must know if my husband is a monster or not. 

   When I walk into my husband's room, it's dark. The dagger I received is clasped firmly in my right hand, an oil lamp in my left. I hide my hands behind my back even though I don't think Erastes is awake. I carefully, slowly draw back the curtains around the bed, nearly dropping the dagger when I see the face of my husband, illuminated by lamplight.

   His face is as perfect as a sculpture, his skin seemingly as smooth as marble. He's naked, and he isn't dragon-like at all. Minus his snow white wings, he looks just like me. He looks peaceful in his sleep. Unfortunately, that peacefulness doesn't last long.

   I'm so caught off-guard by the beauty of him that I don't notice the quiver he has beside his bed. My arm grazes one of the arrows, and I recoil, grabbing my arm. There's a small line of blood trickling down my arm from the arrow scratching across. I accidentally bump into the nightstand while trying to move away from the quiver. In my panic, the lamp in my hand tilts, spilling hot oil. The oil spills onto Erastes's bare chest.

   His eyes open abruptly. His eyes meet mine, his widening. They dart to the dagger I'm still holding. Realization dawns on him.

   "How could you?" he asks, voice full of disbelief. "After everything we've been through, I thought you were the one person I could trust. I can't believe you." He stares at me, his eyes full of shock, anger, and a hidden sadness. "You betrayed my trust, Psykhi," he says.

   "I'm sorry," I tell him. "My sisters, they--" I cut myself off. I can't fully blame my sisters for this. This final choice was my own, not theirs.

   My husband's tone is full of disappointment. "I trusted you," he repeats. "I loved you. I provided you shelter. I provided you food. I gave you everything you wanted, and this is how you repay me? By betraying my trust? By doing the one thing I asked you not to?" He glances at the dagger in my hand. "By killing me?"

   I shake my head. "I wasn't going to--" I cut myself off again. Lies won't help anyone. I have to take responsibility. I sigh. "I was going to stab you," I admit. "I was going to kill you." But only if you were a monster, are the words I don't say.

   My husband's shoulders sink.

   I stare at Erastes as he flies away, and that's when the truth fully dawns on me. My husband is Eros, the god of love. I call out after him, but he's gone.

© Alexandria K. 2021

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So that's my story. Now that we've reached the end of it, this story is my retelling of the Eros (Cupid) and Psyche myth from Greek mythology.

I couldn't find anything online about Psyche's sisters, so I named them Azelia and Cosima myself. Technically, the name Azelia is of Hebrew origin, however it was influence by a Greek word (azelos), meaning 'not jealous.' I thought the name sounded pretty, and it also served as irony, as Psyche's sisters are incredibly jealous of her in the original myth. Cosima is a Greek name meaning 'order' and 'beauty'.

Most of the Greek gods/goddesses have epithets, but I couldn't find anything for Eros. I didn't want to give away his name automatically as, one, this story is from Psyche's POV, so it wouldn't make sense, and two, I didn't want to give away the twist to those who may be unfamiliar with the myth. Therefore, the name Eros gives Psyche in my version is Erastes, which is a Greek name that means 'beloved,' which I thought was very fitting.

In this story I also elected to use Psykhi's Greek spelling instead of the more common Psyche, as I prefer the Greek (anglicized Greek) spelling. As for the language, I am aware it is modern and informal. This was intentional.

I included some Greek mythological symbolism in this story. In the original myth, Aphrodite gets jealous of Psykhi and sends her son, Eros, to shoot Psykhi with an arrow that'll make her fall in love with something hideous.

This plan backfires when Eros scratches himself with an arrow intended to make any living thing fall in love with the first thing it sees. Eros falls in love with Psykhi, disobeying his mother's orders.

In my story, the dagger Psykhi gets from her sisters has some of Aphrodite's symbols on the hilt, white and pearls. This is intended to be Aphrodite's plan to show her son that Psykhi isn't trustworthy.

I don't think this happens in the original myth, but it was an element I decided to add because I wanted to add my own spin to it. After all, half the fun of writing a retelling is to add your own elements into the story. That's what makes it different. That and the writing style.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it! I intend to share more of my writing later, but for now:

See you Thursday,

Lexi K🖌

Another Milestone: 100th Post

Welcome to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going to be a special post. Today marks the day my hundredth post goes up. I can't believe it's already been this long. 

Let's get into the post!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

I can't believe it's already been this long. I can't believe we're already on post #100. It feels like just yesterday when I was talking about my 50th post. I'm not going to be doing many more posts like this. I have one more planned but other than that, I don't intend to do a lit of posts like this. 

I don't know why, but writing posts like this makes me feel as if I am bragging. That and I just don't know what to write in these milestone posts. I reached this milestone quicker than I thought I would. I first started my blog in March 2021. 

It's been 11 months, and I'm already here. I honestly thought the 100th post milestone would take longer, solely because I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with my two posts a week schedule. Keeping the schedule going smoothly has been rocky sometimes, but it's worth it. So for this post, I'm going to be talking about how blogging has changed my life/helped me.

Blogging has helped me keep deadlines. It's taught me time management. Between writing a novel, doing school, and just living life, I have to find some way to fit in blogging. I either write my posts early in the morning before my mother wakes up, in the evenings after school, or on a weekend. 

Blogging has taught me how to do online networking. Some of my posts got views because my sister shared them on her Facebook, but others got views just from me sharing my posts on my Goodreads. I'm honestly quite surprised some of my posts have as many views as they do. 

For example, my Father's Day Appreciation Post did better than both my Mother's Day Appreciation Post and Sister's Day Appreciation Post combined. About 5 times better. My Father's Day post is my second viewed blog post after my introduction post. I don't even know how.

Blogging has allowed me to practice my writing. It's also given me a platform to share my story with anyone who's interested and who wants to listen. 

I have more posts I intend to write. I don't intend to stop blogging after this mark. I am a blogger now, and I honestly love it, so I hope my readers will stick around for more reviews, personal stories, and an overall enjoyable time.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time,

Lexi K🖌