While reading/reviewing a romantasy last week (Moon Cursed by Holly Renee), I realized that the main cast of characters reminded me a lot of the characters from Rachel Gillig's The Knight and the Moth. Then, the more I thought about it, they kind of resembled the cast of Gillig's One Dark Window too, and when I skimmed through my other recently read romantasy books, I started noticing that most of them follow the same kind of basic outline for a cast of characters. There's the FMC, who's always somewhat feisty and is in some way set apart from her peers, and she usually has a sister/best friend figure that she'll be isolated from for most of the book. In The Knight and the Moth, Sybil is close with the other Diviners, but she's still set apart from them. In One Dark Window, I would consider Elspeth an outsider of sorts. Moon Cursed also follows these character archetypes, but because it's not released yet, I won't explain too much because of spoilers. It's not entirely unusual for an FMC to be different from her peers (the not like the other girls trope lives on), but I feel like most romantasies also have a sister or best friend character that doesn't get as much page time as expected. Sybil has the Diviners, Elsepth has Ione, and I'm sure there are many more examples out there. Then you have the MMC, who's usually a brooding, mysterious yearner (but we won't know that yet) with some sort of secret that he'll reveal to the FMC, eventually exposing that he's actually super noble and a great guy. (cough cough Rory and Ravyn). The MMC is usually accompanied by two companions, though sometimes there are more. The male companion is either a literal or figurative brotherly type character (Benji and Elm), while the female companion is spunky on her own and, for some reason, doesn't feel romantically inclined toward the MMC (Maude - too old for Rory - and Jespyr - related to Ravyn). These roles I've seen the most variation in. For example, I'd consider Powerless to follow a somewhat similar structure, though these companion roles are filled by more enemy-type characters than true friends to the MMC. I know that I only listed a few examples, and I know there are also a ton of romantasies that don't follow these structures (and other books from other genres that definitely do), but I'm beginning to wonder how many other books out there have a similar recipe for casts of characters. Have you noticed similar patterns in the books you read? (Also, I have a lot of thoughts about the FMC being kind of forced to join the MMC's group because she loses her only other friend, but that's a story for another time).

While reading/reviewing a romantasy last week (Moon Cursed by Holly Renee), I realized that the main cast of characters reminded me a lot of the characters from Rachel Gillig's The Knight and the Moth. Then, the more I thought about it, they kind of resembled the cast of Gillig's One Dark Window too, and when I skimmed through my other recently read romantasy books, I started noticing that most of them follow the same kind of basic outline for a cast of characters. There's the FMC, who's always somewhat feisty and is in some way set apart from her peers, and she usually has a sister/best friend figure that she'll be isolated from for most of the book. In The Knight and the Moth, Sybil is close with the other Diviners, but she's still set apart from them. In One Dark Window, I would consider Elspeth an outsider of sorts. Moon Cursed also follows these character archetypes, but because it's not released yet, I won't explain too much because of spoilers. It's not entirely unusual for an FMC to be different from her peers (the not like the other girls trope lives on), but I feel like most romantasies also have a sister or best friend character that doesn't get as much page time as expected. Sybil has the Diviners, Elsepth has Ione, and I'm sure there are many more examples out there. Then you have the MMC, who's usually a brooding, mysterious yearner (but we won't know that yet) with some sort of secret that he'll reveal to the FMC, eventually exposing that he's actually super noble and a great guy. (cough cough Rory and Ravyn). The MMC is usually accompanied by two companions, though sometimes there are more. The male companion is either a literal or figurative brotherly type character (Benji and Elm), while the female companion is spunky on her own and, for some reason, doesn't feel romantically inclined toward the MMC (Maude - too old for Rory - and Jespyr - related to Ravyn). These roles I've seen the most variation in. For example, I'd consider Powerless to follow a somewhat similar structure, though these companion roles are filled by more enemy-type characters than true friends to the MMC. I know that I only listed a few examples, and I know there are also a ton of romantasies that don't follow these structures (and other books from other genres that definitely do), but I'm beginning to wonder how many other books out there have a similar recipe for casts of characters. Have you noticed similar patterns in the books you read? (Also, I have a lot of thoughts about the FMC being kind of forced to join the MMC's group because she loses her only other friend, but that's a story for another time).

[EDIT: I didn't mean "manic" literally, hence the "mini-". But I think I'm just-about-to-fall-off-the-rails loopy because I haven't eaten since this morning and my blood sugar is low. Sorry for causing misunderstandings.]

I got inspired by other people's really epic personal shelves and wanted to set mine up similarly. So what am I starting with? Wholesale copying of some quests I joined, just those entire lists becoming my shelves. Regardless of whether I have any intention to read any given book (definitely not giving Sarah J. Maas the time of day even if I were into that genre).

Probably a bad idea, since my shelves are supposed to be mine, and why should I add books I don't want to my library?

Sigh. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Alright Boundlings I’m curious!! Who has made the switch to dark mode and who is keeping light mode? Dare I make it a competition and say battle it out with an emoji or gif in the comments on which team you are repping??

🎤 ahem in one corner we have the prettiest pastels and visually stunning colors… it’s Light Mode versus the new competitor, a dark sultry visually calming high color scheme… it’s Dark Mode. Let the battle begin 🥊

hehe in all seriousness I needed the high contrast that dark mode offers from an accessibility standpoint so team dark mode all the way over here 🖤

[reposted due to messing up the hyperlink first time i posted]

hey everybody, i was glancing through past founder announcements recently and saw one that caused some worry in me, link here

i’ll copy here the specific section of the post that concerned me, so you don’t have to click through and read the full announcement if you don’t want to: “We will start a new program, community-voted Member of the Month (exact language TBD). Each month starting in the Fall, the entire PB community can nominate a user they believe embodies PB values. The user with the most nominations will be awarded a badge and the ability to create a Quest.”

i’d love to hear what other people here think about this feature. personally, i’m concerned that it could turn into a popularity contest/a value system based on who is the most active on PB and which usernames are recognized by the most people. i really hope that there will be something in place to prevent that sort of result, because a popularity contest doesn’t feel like the PB spirit i know. i just don’t believe that voting for a member-of-the-month will be the community-building exercise that it is intended to be.