Tuesday 22 November 2016

Musing Mondays - Fantastic Beasts & fictional worlds I want to live in

Musing Mondays - November 21, 2016

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

Up next I think I’ll read…


Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling

There was never any question that I would buy this and read it, so I thought why not sooner rather than later and then that way I can review the screenplay since Angie handled the reviewing of the film. Because this blog really doesn't need 2 separate reviews of the same movie, that's probably overkill. I picked a copy of the book up today while I was out on errands, got it for 40% off the cover price too which is always nice. I know some people don't like reading plays and scripts but I've never really minded. In fact I wrote a script once in high school and I have been tempted to write more, but really that's a topic for another day, right now I'm talking about this script. I am super excited to read the screen play and see what other details/directions might be in the text that didn't get translated onto the screen.

Like Angie, I too saw the film last week, in fact I saw it before opening day because I saw it at 9:15pm on the 17th. Which apparently broke the rule I in fact had created for our library staff movie nights - I totally forgot that I was the one who declared that we should not go to opening nights/opening weeks of films because they are usually mad houses. That being said, to be fair, it was the second set on a Thursday night, that is literally the deadest set of the week! (I worked at a cinema for about a year and a half so I know all the patterns and am good at picking the best times to go to the movies for maximum enjoyment) So I figured we were going to be okay and we were! And best of all I LOVED the film, I mean I knew going into it that I was going to, but I loved it even more than I was expecting to, so this film may actually manage to coax me back into fanfiction writing, which I used to love. We will see how I feel about that notion after I finish reading the screenplay!

          THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Are there any particular worlds in books in which you’d like to live?

You mean aside from the above referenced Wizarding World of Harry Potter right? Because OBVIOUSLY I would live in that world if I could. That's like the saying goes, "If you can be Batman, you always be Batman," except for me it's "If you can be in Harry Potter's world, you be in Harry Potter's world." But that's definitely not the only book world that I would totally love to live in (or at least do a year long exchange program in...) for different reasons. So to keep this from becoming too crazy I'm going to stick to picking 3 fictional worlds I would like to live in (other than the aforementioned WWHP) and tell you why I would want to live there:

 Fionavar

Books set in this world: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, & The Darkest Road

Why Fionavar?  So I definitely waffled about whether to include this one on my list or Narnia, and I decided on this one for one main reason: Fionavar is at it's absolute most basic level Narnia for adults. Fionavar has everything you could want in a high fantasy realm but with an easier back and forth bridge between it and our own realm than you can get in Narnia (plus you get to actually pick and choose where you cross!). It's got dragons, dwarves, elves, celtic gods (among others), magic, swords. Really you name it this world has it and now that they've defeated all the bad guys it would be a really awesome place to live. There's really no downside to living in Fionavar after the end of The Darkest Road.

If I were going to live in Fionavar, I think I would want to live either in Brennin or become a Dalrei, they seem like the 2 most awesome places to be, but Cathal is not without its charms. Overall Fionavar is a pretty great place for women as far as high fantasy realms go too. Lots of powerful women and they are well respected and hold positions of power. Unlike other less friendly to women fictional worlds that draw some of their inspiration from this one *cough*Westeros*cough*.


 The Supernatual World

Books set in this world: Nevermore (#1), Witch's Canyon (#2); Bone Key (#3), Heart of the Dragon (#4), The Unholy Cause (#5), War of the Sons (#6), One Year Gone (#7), Coyote's Kiss (#8), Night Terror (#9), Rite of Passage (#10), Fresh Meat (#11), Carved in Flesh (#12), Cold Fire (#13), Mythmaker (#14) & The Usual Sacrifices (#15)

Yes it is a different world from ours, that was evidence by S06E15 The French Mistake where they got spit out into our realm and hijinx ensued. It hasn't been referenced in the novels as far as I know because I haven't gotten any further into the novel series than the first one but I plan to. So why do I want to live in this fictional world? Because it's like the world we live in, except with one key, awesome, difference: everything magical, mythical, legendary etc. that could ever exist DOES exist in this world and has someone who has always loved the fantastic and the paranormal I would have such an awesome time if I could interact with all of those things.

Would I be a Hunter? Heck no I am not physically fit enough, but I would totally be one of the Men of Letters when Dean and Sam get that back up and running because the one thing those boys are missing is a dedicated person handling their information and I would be a kickass Hunter Librarian. I know my strengths and I am willing to accept my limitations.


The Riordanverse

Yup, I just gave Rick Riordan the Joss Whedon treatment, but he TOTALLY deserves it! Seriously, his fictional world encompasses 5 distinct series for a total of 19 books as of this writing, but he's planning at a minimum at least 3 more:

Series set in this world: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books); The Heroes of Olympus (5 books); The Kane Chronicles (3 books); Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (2 books at the moment) & The Trials of Apollo (1 book at the moment) + 3 crossover novella between the PJO series and the Kane series.

Similar to above - still not all that different from our world as it is now, just magic and mythology all exist. I could happily land in any of the pantheons in the Riordanverse. I would be equally happy to end up at Camp Half-Blood, the Brooklyn Nome, or the Hotel Valhalla. Or maybe less so that last one, I mean I love Norse mythology as much as I love Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, but to get to the Hotel Valhalla, you have to die and I have to say, reaaaally not a fan of that entrance requirement.

If I were a Greek demigod, I'd probably be a child of Athena with a gift for strategy. If I were a Roman demigod I'd be a daughter of Bellona instead of Minerva (Athena's Roman form) because Bellona was more about action than Minerva. Although come The Trials of Apollo I think it would be pretty hilarious to be a daughter of Apollo.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, Lauren! And thanks for visiting my blog. I think I'll stick to reality...but I would like to change the reality in which we now live! Which is why I thought about living in England, Ireland, or Australia. LOL.

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    1. I would live in England in a heartbeat if I could! Thanks for stopping by Laurel-Rain.

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  2. It seems like everyone is reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Enjoy the book once you get to it! :-)

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    1. I'm reading it now, and it's great. I think it's almost a compulsion for HP fans to read a new HP book as soon as it's realised and then languish in the wait for the next one and repeat the cycle.

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  3. I really need to pick up a copy of Fantastic Beasts. I forgot to put it on my Christmas wishlist! Hope you enjoy reading it.

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  4. I have to admit that I like the idea of living in a world where the ancient gods and goddesses actually exist. But being a demi-god is a dangerous life and I don't know if I'd want that!

    Thanks for visiting my post earlier :)

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    1. True it is dangerous, but only if you leave the camp.

      You're welcome! Thanks for stopping by in return.

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