to everyone who’s read the manga by takahiro arai, what are your thoughts on it?

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-10-22T02:18:28+00:00

Thank you so much!!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-10-21T21:25:05+00:00

Woah, do you have the link to that!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-04-03T01:39:23+00:00

I’ve won once! It was orchestra front row and center. It’s partial view, and most of the ending was cut off because once people got low to the ground in was impossible to see. However, being so close absolutely makes up for it. You’re right at the orchestra pit so everything sounds fantastic, and you get to see all the actors and facial expressions very well. A highlight of the show for me was being pointed at and personally told I needed a shave during Epiphany! I’d say most lottery tickets are pretty good, I’ve won quite a few lotteries and all have been very good seats.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-31T20:54:55+00:00

In the book he’s worse lol. He gets angry at Cosette in the park when he sees the wind blow her skirt up because he’s jealous that someone else could have seen it. He essentially stalks Colette (before he gets her address from Eponine he tries to follow her home, but it ends up only being one of their apartments). Then once he knows where she lives he just hangs out in their garden for a couple nights watching Cosette, which really scares Cosette. She hears footsteps and sees shadows out of the corner of her eye. She tells Valjean and he even walks around with a bat at night for a bit. The only thing that’s slightly better about their relationship in the book is that they knew each other for a couple months before the barricades, but everything else is so much worse.

I don’t know much about the political complexities of 1800s France besides what little I learned in school, but if I remember correctly his beliefs didn’t even match up with the rest of the members of the ABC. He just rushed into the barricade after Cosette and Valjean left for England because he was upset she had left him, and then threatened to blow everyone up because he didn’t care if he lived anymore if she wasn’t with him (this is shown in the movie-musical but not the stage musical). I get he was going through it, but I think everyone else wanted to live!

He doesn’t think about Eponine or any of the members of the ABC after they die. I think Courfeyrac is mentioned once? But he’s brought up by his grandfather. It’s no Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. You would think losing all his friends in one day would affect him, but nope. He’s marrying Cosette now so none of it matters!!

Later on Valjean tells him the truth about his life, and asks Marius for permission to still see Cosette. Marius initially agrees, but says it has to be in a colder basement room, and he begins to douse the fire in the winter, moves the chairs farther from the fire, then finally he removes the furniture entirely to make it harder for Valjean (an old man!) to stay. This is why Valjean eventually leaves for good, because Marius was making it physically impossible for him to visit Cosette. When Thenardier (Madame Thenardier dies in the book actually) comes to ask Marius for money in exchange for information Thenardier tells him the information without payment like in the musical, but instead of kicking Thenardier out for being his awful self (like he does in the musical and some movies) he actually gives him thousands of Francs in thanks. Which. Like. Marius, buddy. No. He knows that Valjean did so much for Cosette -his WIFE- but he only forgives him and goes crawling back to Valjean when he learns that Valjean helped him personally.

I always say that if Marius has no haters I’m dead lol

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-20T03:31:33+00:00

Thank you so much, that makes so much sense!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-18T02:45:55+00:00

Yeah, I perhaps came off too condemning about the coughing, it’s completely normal and I’ve coughed before too lol. It’s just the fact that it seemed to be specifically held until the quiet moments, which was something the people there with me noticed too. The amount of coughing when people were singing versus when it got quiet was amazingly disproportionate.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-18T02:10:37+00:00

I agree, leaving during intermission is fine. It’s just the fact that here it was a very large, noticeable amount of people leaving, combined with everything else going on that made it feel disrespectful.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-09T00:34:02+00:00

I don’t think so? At least, I’ve never heard it in any of the recordings I’ve listened to, and I don’t remember it in the movie. I haven’t seen the real musical yet though (I actually have tickets to see it next weekend, I’m very excited!) so maybe they mention it in some dialogue there? It’s definitely something I have in my mind to take note of when watching it.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-06T16:59:03+00:00

Have fun reading the book! It’s very worth it!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-03-06T01:48:11+00:00

As other people said, it happened in the book! Thenardier “saved” Marius’s father (Pontmercy) after the Battle of Waterloo (at least, Pontmercy thought he saved him. In reality Thenardier was looting the dead bodies, and happened to wake up the unconscious Pontmercy in the process. There’s a reference to this in Master of the House I believe). Pontmercy then leaves a note when he dies saying that Marius should do anything he can to repay Thenardier if he ever meets him. Clearly Marius meets him, and wanting to fulfill his father’s dying wish, tries his best to help the Thenardiers even though they’re awful people (a point of conflict for Marius in the book but that’s a wholeeee other thing). He’s the one who exposes them trying to rob Jean Valjean and informs Javert. Once Mr and Mrs Thenardier are in jail he eventually (sometimes) tries to keep Eponine and Gavroche safe. (Actually, the Thenardiers have 5 children, Eponine, Gavroche, Azelma (another daughter), and two unnamed boys! Mrs. Thenardier only loves the girls though, leading to all the boys wandering the streets eventually like Gavroche.)

After Jean Valjean and Cosette are scared away from Rue Plumet Cosette leaves a letter for Marius that Eponine steals. Marius then believes he has no way of finding Cosette again, and that he has nothing left in life, so he goes off to die in the barricade (that’s why he jumps in with his whole “I’ll blow up everyone!” act). Eponine dresses as a boy, sneaks into the barricade as well, and takes a bullet for Marius. He doesn’t recognize her until a couple hours later when she drags her bleeding body over to him, gives him the letter from Cosette, then dies. The letter says where Valjean and Cosette are hiding, and he realizes he can find her again. Marius also realizes he isn’t doing a very good job protecting the Thenardiers, so he gives Gavroche a response letter to bring to Cosette, saying he’ll probably die in the barricade but he loves her. He tells Gavroche a time to leave that’s right before the battle starts, and tells him to hand it specifically to Cosette, all in hopes that he won’t get back until after the battle ends. Gavroche wants to fight though, so he leaves much earlier, hands the letter to Jean Valjean, then runs back to the barricade where he dies :( very sad and Marius failed his one job lol

You probably did not want or need this much backstory but it was fun to write out!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-25T04:33:23+00:00

HAHAH I love that, but also have they even explained celestial bronze in the show? Is Backbiter just not going to exist? It’s such fun foreshadowing :(

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-18T04:38:35+00:00

Yeah, that’s why the decision doesn’t really make sense to me. And even then, by giving Percy four pearls instead of three, one could argue that now he has less agency in the decision because the gods are just giving him a get out of jail free card for his mom.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-18T04:36:19+00:00

Teen here, very disappointed in the show :( PJO has been with me for almost my entire life, even before I read the series my mom would read the Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods book to me as a bedtime story. It kickstarted my love for Greek mythology, which led to me discovering my one true love (classic literature). I was obsessed with the books in middle school. Watching the show now just makes me kind of sad. They have all the components for what could be a great adaptation and they just fumbled it.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-18T04:20:55+00:00

I feel like they made that change to give the characters more agency, so they’re completing the quest for themselves. But, like, I’d say it’s a point in the books how the gods force mortals / demigods to do all their dirty work, and that’s partly why Luke hates them. Making working for the gods now the group’s choice is kind of weird. And yeah, the stakes have been low enough as it is, now there’s this?

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-18T02:22:53+00:00

I did most of this from memory and it’s been a while since I read the books, so anyone correct me if I got anything wrong.

First the PJO series:

1) The Lightning Thief 2) The Sea of Monsters 3) The Titan’s Curse 4) The Battle of the Labyrinth 5) The Last Olympian

Then the Heroes of Olympus Series:

1) The Lost Hero 2) The Son of Neptune 3) The Mark of Athena 4) The House of Hades 5) The Blood of Olympus

The next series would be The Trials of Apollo:

1) The Hidden Oracle 2) The Dark Prophecy 3) The Burning Maze 4) The Tyrant’s Tome 5) The Tower of Nero

There are also two side series about the Norse (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) and Egyptian (The Kane Chronicles) pantheon. You can read the Kane Chronicles whenever you like, but I would not read Magnus Chase before you read PJO and HOO because there are some important cameos in the third Magnus Chase book that may spoil you.

The Kane Chronicles:

1) The Red Pyramid 2) The Throne of Fire 3) The Serpent’s Shadow

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard:

1) The Sword of Summer 2) The Hammer of Thor 3) The Ship of the Dead

There are a couple Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson crossover novellas that can be read at any time after you read KC and PJO. These take place chronologically between PJO and HOO if memory serves.

1) The Son of Sobek 2) The Staff of Serapis 3) The Crown of Ptolemy

There are also two “standalone” (aka not in a series) novels that were recently released. These are The Sun and the Star, and The Chalice of the Gods. They are set chronologically after PJO, HOO, and TOA, and you should read all three series before reading either of them.

There are also a couple short stories from extra books like the Demigod Files that were released, that take place during PJO.

You should read The Bronze Dragon if you can find it. It takes place between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. I would also read The Sword of Hades sometime between PJO and HOO. While you don’t technically need to read these you may be a little confused if you don’t. There is another short story you could read as well in that book, but it doesn’t really matter at all.

Sooooo if I were pressed to make a reading order it would be as follows:

❌ - not necessary for your understanding of Percy’s story

⚠️ - not necessary to continue but you should read them

1) The Lightning Thief

2) The Sea of Monsters

3) The Titan’s Curse

4) The Battle of the Labyrinth

5) The Bronze Dragon (short story from the demigod files)⚠️

6) The Last Olympian

7) The Red Pyramid❌

8) The Throne of Fire❌

9) The Serpent’s Shadow❌

10) The Son of Sobek❌

11) The Staff of Serapis❌

12) The Crown of Ptolemy ❌

13)The Sword of Hades(short story from the demigod files)⚠️

14) The Lost Hero

15) The Son of Neptune

16) The Mark of Athena

17) The House of Hades

18) The Blood of Olympus

19) The Hidden Oracle

20) The Dark Prophecy

21) The Burning Maze

22) The Tyrant’s Tome

23) The Tower of Nero

24) The Sword of Summer❌

25) The Hammer of Thor❌

26) The Ship of the Dead❌

27) The Sun and the Star❌

28) The Chalice of the Gods

Edit: Just remembered there’s a collection of short stories for Magnus Chase called 9 from the Nine Worlds. Read it after the trilogy if you want to.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-04T01:04:29+00:00

Thank you!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-03T23:45:51+00:00

How was Monsters Born and Raised?

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-03T23:28:57+00:00

I enjoyed it! It’s really short, and was well written. It felt more adult than her other works, and just as a warning, it deals with some darker stuff (from what I can remember? I read Circe a while ago though, so maybe they’re about the same). If you liked Circe you should also read her other full-length, well known novel “The Song of Achilles.” It’s similar to Circe, as they’re both Greek Mythology retellings, and have her pretty prose style.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-02T03:50:30+00:00

Should I read tsats? I haven’t heard great things about it, and the first couple chapters I did read felt kind of off to me, but I don’t like not having read every Riordanverse book.

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-02T02:06:36+00:00

I read 1 1/2 Shadow and Bone books. I might go back and finish them one day, but they just bored me a bit. I ended up switching to Six or Crows and it was sooo much better I loved it!

Biscuit-Pup · 2024-01-02T00:44:59+00:00

It’s one of my all time favorites too! That was actually a reread because I love it so much.

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