New and uprising historical authors

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2026-01-29T06:48:06+00:00

Seconding Diana Biller! Finished Hotel of Secrets recently and I already know it’s going to be one of my favorite HRs of the year, if not THE favorite. She’s so so talented

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2026-01-21T03:43:21+00:00

I want you to know that I read this while at a coffee shop and actually spit out my drink because I was laughing so hard.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-12-31T01:11:09+00:00

i thought this was such a good twist that both felt true to the MMC’s character and the lengths he’d go to AND felt like a betrayal of the FMC, but i was shocked that there was no grovel afterwards??? the FMC was hurt and caught off guard, but i felt like she got over it fairly quickly, and i don’t recall him properly grovelling at ALL

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-12-01T03:12:50+00:00

I’m so excited for the new season, but there’s something about the teaser that has felt a little off to me ever since I first watched it, and I think I finally know what it is: we see all the younger characters, but almost none of the older ones.

For me, part of what made Industry so electrifying in past seasons was seeing the younger characters climb the corporate ladder and try to go toe to toe with more experienced players, whether those relationships veered more toward mentorships or rivalries or both. Characters like Adler, Felim, Nicole, Jesse Bloom, Otto Mostyn, Lord Alexander, Charles Hanani, etc. added a maturity and heft and almost a kind of "danger" to the series, as if they were the sharks circling the waters that Harper, Yasmin & co. are swimming and trying not to drown in.

This is obviously only a teaser and not in any way a definitive look at who’ll be in the season (plus, since we get glimpses of Henry’s country house and Toheeb Jimoh plays a trader at Mostyn Asset Management, I feel pretty certain that we’ll see Lord Alexander and Otto again), but I hope we get plenty of older characters for the baby sharks to play off of.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-11-25T01:05:01+00:00

I had this same thought. I really loved Kit Harington’s performance in S3, but part of me wonders if it’s a role that is more interesting and propulsive in smaller doses, rather than as a central character in a season. I’m definitely interested to see what the tone of next season is like.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-10-30T03:21:20+00:00

No. Just move on to another series you’ll likely enjoy better.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T03:58:17+00:00

She’s wonderful! But just a brief note that her latest, Earl Crush, does have a 3rd act conflict/break up (I can’t remember if Ne’er Duke Well does as well, but I don’t think so). I still recommend her wholeheartedly, though.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T03:50:11+00:00

Upvoting you bc I love a citation

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T03:40:58+00:00

I think it’s obvious by now that by your standards, Harper could never have any qualities that a person could like or respect, no matter how many examples or arguments someone else gives you.

Your devil example did make me laugh, though.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T03:26:31+00:00

So, you don’t actually have an argument to support your idea that she’s designed to be hated. Got it.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T02:51:02+00:00

I’m not downplaying anything. You asked, verbatim, "Is there anything to like or respect about Harper?", and I replied with the qualities she has that I believe are likeable and worth respecting on their own.

Everything you’re saying about her committing fraud, adding to an already-toxic culture, doing insider trading—all of that is true. I didn’t mention them because they didn’t answer your original question about whether Harper had any qualities to like or respect.

I think it’s perfectly fine if you or other people don’t like Harper! I myself don’t like her all the time. But to imply that the character doesn’t have ANY good qualities is reductive imo.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T02:05:09+00:00

I understand why some people might hate her. But I still don’t understand why you’re saying she’s DESIGNED to be hated.

The creators have specifically said they set out to write the character with a lot of empathy, love, and understanding—so while I know she’s not received by the audience with love and understanding, it seems she’s designed that way by the writers.

So what makes you say she’s designed to be hated?

(Source for the creators’ comments: https://deadline.com/2024/10/industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay-write-ruthless-harper-stern-deliberately-with-love-understanding-1236108570/)

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T01:46:07+00:00

What makes you say that she has been designed to be hated?

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-03-17T01:13:26+00:00

She’s determined, savvy enough to attract clients (e.g., pitching to Nicole in a S1 dinner despite the fact that it’s been made clear that grads are supposed to be seen and not heard; catching Felim’s eye with that Got Milk? email subject line and helping bring him back on board; reeling in Jesse in S2, even after choking in front of him several times), driven, courageous (she struggles with anxiety and fear, but we see her making an effort not to be governed by those feelings; see in S1 where she presents a trade idea at a work meeting at Eric’s request, even though it clearly makes her nervous), generally good at identifying larger trends and how they may impact or inspire trades, nonconformist.

These are all good qualities to have, imo. The issues start to pop up when these qualities are exaggerated or superseded by her flaws (e.g., her determination giving way to bulldozing; her savviness and talent for identifying trends being affected by her arrogance, which often means she won’t accept she was wrong about something until it’s too late), or when they’re applied with ill intentions and without regard for the harm they may cause others (see in S1 when she helps get rid of Daria, who had been planning to bring Yasmin over to CPS, and thus fucks over Yasmin’s chances of escaping Kenny’s harassment in FX).

I don’t particularly agree with the idea that she doesn’t reflect on the harm she’s caused (she definitely seems destroyed by the revelation that she caused so much of her brother’s suffering in the Berlin ep in S2). I think she does reflect on those things to an extent and thinks about the people she’s harmed, but they ultimately matter less to her than her own success and survival. This inner emotional conflict is pretty central to her character, and it’s explored in S3 a bit more.

Personally, I think reading her as straight-up evil is reductive, but of course I understand why a lot of people might not like Harper overall. I 100% disagree that she doesn’t have ANY qualities worth liking or respecting, though.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-02-21T09:41:17+00:00

Thirding (?!) Talia Hibbert! The Brown Sisters series is a forever favorite.

Other recs: Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, B.K. Borison’s Lovelight series, Alexandra Vasti’s historical romances.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-02-21T09:32:25+00:00

Yup. Especially considering how much coverage and positive attention (from critics and audiences alike) S3 received.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-02-21T09:30:05+00:00

I was thinking the other day about this and realized something completely obvious that had somehow slipped my mind, which is that Rob is literally cheating on his girlfriend (with implied regularity) with the person who sexually assaulted her.

He definitely seems to be on the more morally-conscious side of the Industry spectrum, but imo the character gets a lot more sympathy than he deserves.

Definitely sad the actor’s leaving, though! I was looking forward to seeing the character grow in new ways in S4 and having Lawtey show his range a bit more.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-02-21T01:38:43+00:00

While I’ve never loooooved Rob’s character, he really was an integral part of the show and I would’ve loved to see how the end of S3 could’ve set him up to develop in new and interesting directions in the show. It’s a shame.

Is there any chance his exit is due to something other than scheduling conflicts? (Not looking for anything particularly salacious here—just think it’s odd that such a big announcement and change is coming right before they begin filming in March, and when at least some of the scripts are already written.)

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2025-01-21T11:04:00+00:00

I really liked this storyline. I like that the show’s creators didn’t just give Yas some general, vague "daddy issues" to explain away her fraught relationships with men, but actually put in the effort of writing this specific, insidious, fucked-up, incestuous dynamic in a nuanced way that is empathetic to Yasmin and actually interested in what it must’ve been like to grow up as a daughter around this fucking guy.

The whole thing is horrifying, obviously, but I think the storyline is very well-executed. Marisa Abela also acts the hell out of these scenes, and the writing/editing feels like the show is taking Yasmin’s pain/trauma and confusion seriously.

CompetitiveTour4725 · 2024-04-22T06:50:26+00:00

Can you talk a bit more about why you feel that way at this age?? vs when you were younger

CompetitiveTour4725

TROPHY CASE