Other Opinions on the Best YA Books of 2014

Here is a list of the 17 best young adult books of 2014. I have read four of the books on the list (Cress, Ruin and Rising, The Young Elites and Blue Lily, Lily Blue) and I want to read another four books on the list (The Infinite Sea, We Were Liars, Red Rising and Dreams of Gods and Monsters).

Here is another list of best young adult books of 2014. I have read exactly one book on the list (Blue Lily, Lily Blue) which happens to be my number 1 favourite book of 2014. To All the Boys I've Loved Before, We Were Liars and Afterworlds are on my TBR list. The others I have not heard of or are not really interesting.

Here is a third list.  I have read exactly 0 books on that list.

Here is a fourth list. I have read four books on the list (The Blood of Olympus, The Young Elites, Ruin and Rising and Blue Lily Lily Blue). There are three books on the list that I want to read (We Were Liars, Say What You Will and Snow Like Ashes).

And here is a fifth list. I haven't read any of the books on that list, but I am going to read The Infinite Sea very soon. I also want to read To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Dorothy Must Die, We Were Liars and Red Rising.

RANDOM UPDATES: I thought I should probably mention the books I got for Christmas. My family does a thing where my parents basically let me choose what presents I get. I like buying books that I've already read. It's kind of weird because I never really re-read them. I just stare at them and stroke them and reorganize them on my shelf. I also collect signed books. I have about 15 of those now. Anyway, here is a list of the books I got for Christmas:

•  The 5th Wave (signed)
• The Bane Chronicles (signed)
• The Revenge of Seven (signed)
• The Book Thief
• And Then There Were None
• Falling Kingdoms
• Graceling
• Paper Towns

Doctor Who Christmas Special: Last Christmas

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

To be honest, series 8 was kind of a bit disappointing for me. It wasn't that I didn't like series 8, it's just that I expected it to be amazing and it was just good. There were some things that were great about it (the main thing being a female master), but other things just didn't live up to their potential. Because of my slight disappointment about series 8, and because I'm generally not a big fan of Christmas specials, I did not expect much from Last Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised.

Honestly, my favourite episodes are the ones that make you think. After watching some Doctor Who episodes, I just can't stop thinking about them. Sometimes I can't stop thinking about them because the story idea was so weird and complicated that it takes a while to fully understand the plot. Sometimes I can't stop thinking about an episode because of what it says about human nature. Sometimes I can't stop thinking about an episode because it's just FREAKING AWESOME. There have been several of these kinds of episodes in Doctor Who. I'll give a few examples: Dalek, The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit, Utopia/ The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords, Midnight, The End of Time, Amy's Choice, Vincent and the Doctor, The Girl Who Waited, The God Complex, Asylum of the Daleks and Listen. Okay, that was a bit more than a few examples. Anyway, Last Christmas, for me, fits into this category of episodes that I can't stop thinking about after I finish them.

Why was Last Christmas so interesting? First of all, the story idea was one of my favourites in Doctor Who so far. I did notice that the idea itself was quite similar to the episode Amy's Choice (which I also loved), but the messages behind these two episodes are very different. I honestly don't care that the idea of not knowing whether or not you're dreaming was reused. It's a great idea, and the two episodes approached it very differently. Amy's Choice was more about Amy and her deciding whether she loved Rory or the Doctor. Last Christmas was more about dreams and reality. It's true that it was a little bit about Clara and Danny too, but I think that she was less important to the message of the episode than Amy was in Amy's Choice.

Last Christmas was also an interesting episode because it was deliberately designed to confuse the viewer and to put the viewer in the same position as the characters. I really love this.

As for the characters in the episode, Clara and the Doctor were both awesome. It was great to see Danny again, even if it was only Clara subconsciously talking to herself through Danny. (Or maybe it was the Doctor talking to Clara through Danny? See, this is an example of how I can not stop thinking about this episode.)

I am also really happy that Jenna Coleman will be staying for season 9. Clara is my favourite companion and I want her to stay a while longer because she's awesome. I would like there to be a new companion as well, though. Preferably female. More about my new companion preferences in a bit.

A while ago I made a list of 10 things I wanted to happen in series 8. Three of the things on the list came true and three kind of came true. The other four (new time lords, War Doctor, River Song and more gay/lesbian relationships) have sadly not come to pass in series 8 or in the Christmas special, but I'm still holding out hope for series 9. Here is a list of ten things I want in series 9 (including some of the things I put on the series 8 list). I have a feeling that very few of these are going to come true, sadly. But I can always hope.

1. A new companion. I mean, in addition to Clara, not as a replacement for Clara. Also, can she not be straight and white for once?
2. More gay/lesbian relationships. And can the Doctor be obviously bisexual instead of very vaguely bisexual?
3. More Vastra, Jenny and Strax. Or you could just give them their own TV show. That would be nice too.
4. More Missy. I mean, she's not dead obviously. BRING HER BACK.
5. New Time Lord Characters. I'm mean Time Lords that are not The Doctor or The Master.
6. River Song.
7. The War Doctor.
8. Jack Harkness.
9. An actual scary episode.
10. A main character who is disabled.

Diversity in Fiction: My thoughts

In this post, I'm going to consider "diverse characters" to be one or more of the following: Not white, LGBTQ or disabled. I'm also going to be mainly talking about books, and not so much other forms of fiction.

I never used to think about diversity in fiction. That has been changing recently. When I was younger, I never really noticed that the books I read had mainly straight, white, able-bodied characters. That isn't to say that I disliked books with diverse characters, I just didn't really notice either way. I think there are several reasons for this.

First, I never noticed that most of the characters in the books I read were white. I think that the main reason for this is that I did not (and still do not) pay attention to the way a character looks when I am reading a book. When I read physical descriptions of characters, I kind of ignore them. I know that many people automatically picture characters as white if they aren't told otherwise, but that's not really what I do.The thing is, I don't picture what book characters physically look like when I imagine them. I just kind of picture them as their personalities. I don't know if that makes sense. The way people look has never mattered to me. I think this is partially because I am visually disabled. When I meet someone, I do not notice their hair colour, their height or their race. The first thing I notice about a person is the first thing they do or say. This is the case for fictional characters too. I just don't really pay attention to what they look like. It doesn't matter.

However, I recognize that most people do pay attention to the physical descriptions of characters. I also recognize that it is not good that so many book characters are white. Representation of everyone is important in fiction.

I also did not notice that pretty much all of the characters I read about in books were straight. This is partially because I, like many people who do not know better, thought of "straight" as the default state for a human being and anything else as something... extra. When I realized that a character was not straight, I was often surprised. I remember that when I was younger I learned that Dumbledore was gay. This actually kind of upset me. Was this because I was homophobic back then? Partially. It also upset me that a writer would know something like that about a character and not put it obviously in the actual books.

I was kind of homophobic when I was younger. It wasn't that I hated queer people or was against gay marriage, I just didn't really think about the fact that some people are queer. I did not think of queer people in the same way I did other people. I think that many people who claim they are not homophobic actually think this way. This way of thinking actually made it difficult for me to realize that I am not straight. All my life I have just assumed that I am heterosexual. When I joined tumblr, I started to see sexual orientation and gender differently. I started to think of queer people in the same way I thought of cisgendered straight people. Today, when I think about Dumbledore, I think of him exactly the way I would if he were straight. But despite all this, a few months ago I still thought of myself as heterosexual. Only in the past few months have I begun to think more about myself and my sexual orientation.

How does this relate to fictional characters? I think that many people assume that a fictional character (or real person) is straight unless they are told otherwise, not because they are homophobic, exactly, but because they believe, like I used to, that heterosexual is the default state for human beings. This is not a good mentality. Being queer is completely natural and assuming that people are straight and cisgendered contributes to homophobia and transphobia.

Finally, disability in fiction. I am disabled, and so you would think that I would have noticed that very few of the characters in the books I read were too.But I didn't. Maybe it's because, unlike many other children who read books a lot, I did not think of book characters as reflections of myself. I don't really think of them as "friends" either. I've always been drawn to books because they are more interesting than the real world. But, the thing is, characters are in a way a reflection of ourselves and fiction is in a way a reflection of our world. The characters in the books we read might not be exactly like us, but I think that the best fictional characters can tell us something about humanity.

So, why is diversity in fiction important? Because our world is diverse, and fiction is a reflection of our world. It doesn't really matter if you view fiction as a reflection of yourself or a reflection of humanity. The point is that everyone wants to see truth in fiction, and truth is diverse. The people in our world are diverse.

Recently, I've been looking for books with diversity in them. One of my reading goals of 2015 is to read as many diverse books as I can. I also write fiction myself, and I've been trying to make my writing more diverse. If I ever publish anything, I don't want to contribute to the huge number of books with characters who are mostly straight, white and able-bodied. I look forward to a time when diversity in fiction is seen as "normal". It would be nice to be able to pick up pretty much any book and see a reflection of our world that is diverse.

Many people seem to think that diversity in fiction is not important. To them I say, almost everyone (at least in North America) is exposed to fiction of some kind, and, as I said before, fiction is a reflection of our world. When I was a child, I learned a lot about the world from reading fiction. The trouble with that is, fiction can be misleading. It's true that fiction is "fiction" and so it is not, strictly speaking, true, but I think that the point of fiction is to show the truth whether it is historical fiction or high fantasy. I want the next generation to be less sexist, less racist, less homophobic and less transphobic than people are today. Making sure that fiction is diverse will, in my opinion, help make this possible. It will at least be a step in the right direction.

Updates: The 100 and the 5th Wave

I am currently watching a TV show called The 100 which is based on a book that I have not read. I am enjoying the TV show. My favourite characters are Clarke and Raven. I am also watching Elementary series 3.

I recently read The 5th Wave. I really enjoyed it. The writing style was awesome and the plot was interesting and I really want to read the second book in the series now. I have a new favourite author to add to my list.

I also read Ignite Me, the third and final book in the Shatter Me trilogy. It was okay. That series is just not my favourite.

I also read the third book in another series: Heir of Fire. Heir of Fire is not the last in the Throne of Glass series (fortunately) but it is the last book that has come out so far (unfortunately). Heir of Fire is definitely my favourite book in the series so far. The books in that series have been progressively getting better. Heir of Fire was pretty amazing. I never got bored once and the characters and plot are so much more interesting and complex than they were in the first book. Why isn't the fourth book out NOW?

In the near future I am planning on reading The Infinite Sea (sequel to the 5th Wave), The Bane Chronicles (Which has finally arrived at the library), the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, the Girl of Fire and Thorns series and Snow Like Ashes. Also Gathering Darkness (third book in the Falling Kingdoms series) which I hope will arrive at the library soon.

Oh, and one other thing. If you are reading this, I would like to ask you a very important question. Have you read the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater? No? Well here are six reasons why you should.

My Opinions: Books of 2014

The winners of the Epic Reads book awards were announced. Here are my opinions of the winners:

I am quite annoyed that The One won best book and Kiera Cass won best author. The Selection series is, in my opinion, not that great. I voted for City of Heavenly Fire for best book, but I would have been happy if Cress or even Ignite Me won. I voted for Cassandra Clare as best author. Again, though, I would have been happy if Veronica Roth or Sarah J. Maas won. But not Kiera Cass. Ugh.

I'm not surprised that Mockingjay won best adaption. That was kind of obvious.

I am so, so very annoyed that America and Maxon won best ship. SERIOUSLY??? Does anyone actually read that series and love it? I don't understand. I mean, it wasn't the most terrible thing ever, but I really do not understand why the Selection series is so popular. I was really hoping Magnus and Alec would win.

One thing I am happy about is the best fantasy award. I voted for the Young Elites, but I love Heir of Fire too, so I'm happy that they tied.

It makes sense that The Mortal Instruments won best series end. Not surprised.

I'm slightly annoyed that Warner won best villain. I was hoping Levana would win (though I also love the Darkling). I haven't read Dorothy Must Die, but I want to.

I'm also slightly annoyed that Tobias won best main character. I was voting for Celaena (and before that, Adelina). I'm just glad America didn't win.

So, anyway, I've decided to tell the internet my opinions on the books that I've read that came out this year. Here is a complete list of the books I read.

1. The Young Elites
2. The Blood of Olympus
3. City of Heavenly Fire
4. Ruin and Rising
5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue
6. The Perilous Sea
7. The Iron Trial
8. Cress
9. Silver Shadows
10. Four: A Divergent Collection
11. Ignite Me
12. The Revenge of Seven
13. Heir of Fire
14. Clariel
15. The Bane Chronicles 
16. Gathering Darkness
17. The Infinite Sea 
18. Snow like Ashes 
19. Dreams of Gods and Monsters 
20. We Were Liars 
21. To all the Boys I've Loved Before 
22. The Winner's Curse 
23. In the Afterlight 
24. Illusions of Fate 
25. The Kiss of Deception
26. A Thousand Pieces of You 
27. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
28. The Retribution of Mara Dyer 
29. Afterworlds

Favourite Male Main Character:

• Callum from The Iron Trial
• Tobias from Four: A Divergent Collection
• Magnus from The Bane Chronicles 

Favourite Female Main Character:

• Celaena from Heir of Fire
• Blue from Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Adelina from The Young Elites
• Reyna from The Blood of Olympus
• Cassie from The Infinite Sea 
• Jessamin from Illusions of Fate

Favourite Side Character:

• Persephone from Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Zu from The Darkest Minds
• Rowan from Heir of Fire
• Ringer from The Infinite Sea 
• Zuzana from Dreams of Gods and Monsters 
• Eleanor from Illusions of Fate 
• Jamie from The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Favourite Villain:

• Sebastien from City of Heavenly Fire
• The Darkling from Ruin and Rising
• Clancy Gray from In the Afterlight
• Queen Levana from Cress

Favourite Relationship:

• Magnus and Alec from City of Heavenly Fire and The Bane Chronicles
• Blue and Gansey from Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Vida and Chubs from In the Afterlight 
• Kestrel and Arin from The Winner's Curse

Favourite Friendship:

• Adelina and Raphaele from The Young Elites
• Reyna and Nico from Blood of Olympus
• Blue, Gansey, Ronan and Adam from Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Ruby, Liam, Chubs, Zu and Vida from In the Afterlight 
• Eleanor and Jessamin from Illusions of Fate
• Celaena and Rowan from Heir of Fire

Best Plot:

• City of Heavenly Fire
• In the Afterlight
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• The Perilous Sea
• Heir of Fire

Best Writing Style:

• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• The Perilous Sea
• The Infinite Sea 
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters 
• Afterworlds

Best Setting/World-Building

• The Perilous Sea
• A Thousand Pieces of You
• Heir of Fire

Favourite Ending:

• City of Heavenly Fire
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• The Iron Trial
• Clariel 

Favourite Cover:

• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Heir of Fire
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters 
• A Thousand Pieces of You
• The Winner's Curse 
• Illusions of Fate

Best First Book in a Series:

• The Young Elites
• The Iron Trial

Best Installment in a Series:

• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Cress
• Heir of Fire
• Gathering Darkness
• The Infinite Sea

Best Final Book in a Series:

• City of Heavenly Fire
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters
• Ruin and Rising
• In the Afterlight

Best Standalone Book:

• We Were Liars
• Afterworlds
• Illusions of Fate

Best Fantasy:

• The Young Elites
• City of Heavenly Fire
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Heir of Fire
• Gathering Darkness
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Best Science Fiction:

• Four: A Divergent Collection
• The Revenge of Seven
• A Thousand Pieces of You
• In the Afterlight
• The Infinite Sea

Best Realistic: 

• We Were Liars
• To all the Boys I've Loved Before 
• Afterworlds

Best Diverse Book

• The Young Elites
• City of Heavenly Fire
• Afterworlds
• Illusions of Fate
• The Bane Chronicles

Most Anticipated Book of 2015:

• Winter
• The Copper Gauntlet
• Queen of Shadows
• Frozen Tides
• The Rose Society
• Shadow Scale

Best Adaption:

• Mockingjay Part 1
• The Fault in our Stars
• Divergent
• The Maze Runner
• The Giver 
• If I Stay

Worst Book:

• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
• Snow like Ashes

Best Book:

• The Young Elites
• City of Heavenly Fire
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue
• Heir of Fire
• The Infinite Sea 
• Dreams of Gods and Monsters 
• In the Afterlight

The Best Book Endings of All Time

NOTE: I will most likely update this list as I read more books.

Best Sad Endings:

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• Champion by Marie Lu
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
• The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore

Best WTF Endings (You won't understand unless you read the books):

• Lord Sunday by Garth Nix
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie tiefvater
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
• City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore
• Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Best Plot Twist Endings (Kind of spoilers):

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
• Clariel by Garth Nix
• The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Best Final Battles:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
• Abhorsen by Garth Nix
• Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Best Cliffhangers:

• Superior Saturday by Garth Nix
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
• City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
• The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
• Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Overall Best Endings:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
• Lord Sunday by Garth Nix
• Abhorsen by Garth Nix
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Male Character Edits

Female Version

Top Ten Male Characters:

Top Six M/M Ships/Friendships:

Top Six Male Characters who are Unfairly Hated

Top Six Male Antagonists:

Top Eight Male Characters with the Best Character Growth:

Top Four Father Characters:

Top Six Warriors:

Top Six Non-Warriors:

Top Six Male Hufflepuffs:

Top Six Male Slytherins:

Top Six Male Ravenclaws:

Top Six Male Gryffindors:

Top Eight Main Male Characters:

Top Eight Supporting Male Characters:

Top Six Non-White Male Characters:

Top Six Queer Male Characters (Canon and not Canon):

TBR

I have a problem. That problem is my TBR list. (TBR means "To be read" in case you didn't know.) The problem is that it keeps growing. Whenever anyone recommends a book or I notice a book on Goodreads that interests me, I add it to my TBR list. This caused my TBR list to become quite long. It had, at one point, over 300 books on it. I recently narrowed it down to 131. This might not seem like that much of a problem to you, and it wouldn't be, if I was a different person. But I am, in fact, not a different person. I am me.

It annoys me when things are not well-organized. Actually, "annoyed" isn't the right word. It drives me crazy when things aren't well-organized. I spend hours organizing things. My room, files on my computer, drawings I did when I was 3. Organizing things makes me happy and makes me feel less stressed. So, it annoys me that my TBR list is not organized. My current project right now is organizing it, and it's turning out to be much more difficult than I originally thought. Do I organize it by genre? In order of how interesting they sound? In alphabetical order? While I decide how to organize the list, I am adding a short description of each book based on what I read about them on goodreads. This will help me decide which books to read in a more efficient way. Here are some examples of my short descriptions:

Matched: Love Triangle Dystopian thing
Across the Universe: Space and stuff?
Artemis Fowl: Millionaire, Genius, criminal mastermind. Also fairies.
Game of Thrones: The book my mother really does not want me to read.

I think I should probably organize the books by genre. That will make it easier to find a book I'm in the mood for.

ANYWAY, the reason I made this post was to give you some links. If you, like me, want to add some interesting books to your TBR list, you might want to check out some of these links. Here is a link to a list of science fiction books organized by theme. Here is a list of historical fiction organized by when the book takes place if you like that kind of thing. Here is a list that can tell you the 100 best ever teen novels, apparently. Here are some books to read if you liked Game of Thrones. Here are books with lesbian/bi girls as protagonists and here are books with gay/bi boys as main characters. Here are 30 books that will change your view of the world. And finally, here is a picture of a cat.

Mockingjay Part 1 Review Plus Other Updates

By the way, there aren't any major spoilers for Mockingjay Part 1 in this blog post. I don't really even need to say that because 1. No one reads this blog and 2. Even if you are reading this, you have probably either seen Mockingjay or read the book.

Anyway, I saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 yesterday. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but that's not the point. It was an incredible movie, maybe my favourite Hunger Games movie so far. As always, this review is going to be short because I dislike writing reviews. I will say that Jennifer Lawrence was amazing in this film, as always, and the movie made me cry. I was worried that this movie would not be as good as the first two. Mockingjay was my least favourite book in the trilogy because the middle of the book dragged on a bit. I was really worried when I heard that they were going to be splitting the last book in two. Now that I've seen Mockingjay Part 1, I'm not as worried. It actually works quite well to have it split in two. The pacing felt right to me, but I've heard that some people disagree. I actually felt that the first two movies were too short. So, anyway, I'm excited for the final film. I'm hoping they don't ruin it. I'm not too worried, though.

As for other things, I am now caught up with Elementary. I finished the second series and have watched all episodes of the third series that are out so far. I also finished watching How to Get Away with Murder. THAT ENDING, THOUGH. I still can't get over it.

As for books, I finished reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue. After finishing it, it occurred to me that the Raven Cycle is so underrated. By me. It had never really occurred to me before how much I love it. I knew that I liked it, but I didn't really realize that it's actually one of the best young adult series I have ever read. I realized that it has very few flaws, and in my opinion, no large flaws at all. I often have problems with certain books. It's usually the characters (too boring, too good, too evil) or the plot (too slow, too fast, too normal) or the writing style (too short, too long, too confusing). But there isn't anything that really annoys me about the Raven Cycle. I sincerely apologize to the Raven Cycle and to Maggie Stiefvater for under-appreciating this series. I need to read the Scorpio Races.

I also read Clariel by Garth Nix which as the prequel to the Old Kingdom series, AKA, the best epic fantasy series ever. I liked the book, up until the very end when I started to love it. I've decided that Garth Nix is good at endings. Sometimes the endings of books leave me feeling unsatisfied *cough* Blood of Olympus *cough*. But Garth Nix never does this (unless of course the book ends on a cliffhanger, like the sixth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series). The ending of Clariel and the ending of Lord Sunday are two of my favourite endings of all time. They both kind of left me sitting there in shock with my mouth open. Maybe I should do a blog post on my favourite book endings.

Fandom Crush Quiz 2

A while ago I took the fandom crush quiz on thefandom.net. I decided to take it again. Here are my results.

Boys:

Girls:

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #10

I've written nine "Top 25 Favourite Characters" lists before, as it changes often. Here are the links to my first nine:

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters #2

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters #3

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #4

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #5

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #6

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #7

 My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #8

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #9

25. Tris Prior from Divergent
24. Blue Sargent from The Raven Cycle
23. Clariel from The Old Kingdom Series
22. Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano from The Heroes of Olympus
21. Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter
20. Liesiel from The Book Thief
19. Sabriel from The Old Kingdom Series
18. Katsa from Graceling
17. Guinevere from BBC Merlin
16. Donna Noble from Doctor Who
15. Martha Jones from Doctor Who
14. Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices
13. Annabeth Chase from The Heroes of Olympus
12. Amy Pond from Doctor Who
11. Adelina from The Young Elites
10. Sherlock Holmes from Elementary
9. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games
8. Rose Tyler from Doctor Who
7. Joan Watson from Elementary
6. Merlin from BBC Merlin
5. Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter
4. Clara Oswald from Doctor Who
3. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter
2. Sherlock Holmes from BBC Sherlock
1. The Doctor from Doctor Who

Book Awards and Updates

Both the Goodreads and Epic Reads annual book awards are happening right now. I voted for The Young Elites in the Science Fiction and Fantasy category and The Iron Trial in the Children's category on Goodreads. I haven't read any contemporary fiction published this year so I can't vote in that category. What can I say? I've been a fantasy mood. For the past six months. I nominated several books in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards including:

• Clariel (which I haven't read yet, but I know it's going to be awesome)
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Which I am currently reading)
• The Young Elites
• City of Heavenly Fire
• Ruin and Rising
• Cress

Anyway, I am probably going to do my own book awards for no reason other than that I like talking to myself.

In other news, I have been watching Elementary and How to Get Away with Murder which are both awesome. I want to watch Orphan Black and Teen Wolf.

I finished reading The Young Elites which I really enjoyed. It is my favourite book that I have read so far published in 2014, but Clariel might top it. I read Crown of Midnight (the second book in the Throne of Glass series) and Unravel me (the second book in the Shatter Me series). Both sequels were much better than the first books in the series'. I am currently reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the third book in the Raven Cycle.

Female Character Edits

Top Ten Female Characters:

Top Six F/F Ships/Friendships:

Top Six Female Characters who are Unfairly Hated

Top Six Female Antagonists:

Top Eight Female Characters with the Best Character Growth:

Top Four Mother Characters:

Top Six Female Warriors:

Top Six Female Non-Warriors:

Top Six Female Hufflepuffs:

Top Six Female Slytherins:

Top Six Female Ravenclaws:

Top Six Female Gryffindors:

Top Eight Main Female Characters:

Top Eight Supporting Female Characters:

Top Six Non-White Female Characters:

Top Six Queer Female Characters (Canon and Not Canon):

Doctor Who Series 8: Death in Heaven

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

I did really enjoy this episode, but I was honestly a little bit disappointed. It just wasn't as good as some other Doctor Who finales. Maybe I thought it would be like my two favourite episodes of all time (Utopia/ The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords and The End of Time) which both had the Master. It was quite as good as those two episodes.

But, seriously, Michelle Gomez is awesome. She's totally not the reason I didn't like this finale as much as some of the others. I may even like her more than John Simm. In Doctor Who extra Steven Moffat basically said that Missy isn't dead and we should expect her to come back which is really exciting and I can't wait.

The main reason I didn't like the episode as much as some others was that the timing seemed a bit off. This seemed to be a big problem in the whole series.

I am really sad that Danny is gone for good. I really loved him. This episode did make me cry, and not many have actually done that, so there's that.

As for Clara, I believe she is going to be in the Christmas special. That may, however, be her last episode, which would make me really sad since she is my favourite companion. Some people have been saying that they want the next companion to be male, but I don't. I always like shows better when there are main characters of multiple genders. I just hope the next companion is awesome.

The Doctor was great in this episode. I love how he answered "Am I a good man?" I wonder what his catchphrase is. At this time it seems like it could be "Shut up." One question: Has Doctor Who been hinting that there will be a female Doctor after Peter Capaldi regenerates? It really seems like it. We got a female Master, and Clara keeps impersonating the Doctor (I really love her impersonation in this episode, by the way). I would be both really excited and really worried if there was a female Doctor. I would be excited, because it could be really awesome. But I would also be worried. While I love Missy, her version of the Master flirts with the Doctor much more than John Simm's version did. I'm worried that a female Doctor would be done in such a way that people think of her as a female version of the Doctor instead of just one regeneration of the Doctor. I'm worried that if the Doctor became female she would start falling in love with men. I do believe that the Doctor is bisexual, but he has fallen for women in the past way more than for men. If he became a woman, I have this sinking suspicion that she would suddenly fall in love with a male companion.

Anyway, here is my updated list of favourite episodes in series 8:

1. Dark Water/ Death in Heaven
2. Listen
3. Deep Breath
4. Flatline
5. Into the Dalek
6. Kill the Moon 
7. In the Forest of the Night
8. Mummy on the Orient Express
9. The Caretaker
10. Robot of Sherwood
11. Time Heist

The next episode is the Christmas special and it isn't that far away. I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas specials in general, though there are some large exceptions to this rule. I'm still excited, though. I hope that nothing bad happens to Clara. She deserves to be happy.

"Strong" Female Characters

I dislike the term "strong female character" because it makes it sound as if female characters should always be physically strong and stereotypically "male". Some people hear the term "strong female character" and they write a female character who can shoot a gun and punches guys in the face. The term really means a complex and interesting female character.

In my opinion, female characters should be treated in the same way as male characters. They should all be unique. Some can be physically strong, some can be physically weak. Some can be stereotypically "male", some can be stereotypically "female".

Every Fairytale Needs a Good Old-Fashioned Villain

Doctor Who Series 8: Dark Water

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk. Really. You do not want to get spoiled for this episode.

Wow! This episode was amazing. I can not wait a week for the second part. I was really, really hoping that Missy would be the Master but I thought I wouldn't get lucky. I did!!! I'm so excited about that. I unfortunately saw a spoiler about itbefore I watched the episode. I always see spoilers. 

The idea for the episode is really odd and it actually legitimately scared me. By "the idea" I mean the thing about what happens after a person dies. I wonder what Missy is trying to accomplish with the cybermen.

I was really surprised about Danny dying randomly in the beginning of the episode like that. I guess it was supposed to be surprising. I wonder if he's going to come back.

Then there was Clara and the Doctor. Most people are annoyed at Clara right now, and I am honestly a bit annoyed at her too. I wonder if there was something more going on in the volcano scene, though. The reason I say that is because of one line from the next time trailer: "I'm not Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald has never existed." I have no idea what that means. And then of course there is what Missy said at the end of In the Forest of the Night. "Clara. My Clara. I have chosen well." We had the big Missy/Master reveal in this episode, but there is something else coming. Something that has to do with Clara.

My theories on Clara? I have no idea. Seriously, I have no clue. Is she some kind of robot? A human version of the Master? I have no idea. Somehow, Missy chose Clara. Why and for what I have no idea. I guess we'll just have to wait a week.

The next episode is Death in Heaven. What is going on with Clara? What is going on with Danny? What is going on with Missy? What is going on???

How to Get Away with Murder (and Other Updates)

My friend told me to watch the TV show How to Get Away with Murder, and at first I wasn't especially interested because it's not the kind of thing I normally watch. But I've watched the five episodes that are out so far and I really like it. I think the story is told in a really interesting way. So, new TV show.

I finished watching series 1 of Elementary. I really enjoyed it, especially the last episode. I'm going to start series 2 today. Series 3 actually comes out in a few days which I'm really excited about. I won't be seeing that for a while, though.

I read the second book in the Falling Kingdoms series. I liked it even more than the first one. This series is one of my favourite epic fantasies.

I read the Revenge of Seven, the fifth book in the Lorien Legacies. I read all the other books a year ago, so I was worried I wouldn't enjoy this book because I wouldn't remember anything, but I actually had a great time reading it. The fourth book was kind of a disappointment for me, but the fifth book makes up for it.

I finished The Perilous Sea, the second book in the Elemental Trilogy. I was very impressed by it, mostly because of the unique way the plot was set up. I liked it more than the first book.

Right now I am reading The Young Elites by the author of the Legend trilogy. I am really enjoying it, in fact, I like it more than Legend. Next I'm going to be reading The Crown of Midnight and Unravel Me.

I went to two author events this month. One was with Veronica Roth and Tahereh Mafi. It was cool, but the place was really crowded, and some people got there at 4 in the morning. I bought signed copies of Four: A Divergent Collection and Unravel Me. The other was with Marie Lu. I really enjoyed it. I got Legend and The Young Elites signed.

Doctor Who Series 8: In the Forest of the Night

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

I really enjoyed this episode. I always love Doctor Who episodes with children. Maebh was awesome. I wonder if the episode was separate from the finale or if it has something to do with it.A lot of things in this episode weren't really explained.

I really like Danny. He's a great person. I hope nothing bad happens to him. Please don't let anything bad happen to him.

Here's my updated list of favourite episodes in series 8:

1. Listen
2. Deep Breath
3. Flatline
4. Into the Dalek
5. Kill the Moon 
6. In the Forest of the Night
7. Mummy on the Orient Express
8. The Caretaker
9. Robot of Sherwood
10. Time Heist

Who is Missy? And also, who is Clara? When Clara says "Clara Oswald never existed" is she telling the truth? I hope not. Clara has to exist. She's my favourite companion. Is she going to leave at the end of this series? In the Christmas special? I'm really, really excited to see the finale and I'm also really scared.

The Blood of Olympus Review

SPOILERS FOR BLOOD OF OLYMPUS. Duh.
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I finally got the Blood of Olympus from the library. I really enjoyed reading it, but I was honestly a little bit disappointed with the ending. It would have been better, in my opinion, if the book had been in Leo's perspective when he died. There was just all this build-up for the final battle and then we didn't really get to see it. But, anyway, there were some things I really liked about the book. For one thing, it kind of made me ship Annabeth/Piper, which is amazing because I never ship things that aren't canon. I also really enjoyed reading Nico and Reyna's POVs. Reyna has become one of my favourite characters in the series. I really like that she did not end up with a guy at the end of a series. I was worried that would happen.

So, anyway, I'm going to look at the predictions I made before the book came out and see how true they are.

TO STORM OR FIRE THE WORLD MUST FALL.

My prediction: This is my favourite line in the prophecy. The two leading theories about it are that "storm" and "fire" refer to specific demigods or to the Greek and Roman camps. I don't think that this line refers to people. I can't really explain why I think that, I just do. If it were to refer to people, though, I like the idea of Frank being fire instead of Leo.
I like the camps theory better. I think it is probably true. The reason I say this is because it fits directly with what that random God told Jason (I can't remember his name and I'm too lazy to look it up).
Other possible theories: Storm and Fire refer to Gods?
The other part of this line is "the world must fall". What does "the world" mean? I think it means Gaea. That makes most sense. Whatever storm and fire are, one of them will probably be the thing that defeats Gaea in the end. The fact that the prophecy feels the need to mention both storm and fire makes me think that both will try to defeat Gaea and only one will succeed. If storm and fire means Roman and Greek, then perhaps this means that one of the camps will defeat Gaea. Which doesn't really makes sense, but whatever.
Could "fall" have a different meaning than we think? I doubt it. The prophecy says the world must fall. If that means Gaea, that's good news. If not... what could it possibly mean? The prophecies have always come true in the past, but is it possible that the seven demigods might be able to change fate?

Reality: I was totally wrong about what this line refereed to. I thought it didn't refer to people, but it turns out that storm is Jason and fire is Leo. I'm honestly a bit disappointed by that. I was right about "the world" being Gaea. I was also kind of right about both storm and fire trying to defeat Gaea with only one of them succeeding.

AN OATH TO KEEP WITH A FINAL BREATH.

My Prediction: Most important question: Whose oath? Probably Leo's. That's the most obvious one. I can't really see it being anything else. I like the theory that Leo will have to choose between saving Calypso and staying alive. I have only read House of Hades once, so I don't feel like I can make any guesses as to who else this line might refer to. It is possible, of course, that the oath in question has not been made yet.
Question: Does this line mean that the person mentioned will have to die in order to fulfill their oath or does it mean that the person will die because they did not fulfill their oath? It sound more like the first choice.
What does "final breath" mean? Does it mean death? I can't think of anything else it could mean. Maybe, instead of the oath-maker dying to fulfill their oath they must kill to fulfill their oath?

Reality: The oath was indeed Leo's, but I think we all saw that. He died and then came back to life. Basically the obvious explanation for this line. Again. The first great prophecy was so much better.

WHO WILL DIE?

My Prediction: I don't think any of the seven will die. The reason? No one dies in Percy Jackson. Sure, there were a few deaths in The Titan's Curse and The Last Olympian, but none of the very main characters died. This is a children's series.
That said, I do think that there is a possibility one of the seven will die. It is possible for this to happen in a children's book. Who is the most likely candidate? If I were writing the book, I would kill Leo. But I don't think Rick is going to do that. Leo is the fandom's favourite and besides, he deserves a happy ending. Okay, they all do. But if Rick had to kill one of the seven I think he would kill Frank or Hazel. They're not Percy and Annabeth. They haven't been in the series as long. And I can see one of their deaths meaning something. I personally hope Hazel doesn't die. If I had to choose between them I would kill Frank.
So, what about other characters? I don't think Nico will die. I don't think Nico should die. If he dies, I will be pretty mad, and not because he's one of my favourite characters. He isn't. I've never liked him much. But I think he is too important of a character. It's kind of difficult to explain. It would just be... wrong if he died.
I think Reyna is more likely to die than Nico, but I really hope she doesn't. I want her to continue to lead Camp Jupiter.
I don't think Coach Hedge will die, but you never know.
None of the main characters from the first series will die (like Grover, Tyson and Rachel). No one can kill of main characters if they aren't main characters anymore.
I don't think Octavian will die, unfortunately. But you never know. We might get lucky.

Reality: I was right. No one died (permanently)  which I am again unhappy about. The book really would have been better if a major character died. I was wrong about Octavian. He did die. This kind of annoys me also. The big death of the last book and it's my least favourite character. That isn't a very emotional ending.

CLUE PREDICTIONS:

My Prediction for Clue #1: A goddess says "One of you will die. One of you must die." That means one of them will die, right? Yes. I think so. Gods have always been right with their prophecies in this series. So, does this mean one of the seven will die? It certainly sounds like it. Of course their could be several ways around this. As in Hazel's case, dead people can come back. It's possible that one of the seven will die and become a god, or something like that. Or maybe Nike isn't talking specifically about the seven demigods. One of you must die. One of who? It probably refers to the seven, though. That makes most sense.
"You're magic will help you cheat in this contest but you can't cheat destiny." What contest? Does this just refer to the war with Gaea and the giants or is there some actual contest that Hazel is cheating in?


Reality: This did not, in fact refer to all seven demigods, it referred to the four that were present in this scene (Leo, Frank, Hazel and Percy). Leo did, in fact, die, but he came back to life. So I was kind of right. I was also right to ask whether there was an actual contest Hazel cheated in. There was.

My Prediction for Clue #2: No, Jason. Not again. Is this a dream? I mean, if it isn't, that means Jason dies, right? I find interesting that Juno makes an appearance. Is she going to help them kill the giants? I don't really have any good theories about this clue.



Reality: It was a dream.

My Prediction for Clue #3: What is Leo trying to do? Maybe it has something to do with Calypso.

Reality: I think this line was referring to Leo turning the ship into a dragon. It did have something to do with Calypso. Kind of.

My Prediction for Clue #4: Another Percy vs. Polybotes battle? Awesome. This clue doesn't really tell me anything interesting.

Reality: Um.

My Prediction for Clue #5: "You must bridge the gap between Roman and Greek, my child. Neither storm nor fire can succeed without you." This really does make it sound like "storm" and "fire" mean the Greek and Roman camps.
It sounds like Piper will play a major role in the last book. Aphrodite told her what she had to stop Gaea. That means that Piper will be the one to stop Gaea, unless, of course, she fails. But I don't think she will. It sounds like Piper will have to make some sort of sacrifice to defeat Gaea. Jason's life, maybe? Piper's own life? I'm very excited about this clue. Maybe after Blood of Olympus the fandom will stop saying Piper is useless.


Reality: Aphrodite just meant that Piper would talk Gaea back asleep. Technically she had to sacrifice Leo, but that wasn't really her choice.

My Prediction for Clue #6: I have no idea what this clue refers to. I'm not even going to make any guesses. One questions: What ghosts is Reyna talking about?

Reality: Well. I know the answer now. Reyna is awesome.

My Prediction for Clue #7: Why would Nico have to leave both camps? "If you let your anger rule you." Nico's fatal flaw is holding grudges. Will this have something to do with Blood of Olympus?

Reality: This quote is really not very significant.

My Prediction for Clue #8: This clue doesn't really tell us much. Except that the giants are healing faster. Hmm...

Reality: This quote is from the very end of the book. The giants were healing faster because Gaea was waking.

My Prediction for Clue #9: I can't really get anything new from this clue. Only one question. Go down where? Where are they?

Reality:The Piper and Annabeth battle is my favourite in Blood of Olympus.


So, anyway, Blood of Olympus was definitely not my favourite in the series. House of Hades is. I am excited to read The Sword of Summer (first book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series) and also the third Kane Chronicles/Percy Jackson crossover.

Doctor Who Series 8: Flatline

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

This episode was great, mostly because of Clara. I think she made an amazing Doctor, even if she didn't make a good one. It was kind of a taste of what it would be like to have a female Doctor. I think she was incredible. Her idea was as weird and creative as anything the Doctor could come up with. I wonder how Danny is going to react if he finds out she's still traveling with the Doctor.

The idea for the episode is one of my favourites so far. I just love the idea of two-dimensional creatures coming into our three-dimensional universe.

And then there's Missy. Who is she? What connection does she have to Clara? That looked very much like and evil smile. I think we can guess by now that Missy is going to be a villain.

Here's my updated list of favourite episodes in series 8:

1. Listen
2. Deep Breath
3. Flatline
4. Into the Dalek
5. Kill the Moon 
6. Mummy on the Orient Express
7. The Caretaker
8. Robot of Sherwood
9. Time Heist

The next episode is the last before the two-part finale. It's called In the Forest of the Night, and I believe it has something to do with trees invading the Earth. Awesome!

Doctor Who Series 8: Mummy on the Orient Express

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

This episode was pretty good. It wasn't my favourite, but it was fun. I'm really happy that Clara and the Doctor made up. I do wonder how Clara will eventually leave, though. Will she die? I hope not.

The Doctor seemed really dark in this episode, and I liked that. I think Peter Capaldi is really great as the Doctor. He might be my second favourite after David Tennant, but I'll wait to say for sure till the end of series 8.

I need to read Murder on the Orient Express. I want to know if there are any similarities to the episode. I have the feeling that the killer in the book is not an alien mummy soldier thing.

Here's my updated list of favourite episodes in series 8:

1. Listen
2. Deep Breath
3. Into the Dalek
4. Kill the Moon 
5. Mummy on the Orient Express
6. The Caretaker
7. Robot of Sherwood
8. Time Heist

The next episode is called Flatline. I have no idea what it's about but the next time trailer looked really interesting.

Shatter Me, Elementary and Other Updates

I read the first book in the Shatter Me trilogy.  It started off really well, but then I started to get bored of it. I will read the rest of the series, though.

I also read the first book in the Throne of Glass series. It was pretty good. The plot was paced well and it was interesting. The world sometimes didn't feel real, though. And most of the characters didn't have much of a personality.

I finished the Old Kingdom trilogy. It is one of my favourite epic fantasy series that I have read so far. I'm really excited to read the prequel Clariel.

I read the first book in the Falling Kingdoms series. I really enjoyed it. I love books that are told from more than two characters' perspectives. I also love that no side or person in the book is truly good or evil.

After reading The Fault in Our Stars and An Abundance of Katherines I read John Greens two other books, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. They were both good. Paper Towns is my favourite book by John Green.

I've started watching the TV show Elementary. At first I liked it, but now I'm starting to love it. It's interesting to see the differences between Elementary and BBC Sherlock. It's making me want to read more of the original stories.

I watched the Maze Runner movie. The book series was honestly not my favourite, but I actually did like the first book. The movie was pretty good.

I am now reading The Perilous Sea, sequel to The Burning Sky.

Doctor Who Series 8: Kill the Moon

 SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

 I have mixed feelings about this episode. I liked it quite a bit, but it confused me and made me feel unhappy. I really liked Courtney in this episode. She's great. And I liked the other woman too. I forget her name.

I also really liked Clara. I have a feeling that people will start hating her because of this episode, and that really annoys me. The Doctor pushed her too far. Danny foreshadowed it in the last episode. I'm not even sure it was the whole "leaving the humans to make their own decision" thing that made her snap. I think that it was a long series of events that lead up to her lashing out at the Doctor. No matter what she said before, I think that she believes he's changed. Deep in her heart she doesn't believe that the twelfth doctor is the same person as the eleventh doctor. And then there was the whole thing with Danny. This last thing was just too much. She felt like the Doctor had betrayed her and patronized her.

That said, I understand the Doctor's point of view as well. I think that sometimes he doesn't realize that his companions aren't perfect. He said that he trusted Clara to make the right decision, and he was right to. But a person can only be pushed so far.

So, overall, great episode. A few things didn't make much sense, but whatever. Here is my updated list of series 8 episodes in preference order:

1. Listen
2. Deep Breath
3. Into the Dalek
4. Kill the Moon
5. The Caretaker
6. Robot of Sherwood
7. Time Heist

The next episode is called Mummy on the Orient Express. I'm interested to see what it's like.

Random Awesome Links

I found lots of these links on The Bored Button which is basically a website that generates a random interesting website whenever you click the button.

• Fun with Triangles! This website is totally random. Basically you can play with a bunch of different triangles and it's somehow really fun.
• 100 Most Common English Words Quiz yourself and see how many you can guess in five minutes. I tried a few times and got 42/100.
• The Great Language Game How good are you at recognizing languages?
• Draw in spinning 3D Just draw.
• Flip Text Write upside down.
• Build a Squid Make your own squid and set it free. Mine is named The Doctor.
• Translation Telephone Play telephone with different languages.
• Future Me Write emails to yourself in the future.
• The Bureau of CommunicationThey offer forms for any situation.
• Here is Today Click if you want to feel small and insignificant.
• What Colour Eyes Will Your Children Have? Click to find out. (I found this website particularly interesting, especially because I have light eyes and every single person in my family has dark eyes.)
• Online Colour Challenge Find out whether or not you're colourblind.
• This is Sand Play with sand.
• Choice of the Dragon Basically the best game ever. You are a dragon.
• How good is your English vocabulary?
• Similar Minds Lots of personality tests. Lots of them.
• A Passing Glance A transgender life simulator.

Blood of Olympus Predictions #3

This is my third Blood of Olympus predictions post. You can find my first two here and here. The book coming out soon! I'm so excited. In this post I'm basically going to lay down my final theories. Who I think is going to die, what the prophecy means and what I think is going to happen. Then, after the book comes out, I'll see how many of my predictions turn out to be true.I also have links to the nine YouTube videos that include clues about the Blood of Olympus, and I'll share my thoughts on those.

Clues:

Clue #1 HAZEL: "Hazel stuck the point of her Spatha under Nike's chin. 'Explain.' Her voice was harder than Leo had ever heard. 'Which of us will die? How do we stop it?' 'Ah, child of Pluto,your magic will help you cheat in this contest but you can't cheat destiny. One of you will die. One of you must die.'"
Clue #2 JASON: "Jason knew he shouldn't look, but he couldn't close his eyes as Juno went supernova revealing her true godly form. Pain seared Jason's mind, his body burned away in layers like an onion."
Clue #3 LEO: "It was a long shot. If he failed it would crush him, not just emotionally. It would physically crush him."
Clue #4 PERCY: "Jason had never met this particular giant, but he'd heard stories. Polybotes. The giant shook his dreadlocks and a dozen serpents swam free, each one was green with a frilled crown around its head. 'Basilisks.' 'Indeed, son of Rome,' the giant said, 'But if you'll excuse me, my immediate business is with Perseus Jackson. I tracked him all the way across Tartarus. Now, here in his father's ruins I mean to crush him once and for all.'"
Clue #5 PIPER: "Aphrodite's words came back to Piper. 'You must bridge the gap between Roman and Greek, my child. Neither storm nor fire can succeed without you.' Aphrodite had warned her of what was to come, told her what Piper would have to do to stop Gaea. Whether or not she would have the courage, Piper didn't know."
Clue #6 REYNA: "She couldn't tell her friends how much she feared ghosts or why she feared them The whole reason she and her sister had run from San Juan all those years ago, that secret had to stay buried.
Clue #7 NICO: “The god Favonius had warned him in Croatia, ‘If you let your anger rule you, your fate will be even sadder than mine.’ But how could his fate be anything but sad? Even if he lived through this quest, he would have to leave both camps forever."
Clue #8 FRANK: "Frank ran out of arrows. He changed into rhinoceros and charged into battle, but as fast as he could knock down the giants they got up again. Their wounds seemed to be healing faster."
Clue #9 ANNABETH: "'That's my point,' Percy said, 'We don't know what's down there. I'm going with you.' 'No,' Annabeth put her hand on his arm. 'The giants want our blood. The last thing we need is a boy and a girl going down there together. Remember, they want one of each for the big sacrifice.'"

The Prophecy:

Seven Half-blood shall answer the call
We know what this means.

To storm or fire the world must fall
This is my favourite line in the prophecy. The two leading theories about it are that "storm" and "fire" refer to specific demigods or to the Greek and Roman camps. I don't think that this line refers to people. I can't really explain why I think that, I just do. If it were to refer to people, though, I like the idea of Frank being fire instead of Leo.
I like the camps theory better. I think it is probably true. The reason I say this is because it fits directly with what that random God told Jason (I can't remember his name and I'm too lazy to look it up).
Other possible theories: Storm and Fire refer to Gods?
The other part of this line is "the world must fall". What does "the world" mean? I think it means Gaea. That makes most sense. Whatever storm and fire are, one of them will probably be the thing that defeats Gaea in the end. The fact that the prophecy feels the need to mention both storm and fire makes me think that both will try to defeat Gaea and only one will succeed. If storm and fire means Roman and Greek, then perhaps this means that one of the camps will defeat Gaea. Which doesn't really makes sense, but whatever.
Could "fall" have a different meaning than we think? I doubt it. The prophecy says the world must fall. If that means Gaea, that's good news. If not... what could it possibly mean? The prophecies have always come true in the past, but is it possible that the seven demigods might be able to change fate?

An oath to keep with a final breath
Most important question: Whose oath? Probably Leo's. That's the most obvious one. I can't really see it being anything else. I like the theory that Leo will have to choose between saving Calypso and staying alive. I have only read House of Hades once, so I don't feel like I can make any guesses as to who else this line might refer to. It is possible, of course, that the oath in question has not been made yet.
Question: Does this line mean that the person mentioned will have to die in order to fulfill their oath or does it mean that the person will die because they did not fulfill their oath? It sound more like the first choice.
What does "final breath" mean? Does it mean death? I can't think of anything else it could mean. Maybe, instead of the oath-maker dying to fulfill their oath they must kill to fulfill their oath?

And foes bear arms to the doors of death
We know what this means. Or do we?

Who will die?

I don't think any of the seven will die. The reason? No one dies in Percy Jackson. Sure, there were a few deaths in The Titan's Curse and The Last Olympian, but none of the very main characters died. This is a children's series.

That said, I do think that there is a possibility one of the seven will die. It is possible for this to happen in a children's book. Who is the most likely candidate? If I were writing the book, I would kill Leo. But I don't think Rick is going to do that. Leo is the fandom's favourite and besides, he deserves a happy ending. Okay, they all do. But if Rick had to kill one of the seven I think he would kill Frank or Hazel. They're not Percy and Annabeth. They haven't been in the series as long. And I can see one of their deaths meaning something. I personally hope Hazel doesn't die. If I had to choose between them I would kill Frank.

So, what about other characters? I don't think Nico will die. I don't think Nico should die. If he dies, I will be pretty mad, and not because he's one of my favourite characters. He isn't. I've never liked him much. But I think he is too important of a character. It's kind of difficult to explain. It would just be... wrong if he died.

I think Reyna is more likely to die than Nico, but I really hope she doesn't. I want her to continue to lead Camp Jupiter.

I don't think Coach Hedge will die, but you never know.

None of the main characters from the first series will die (like Grover, Tyson and Rachel). No one can kill of main characters if they aren't main characters anymore.

I don't think Octavian will die, unfortunately. But you never know. We might get lucky.

Clue Predictions:

Clue #1: A goddess says "One of you will die. One of you must die." That means one of them will die, right? Yes. I think so. Gods have always been right with their prophecies in this series. So, does this mean one of the seven will die? It certainly sounds like it. Of course their could be several ways around this. As in Hazel's case, dead people can come back. It's possible that one of the seven will die and become a god, or something like that. Or maybe Nike isn't talking specifically about the seven demigods. One of you must die. One of who? It probably refers to the seven, though. That makes most sense.
"You're magic will help you cheat in this contest but you can't cheat destiny." What contest? Does this just refer to the war with Gaea and the giants or is there some actual contest that Hazel is cheating in?

Clue #2: No, Jason. Not again. Is this a dream? I mean, if it isn't, that means Jason dies, right? I find interesting that Juno makes an appearance. Is she going to help them kill the giants? I don't really have any good theories about this clue.

Clue #3: What is Leo trying to do? Maybe it has something to do with Calypso.

Clue #4: Another Percy vs. Polybotes battle? Awesome. This clue doesn't really tell me anything interesting.

Clue #5: "You must bridge the gap between Roman and Greek, my child. Neither storm nor fire can succeed without you." This really does make it sound like "storm" and "fire" mean the Greek and Roman camps.
It sounds like Piper will play a major role in the last book. Aphrodite told her what she had to stop Gaea. That means that Piper will be the one to stop Gaea, unless, of course, she fails. But I don't think she will. OIt sounds like Piper will have to make some sort of sacrifice to defeat Gaea. Jason's life, maybe? Piper's own life? I'm very excited about this clue. Maybe after Blood of Olympus the fandom will stop saying Piper is useless.

Clue #6: I have no idea what this clue refers to. I'm not even going to make any guesses. One questions: What ghosts is Reyna talking about?

Clue #7: Why would Nico have to leave both camps? "If you let your anger rule you." Nico's fatal flaw is holding grudges. Will this have something to do with Blood of Olympus?

Clue #8: This clue doesn't really tell us much. Except that the giants are healing faster. Hmm...

Clue #9: I can't really get anything new from this clue. Only one question. Go down where? Where are they?

Random Note: Are all of the seven going to have chapters in Blood of Olympus? I don't think so. Nine POVs (The seven + Nico and Reyna) is a lot. So who will have a POV. We know for sure that Leo, Jason, Piper, Nico and Reyna do. Is it possible that Percy and Annabeth won't have chapters? Maybe their major part to play in the story is over. In clue #9 it is unclear whose perspective we're hearing from. It sounds like Annabeth. But it could be Percy. Or it could be someone else watching the two of them.

Doctor Who Series 8: The Caretaker

 SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

 I really enjoyed this episode. It was funny and interesting and it helped develop all of the main characters/ I'm really happy to see more of Danny Pink. I wonder if he and the Doctor are going to become friends and if he is going to become a companion. I'm trying to figure out his Myers Briggs type. It was also fun to get a look around Coal Hill school. And there's a really cool new monster in the Doctor Who universe!

There was another Missy reference, finally. We got some more information. I'm not even going to try to make any theories about her.We'll have to wait till the last episode to figure everything out.

Clara was a really important part of this episode. She is already my favourite companion but I'm liking her more and more as each episode goes by. I wonder if the plot arc is going to have something to do with her. Maybe the plot arc will have something to do with Danny.

I like Courtney Woods. She reminds me of young Melody Pond. I hope she makes another appearance.

List of series 8 episodes so far in my preference order:

1. Listen
2. Deep Breath
3. Into the Dalek
4. The Caretaker
5. Robot of Sherwood
6. Time Heist

The next episode is called Kill the Moon. I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it will be one of my favourite episodes of series 8.

Doctor Who Series 8: Time Heist

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk. 

I was disappointed in this episode.I think the idea was a good one, but it was just too short. This episode joins the list of episodes that would have been 20 times better if they were double episodes. Everything just happened too quickly. The characters were all underdeveloped. This is, sadly, my least favourite episode of series 8.

I was so excited about the new villain, but she was barely in the episode for five minutes. The Teller was such a good idea, but, again, the episode wasn't long enough to tell us very much about it. I think I would have really liked Saibra if she had had more than two lines.

I honestly don't really have anything more to say about it. So I'm going to make a list of all the Doctor who episodes that should have been double episodes: NOTE: This list does not include episodes that I wish were longer because they were so awesome and I want more of them.

• A Good Man Goes to War
• Let's Kill Hitler
• The Wedding of River Song
• The Angels Take Manhattan
• Nightmare in Silver
• The Name of the Doctor
• Time Heist

You may notice that all of these episodes are from Moffat's era. In fact, that's the thing I dislike most about Moffat's era. There aren't enough double episodes.

I'm hoping that I will like the next episode more, and I think I will. It's called The Caretaker. The Doctor becomes the caretaker at Coalhill school. I'm excited to see more of Danny.

Doctor Who Series 8: Listen

 SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

Everyone expected this episode to be one of the scary ones, but it turned out not to be, really. I am at the same time disappointed and glad about that. Some of the best scary episodes have been my favourites (Midnight, Blink, Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone). This one ended up being more of a "timey wimey" episode than a terrifying one. It's very Moffat, and I know some people don't like that but I love it.

I love the glimpse of the Doctor's childhood. And Clara is just becoming more and more important in the Doctor's life. Now it seems like she may have made him what he is. One question: How did Clara get to Gallifrey? Isn't it supposed to be timelocked or something?

I also really like the idea of the episode, a creature that hides. Even if, in the end, the creature never existed, it's a cool idea. And, about that. So, basically there are two possibilities. One, there was never any creature and all the strange things were just created by the characters imagination, or two, there really is some hidden creature that follows us all the time. I like the idea of the former better, but it seemed more like the latter. The reason I say this is because of the thing underneath the blankets. That couldn't have been a child playing a prank. That just doesn't make sense. How would a child have left the room suddenly like that in a flash of light? How would they have gotten into the room in the first place?

One of my favourite things about this episode was Danny and Orson Pink. Danny is rapidly becomming one of my favourite Doctor Who characters.

In conlusion, Listen has become by new favourite episode of series 8. I'm not sure if any of the next few episodes will be able to top it, but we'll see. Twelve is currently my second favourite Doctor (after Ten), Clara is now my favourite companion and series 8 might become my favourite series yet. I'm very happy.

The next episode is called Time Heist. The Doctor and Clara apparently attempt to rob the most secure bank in the universe. Sounds fun. I'm excited to meet the new villain.