Green Mage Writings

“Blood and Ash” & “Flesh and Fire” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

September 20th, 2025
I am gearing up to finish the most recent book in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s “Blood and Ash” and “Flesh and Fire” series. The big finale to these series is well on its way, and let me tell you it has been such a ride!

First of all, if you have not read the entire series up to date, do not progress any further! SPOILERS LIE AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

So, let’s start with a bit of context. There are two series, one is the primary and the other is the prequel, if you read them in the recommended order online, it takes you on an amazing journey that spans across hundreds of years, joining the lives of two young women. The series is set in a fantasy world full of gods, monsters, magic, prophecies and lies. Oh, and LOTS of sexual tension that is to die for. Not to mention the romance *swoon*.

Ok, series one: “Blood and Ash”. Seven books published, with two more on the way as the final books for the series. Our main character is Poppy, the Maiden chosen to save the entire kingdom from the monstrous Atlantians that feast on their blood and leave their lifeless corpses behind, unless they arise again as soulless monsters called craven. The Ascended are those blessed by the gods to protect what’s left of humanity until the maiden’s ascension, Poppy has been preparing for this since her birth. However, she has a secret. She has a gift that allows her to take people’s pain away, she is able to sense a person’s emotions which is revealed through particular tastes in her mouth, and her life long guard has been training her in secret so she is able to protect herself, so the tragedy that killed her parents and nearly killed her didn’t happen again. She keeps her secrets, prepares for her ascension and survives the “lessons” of the duke that is meant to shame her. Until, her new guard steps in and turns her life upside down, Hawke. A forbidden attraction grows that threatens her destiny and his mission, of which they both have more than one. Poppy discovers a life she never knew she could have, the depths of her powers grow and her love for those around her knows no bounds. The biggest mystery of this series, is finding out who Poppy truly is and the truth behind the war between the Atlantians and the Ascended.

Series two: Flesh and Fire. This is the prequel series that provides the context for Blood and Ash, revealing across the four books (with no news of any more) what had led to the events of Blood and Ash. The main character is Sera, the first Maiden to be born, the one who sets the events in the first series into motion. She is a killer for the crown, her true identity a secret to everyone, especially since she had failed the realm on her eighteenth birthday and the Queen had never forgiven her. She spends her days and nights exacting the Queen’s revenge on her enemies, sending messages coded in death, blood and mutilation. While all she wants is the love of a family who hates her, a home in a kingdom that doesn’t even know she exists and to forget about the healing power that she held. Sera wanders the night aimlessly until she catches the presence of two gods, before she can decide what to do, a man hides her from them, his disgust in her presence obvious. His name, Ash, and he is the walking representation of seduction, except for his attitude which leaves a lot to be desired. Yet, Sera cannot get enough of him. They run into each other repeatedly, Sera often holding her own in a fight, until one day the King dies and his awful son decides to make an example of her with the help of a whip. Ash shows up, revealing himself as a god and takes her away, the truth of her apparent failure revealed to her and the opportunity to make things right for her people arises. Sera believes she knows what she is supposed to do, but the truth is never that clear. Her destiny had been decided many generations before her, and the gods have been playing with her life for just as long. Sera’s decisions and actions can prevent or start a war of the gods, and the repercussions of this will be felt for centuries afterwards, leading into Blood and Ash.

I strongly suggest reading the books in the following order, as each book in this order informs the context of the next book, slowly revealing pieces that clear up the events and the secrets revealed in that book:
1. From Blood and Ash (B&A)
2. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (B&A)
3. A Crown of Gilded Bones (B&A)
4. A Shadow in the Ember (F&F)
5. The War of Two Queens (B&A)
6. A Light in the Flame (F&F)
7. A Soul of Ash and Blood (B&A)
8. A Fire in the Flesh (F&F)
9. Born of Blood and Ash (F&F)
10. The Primal of Blood and Bone (B&A) >> September 2025
11. Final Instalment (B&A) >> Spring 2026
So… The Primal of Blood and Bone was supposed to be the FINAL book, but JLA stated that the wrap to the series got so big that she had to split it into two parts. There is also a novella called Visions of Flesh and Blood, while it is not necessary to read it for the series (and I haven’t read it myself yet, so I am basing this entirely on what I have read from other readers), it’s my understanding that this book reveals some fun background information about Hawke and his closest people, among other stories told from the POV of the famous Miss Willa Colyns, who is also Poppy’s favourite writer.

Honestly, I rate this universe right up there with Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City. SJM’s universe was a beautiful creation, and I never thought I’d find a series that got close to it. JLA certainly managed to do that, but they are also amazing in their own rights. I can’t wait to continue this story, even though I don’t want it to end, I look forward to finding out the complete truth to Sera’s and Poppy’s stories.
“The Bullet That Missed” by Richard Osman

September 20th, 2025

I had moved on the third book in the Thursday Murder Club series, “The Bullet that Missed” and I was not disappointed!

With every book, you learn more about our mystery solving pensioners, the previous book “The Man Who Died Twice” looked into Elizabeth, Joyce and Ibrahim. This one revealed more about Ron, Joyce (again), their wonderful side characters Chris, Donna and Bogdan, and you also learn a bit more about Stephen (Elizabeth’s husband).

Just a quick heads up, some spoilers ahead!

The gang are looking into the ten year old murder of a young journalist, mainly because Joyce wanted to meet a news presenter that she’s a fan of and he happened to know the poor young lady who was killed. But this is not the only mystery that gets investigated, very early on, Elizabeth and poor Stephen get abducted by a man who was, in a way, connected to the mystery in the previous book. He had done his homework on Elizabeth, and had requested that she kill the man who managed the money laundering for the criminals in the previous book. Elizabeth happens to have a history with the target (from her MI-6 days) and refuses, stating that she has had a wonderful life will happily have it end here, Stephen God bless him agrees with her. Then the real gut wrenching poor of the story happens, the man (whom they refer to as the Viking) states that he will kill Joyce if she doesn’t do it. Poor Joyce!

So, Elizabeth sets a plan in motion to save the man from her spy days and Joyce from being murdered. While this is happening, the rest of the gang including Chris and Donna are working on solving the journalists murder, the biggest challenge being that her body was never found. The chief suspect was already in prison for fraud, which is where Ibrahim comes in. He enlists the help of Connie Johnson, one of our criminals from the previous book, who is also in jail, who agrees to gather information from the suspect if Ibrahim becomes her therapist. Oh, and she plans to kill Ron and Bogdan when she gets out of jail. Something that Ibrahim is trying to dissuade her of in their therapy sessions.

Eventually, things begin to come to a head. Elizabeth fakes the death of the man she’s supposed to kill and hides him in Joyce’s flat at Cooper’s Chase. He also agrees to help them in their investigation and begins contemplating moving into Cooper’s Chase for the company, despite his criminal affiliations. However, the Viking realises that the death was faked and goes after Joyce while she is alone. Dear, sweet little Joyce talks him into putting the gun down, taking a seat and having a tea. He even helps her with her cryptocurrency investment, as he launders money through crypto, just before he passes out from the sleeping pills that Joyce drugged his tea with. We are reminded yet again that Joyce is one dangerous little old lady!

Eventually, the Viking admits that he doesn’t want to kill anyone but is expected to keep up appearances, and refuses to give them his real name. That mystery was solved by our wonderful Stephen, with the assistance of Bogdan, who called in a favour with an old friend who could track antique books anywhere. Stephen eventually managed to recall these unique and expensive editions from his abduction, but mistakenly thought it was an old friend who had them. It’s during this book that we find out just how far Stephen’s dementia has progressed, and I won’t lie, my heart was breaking for him and Elizabeth towards the end of the book. You also find out that the makeup artist Ron is dating has quite a fire to her and would gladly shoot some bullets into the Viking if he ever even thought of killing Ron or his friends ever again. Ron has his hands full with that awesome lady!

In the end, the gang had managed to enlist the help of two money launderers, a news reader, a make up artist, a current prisoner, their friendly detectives, and eventually the Chief of Police and tv presenter. By the end, you find out the killer was someone you totally did not expect it to be, one murder wasn’t even a murder, and another didn’t actually happen! Oh, and Joyce has decided to start writing crime novels, the main character being a detective named after her late husband. This surprises Elizabeth, especially when she finds Joyce quizzing a forensic specialist at a crime scene about decomposing bodies that Joyce has decided would be hacked up by a chainsaw. I think everyone involved should be glad that Joyce had found her calling as a nurse, and not as a serial killer.

So, all-in-all, another wonderful story from Richard Osman about my favourite pensioners. Every book gets better and better, and don’t even get me started on the twists! You don’t see them coming.
“I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-com” by Kimberly Lemming

September 1st, 2025

I have just finished “I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-com” by Kimberley Lemming, and… words escape me. I am actually struggling to string a coherent sentence together for this post, but I will definitely try!

Let’s start with the title, it has comedy written all over it and don’t even get me started on the pink T-Rex on the cover. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this novel, but it definitely not what I had read. It starts normal enough, our FMC is Dory, a Wildlife Biologist working to achieve her Phd when the unfortunate happens: she’s attacked by a lion while photographing meerkat matricide and trying to work out how to get away from the hotshot Harvard lawyer that her mother had matched her up with.

Queue the alien abduction! Dory wakes up alive after being killed by the lion, surrounded by owl-like creatures, naturally her instinct is to scream and try to escape a space ship in the middle of space. She comes across other women asleep in tubes, but only manages to get herself into an escape pod with the same lion that killed her on planet earth. Oh, and at some point she became able to communicate with all aliens and animals by kissing them, so when the lion licks her face she ended up with a talking animal companion who was as keen to escape as she was. Since neither of them can drive an alien space pod, they crash on a nearby planet that is inhabited by mutated dinosaurs and another alien race that resemble satyrs, oh, and they all happen to be only males. Anyone worked out where this is going yet? Even if you think you have, just bear with me.

After nearly being eaten by a mosasaurus, Dory and her lion, who she named Totto, are saved by a Satyr type creature named Sol who is only able to communicate with them after Dory kisses him for saving them. They survive the night, Dory is weirdly attracted to the alien who has not seen a female since the destruction of his home planet ten years ago, after which they were suddenly dumped on this planet, while Sol is interested but then freaks out about Dory’s feet thinking that she has hoof rot. In the morning, Dory and Totto wander off due to Totto’s need to eat, he tries to teach Dory how to hunt during which she inadvertently gets hung upside down in a trap. Then the second Satyr is revealed, Lok, who instantly falls for Dory and that was before she even kisses him. Sol comes charging in, stating that Lok was from an opposing clan, they fight it out until an owl alien crashes their pod trying to retrieve Dory. All three get shot by a dart, which acts as an aphrodisiac and creates a mating bond between them. It’s at this point the true nature of the planet is revealed, any guesses?

It’s a mating program! The boys planet was crashed into by an owl aliens fuel carrier which poisoned their planet and killed their whole population, the fuel company was tasked with repairing the devastation to the species. So, they grabbed some Satyrs, not realising that they were all males, and landed them on a conservation planet that was designed to vaguely resemble their own. Then, a program was initiated to find a species that, with the appropriate modifications, could reproduce with these creatures, which brings us to the abducted human females. They took only females who had suffered an immediate death, healed and modified their reproductive system, then brought them back to life and dropped them off on the planet to begin breeding. They put animals, plants and houses from planet earth to make them feel more comfortable, unfortunately they got all of their information from museums with dinosaur bones and a romance novel with a one-bed trope.

Dory gives in to her urges as does Lok and Sol, which just gets weird because they have tails with suction capabilities on the end of them as well as ridges on their tongues and manhood. I say again, things get weird, especially with the owl alien observing them for ‘research’. So, Dory decides to march her way to the main research centre and punch the guy in charge in the face, her new mates follow her. Eventually, they all get separated, there’s an ensuing battle that has carried on from the boys previous planet which has resulted in the King wanting to kill Lok, using dirty tactics but there’s no possible way he could win on his own. Oh, and he manages to get a female bonded to him who was definitely not ok with it and tries to shoot him multiple times. Those two are perfect for each other, just saying.

Anyways, things work out, Sol and Lok are saved as is Dory, even Totto finds himself a mate in a female sabre tooth tiger. Dory even manages to punch the boss owl in the face, and has sex with Lok and Sol, again, on the alien’s desk after Totto dragged the unconscious alien out of the room. Meanwhile, the King and his human mate were dragged off to couples counselling which resulted in a whole level of the research centre being blown up.

So much more happens in this book, but I just can’t bring myself to explore all of it here. If you enjoy a good laugh and an extreme version of a rom-com with aliens and a talking lion, go for it!
“Plunderer Vol. 1” by Suu Minazuki, Dayeun Kim & Ko Ransom

August 25th, 2025

Since being introduced to the streaming service, CrunchyRoll, I have come across many anime that have caught my interest, and since I am an avid reader when I come across an anime that looks good I of course go looking for the manga or light novel. “Plunderer” is one such anime that I watched and then went in search of the manga when I discovered that there was going to be no more seasons coming my way, very much to my disappointment.

First, the anime. My boyfriend put it on and compared to “Solo Levelling” and “Attack on Titan”, it’s safe to say I cringed hard for the first few episodes. I always knew that adult anime could be highly sexualised, but I never ventured past the child focused anime such as “Yu Gi Oh” and “Pokemon”, until now and I was so not prepared. Safe to say, my boyfriend got a kick out my reactions. Once I got used to the sexualised content, I started to find those parts of the story the way they are supposed to be, and that was comedic. I laughed and smiled, still cringed a little (because I’m that overly sensitive and innocent person) and came to love the story that was happening, which was why I was so upset to find out that the anime series was in fact five years old and was not likely to see anymore episodes. If you have a tendency to blush at any kind of sexual reference or theme, this is perhaps not the show for you.

Which brings me to the manga series, I found them on amazon and got them on my kindle with the exception of Volume 3 which I cannot for the life of me find anywhere, but I will not give up! Until then, I finished Volume 1 which got us to about Episode 8 of the anime series. If I cringed at the anime, the manga turned me bright red! Still nothing directly sexual, but like I said, I’ tend to blush easily and it’s one thing seeing it as an anime rather than a drawn image. It seems to follow the same story, something I find to be a very common thing with anime and manga, which is what I absolutely love about anime and manga.

“Plunderer” is set in a world where the people are governed by numbers, which is determined by a criteria of their choosing. They achieve their criteria, and their number goes up, if they fail their number goes down. If they reach zero, they are dragged into the abyss by metaphysical hands, after which no one knows what happens. The world seems to be set some time in the past, no advanced technology is visible during the story, but there is a big hidden truth behind this world that is not revealed until much later. Some people’s numbers result in a significant amount of power such as manifesting iron objects out of nothing and moving through time or advanced physical attributes such as speed and strength. Additional numbers can be provided through special objects called ballots, but these have become illegal and can result in death.

Characters! Licht is the broken protagonist with hidden power and strength, but seems to be continuously punishing himself for past deeds that were not entirely his fault. He also comes across as a bit of pervert (hence some of the cringing), but I’m pretty sure that this is just one of the many masks he wears to hide himself from others. He is known as The Ace of Flashing Strikes, a soldier from the Waste War which occurred 300 years previously, and he has one of the highest counts in the story. Hina, is the adorable love interest who is fully dedicated to proving to Licht that he is capable of being loved and does not need to shoulder this past on his own. She spent 5 years looking for the legendary Ace, following instructions from her mother as she was dragged into the Abyss. She carries an illegal ballot, trying to find the Ace she was supposed to give it to, and that’s when she finds Licht. She also develops quite a sexualised persona by the end of the anime series, but only for Licht which seems to freak him out a little despite his love for her.

The supporting characters are just as funny and loveable, Pele and Lin as unorthodox military soldiers who help Licht out, Jail who was supposed to capture Licht but ends up helping him as well, and of course Nana who is Licht’s long time friend and one of the toughest female characters in this series. She certainly gives Jail a run for his money, which I cannot wait to see more of!

I have loved this story so far, and cannot wait to find what happens to these amazing characters next!
“Fifth Wing” by Reid Mockery

August 17th, 2025

I have just recently finished my reading of “Fifth Wing” by Reid Mockery, which is a parody of the popular novel “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros. The first thing I must say is that there will be spoilers in this posting (it is unavoidable when talking about this book) and the second thing is, you cannot truly appreciate the humour of this parody unless you have read the original it is based on.

First of all, “Fifth Wing” is just… wow. There is no other way to put it. Every time I went to read it, I had to put it down to laugh and cover my face, unable to look my partner in the eye after what I had just read, considering he was the one who bought the book for me. It was humorous and definitely challenged some of the more intense parts of the “Fourth Wing” novel. However, if you are someone who is wholly dedicated to the original novel and is not flexible to poked fun about it, this is most definitely NOT the reading for you.

So… summary time! Again, there will be some spoilers to this:

Our protagonist, Vile Soreinbut, is fully determined to become another dragon rider in her family, her siblings being one and her mother being a General. However, she is challenged by her inability to study, concentrate without a constant presence of food in her vicinity and her curvy, full figure. While some readers may not appreciate the references to Vile’s weight and size, I myself being a curvy woman, came to appreciate her determination to still fight for her dream and shake her voluptuous body in the faces of those who put her down. Much like Violet, she employed poisonous tactics to win her battles on the mat, and when that didn’t totally work she sat on them which mostly ensure her victory. That is until, Xadence Marriott challenges her to a surprise fight, starting off with a strip tease down to a thong, and an oiled up burlesque dance. I had to put the book down for the first time. Poor Vile never had a chance, although Xadence did make it up to her with a box of pastries.

Vile makes it to the Gauntlet, which is described as the backwards playground from hell itself involving a teeter totter (see-saw), witches’ hat (no idea what the Australian version of this is), merry-go-round, and jungle gym. Much like Violet, she struggles through getting the Gauntlet right, one miss-step could land her in broken glass or a chasm of death. Pain Assos continues to try to help her, despite Vile injuring him every, single, time. To date, he’s been stabbed in the leg and the shoulder, thrown into the hellish playground equipment and leaving with a broken limb and I’m pretty sure he’s also been hit in the head. To anyone to had hoped Dain Aetos from “Fourth Wing” would get injured during the novel, well Pain definitely cops it in this!

Vile gets a handy hint from Xadence, survives the Gauntlet and ends up with two dragons. One oversized, slightly inebriated, black dragon named Torn son of Tarmac, and a rainbow coloured bundle of joy who won’t stop squawking, Adammit. Torn’s signet allows Vile to jump to the front of any line, which is great for the cafeteria, while Adammit’s allows her to shoot lightning from any and all orifices. It’s after this that we get a bit of a script of what the mated dragons get up to when they’re feeling frisky, Vile and Xadence acting out every thought that the dragons send their way, and Vile experiences Xadence’s signet for the second time, an extreme orgasm. You heard me, Xadence is an orgasmic, he literally kills people with super orgasms. It was at that point, I had to put the book down for the third time. The second time was when Xadence explained and demonstrated his signet for the first time in Vile’s room.

The Fifth Wing win the squad challenge, involving four categories: Gauntlet, sparring, war history and fashion. They got a lovely spring break at Mount Lauderdale, where they all get drunk, Vile and Xadence have an emergency heat session when their dragons get frisky again and Xadence experiences Vile’s second signet for the first time, a bolt of lightning out of her butt while he’s trying to get into her. He is then unconscious for the remainder of the trip. That was the fourth time I had to put the book down.

The rest of the book went on about as expected, Vile and Xadence carry on their physical needs with extra protection, the squad heads off on a mission, they come across the gryphons and Vile finds out the truth. They get attacked by Vermint and Wyvern, Vile saves the day with her nostril lightning, but not before accidentally killing Sailor and his dragon (mentally hitting myself as I read this, and still mourning poor Liam), then she flings herself off Torn’s back and plummets to her death. But, then she wakes up in a cozy bed with Xadence looking at her lovingly and her not-so-dead brother standing at the foot of her bed.

So, again, you can’t really truly appreciate the humour of this book without having read “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros, but if you are also a fully committed “Fourth Wing” fan, this probably isn’t the book for you. I love the “Fourth Wing” series and cannot wait for the next one, “Onyx Storm” just absolutely killed me! I did, however, really enjoy the humour of “Fifth Wing” and will be reading the sequel “Purple Flame”, considering that they were bought together.
“Twisted Love” by Ana Huang

August 4th, 2025

I have just finished reading “Twisted Love” by Ana Huang, it is the second of her books that I have read, the first being “King of Wrath”.

“Twisted Love” came across as a typical forbidden love story, falling in love with the brother’s best friend, however there was a lovely and refreshing twist when it came to the climax of the story.

Ava is your bubbly FMC, determined to hate her brother’s best friend, especially when said brother assigns said best friend to essentially baby sit here while he goes on an overseas volunteer program. The MMC, the best friend and love interest, Alex is a stern, no nonsense tough guy in a tailored suit. While he would rather do anything but watch over his best friend’s sister, he does so with gusto! Often upsetting our FMC numerous times in the process.

Eventually, a relationship blossoms and the big ‘L’ word begins to make its appearance when the big twist comes along! Ava and Alex’s relationship gets absolutely annihilated by this revelation, even his best friend cuts off all ties. This is where I discover my favourite character in the story, even though Bridget is only a side character, she comes in and successfully gets Alex to pull his head in and I love her for it! Her character has some mad sass and power in the ‘Twisted’ universe, I cannot wait to find out more about her and her broody body guard Rhys in Ana Huang’s second instalment “Twisted Games”.

All in all, a nice easy read. Simple story with some interesting characters, and definitely keen to read “Twisted Games” with my girl Bridget.
“Darkly” by Marisha Pessl

July 13th, 2025

“Darkly” by Marisha Pessl I started reading as a change of pace after taking in manga after manga. As the cover suggests, it’s a darker YA novel revolving around a young female protagonist and a secretive internship that she gains for two weeks in London. It’s dark, it’s mysterious and it does keep you thinking about the story afterwards.

Arcadia “Dia” Gannon is our main protagonist, portrayed as a young woman out of her time, dressing differently to other young women her age and practically running her mother’s antique shop along with the store’s only other two employees who live in the local assisted living centre. Dia is relied on by everyone involved, her life taken over by her mother’s shop full of all sorts of things from the victorian age, her mother’s overwhleming desire to be in a relationship and spending money on more antiques that they cannot afford. Dia is presented with the opportunity to apply for an internship with a foundation in London who focuses on preserving the memory of legendary Game Board Creator Louisiana Vede, whose games known as “Darkly’s” are well sought after due to their eccentric and dark natures that at times led to psychological damage of the players and on occasion their deaths. Dia’s application is submitted by one of the store’s various cats and much to her surprise she is one of seven interns from around the world accepted into the internship as long as they signed a dense contract that spanned hundreds of pages which would result in their silence at the end of the internship.

Dia goes on the internship much to the shock and hysteria of her mother, and quickly realises that the internship is not what she and the other interns were told it would be. They get isolated at the very island where the Darkley’s were created by Louisiana Vede herself, and have been tasked to locate, play and win the missing Darkly “Valkyrie” , the theft of which led to the untimely death of Louisiana Vede. Dia is faced with a mystery decades old, a Darkly boardgame that has somehow been brought to life and led to the disappearance of it’s first winner. She is faced with lies told by the foundation itself, her fellow interns and even Louisiana herself, as well as the possibility that this internship could very well result in her death.

This novel had it all in the story: theft, death, the mysterious childhood of a mysterious gamemaker, playing to win and a missing child (more than one). While I enjoyed the story, I admittedly felt that the characters of the interns could of have been explored more, as well as the potential love interests – there was so much more I wanted to know about them! Also, despite the adrenaline pumping resolution to the Darkly Game “Valkyrie” (which was very well written by the way), I also felt the overall ending of the novel was a little anti-climatic, but then perhaps that was the point? I am still thinking about the ending now, and how it had to have been referred to throughout the story. Were there some easter eggs that I had missed? Surely there’s more to it than that? It can’t just end there! Thinking about it, I can see why I would think so things considering the “gag-order” put on the interns by the foundation, that is perhaps why I feel the way I do about the end of the novel.

All in all, a good read and change of pace.

Green Mage
“Attack on Titan Omnibus: Vol. 1, 2 & 3” by Hajime Isayama

July 7th, 2025

*FAIR WARNING: Only foundational information is provided, no major plot spoilers are in this*

“Attack on Titan Omnibus: Vol. 1, 2 & 3” by Hajime Isayama is the first manga I’ve read without seeing the anime first. Not gonna lie, it did take me a little more time to work through the drawings because this is the first time I have experienced the story, but overall I have really enjoyed it.

Set in an Apocolyptic world where earth has been over run by giant humanoid figures known as “Titans” that seem to have only one goal: eating up the human race. Focused on a particular settlement of human society, they had spent 100 years in a relatively peaceful situation behind a set of fifty foot walls (three walls: an outer one, a secondary one, and the interior wall) to keep the titans out, which is all well and good until a colossus titan who completely stands over the walls just suddenly pops up out of nowhere and starts making openings in the outer wall for other titans to start charging in and acting on 100 years of starvation.

From that point we meet the main three protagonists: Erin Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. They grow up together and manage to survive the attack from the colossus titan, not without some major trauma, and come five years later they are newly graduated trainees in the defence corps, each with their own motivations to be defending and fighting against titans. The characters and their fellow trainees are deciding on their futures when, out of nowhere for a second time, the colossus titan appears again to do the exact same thing as last time: bust up the secondary wall for the other titans to get in and eat some more humans.

I was totally not prepared for the amount of deaths and blood and queasy eating of humans that the manga showed so early on in the story, but it did not take away from the story. There’s deaths, both minor and significant, lost loves, grief and a whole lot of fear and of course, revenge. While it sounds like the story is mainly about fighting the titans, and humanity trying to pull together to survive, that is so not true. You’ve got the underlining stories of the three main protagonists including the actions of one of their parents that nearly ruined everything for them in these first three volumes, so much mystery to uncover! Naturally I have some theories… but can’t really air them without some major spoilers and I would hate to ruin this journey for you all.

Defintely an enjoyable read and I cannot wait to find out more about what’s caused all of this mayhem!

Green Mage
“Solo Leveling: Vol. 1” by Chugong

July 6th, 2025

After watching the Anime of the Year (2025) series “Solo Leveling” on Crunchyroll, which was beyond amazing, I naturally decided that I wanted to read the manga series. First of all, the publication is set up like a western comic rather than a traditional manga, reading it left to right as opposed to right to left. It is also printed in colour, which looks fantastic and matches up wonderfully to the anime series.

I was more than excited to see that the anime series matches up to Vol. 1 perfectly, why ruin a good thing? Set in modern day South Korea, we have our main protagonist, Jinwoo Sung, who is your classic underdog, weakest of the lot but a heart and soul of a warrior, who experiences the most traumatic “near death” experience only to come out on the otherside. However, he is certainly not the same person who entered that otherworldly dungeon at the start of the volume. Set in a universe where doorways to other worlds open up randomly on earth, filled with differedt ranked monsters and gems that provide a different kind of energy to the human world, humans who “awaken” as hunters raid these dungeons, kill the monsters, gain treasures and close the portals to stop the monsters from raiding the human world. Jinwoo Sung is one such hunter, and as I said before, the weakest of the lot. However, his background story cries for empathy, working as a hunter to pay for his sister’s education and to care for his comatose mother, he repeatedly endures severe injuries and near death experiences to care for his family. Until this last experience changes everything.

The story is set up like a quest game, defeating monsters of different levels until you defeat the boss monster of the dungeon, taking the treasures left behind by the monster you kill. While the story follows Jinwoo Sung, there are a whole range of complex characters that he interacts with who have their own stories that tug at the heart strings. Whether you’re a fan of manga, or anime or both! I highly recommend both series, bearing in mind that the manga series is completed (as far as I know) and Crunchyroll has only released seasons one and two, the third season not expected out until 2027 (argh!).

This defintely a story of strength, growth, dedication and relationships. I personally cannot wait to keep watching Jinwoo Sung grow as a character and see where his Solo Leveling journey takes him.

Green Mage
Music and Creativity

July 5th, 2025
Music has become a significant aspect of everyday life, it is no longer a commodity that members of the upper class used to be the only ones to enjoy. People have access to music 24/7 through various apps and platforms to listen to at point: driving the car, travelling on public transport, studying, drawing, painting, cleaning, working, writing…

I am not stranger to using music to fill the neverending void of silence when completing tasks, cleaning, writing and when I was student, studying. Even now I am listening to music as I am typing this (Dark Aria (Solo Levelling) – Instrumental by David Eman and Pandora Journey). I personally feel like different types of music result in different end products, especially when it comes to my writing. Upbeat music tend to lean more towards happier moments in my writing, intense instrumentals help fill out fighting scenes, heartfelt songs provides more emotion and character analysis within scenes. Writer Sophie Lark, in her book Grimstone (which I read this year, and very much enjoyed) she states that music plays a significant role in her creative writing process:

“Music is a big part of my writing process. If you start a song when you see a [music note] while reading, the song matches the scene like a movie score.”

– Sophie Lark, Grimstone

Lark even goes the next step and assigns a song to a specific chapter, which I had taken to running through spotify as I read the chapter and it just opens your mind completely to what’s happening in the story. There have been some published literature exploring the impact of music on the brain’s cognitive processes, linking it to the individual’s ability to process trauma, to becoming a more effective leader and improving one’s ability to being more productive by enhancing their creative ability. Aidan Kang and Aliso Viejo stated that music has the potential to enhance our ability to think freely and explore possibilities, suggesting that listening to music opens our minds to thoughts and ideas that wouldn’t always present themelves in zones of silence or everyday noise.

“One participant vividly described, “The presence of music while I was engrossed in writing my book served as a powerful muse, helping me conjure vivid imagery and craft intricate narratives.””

– A. Kang & A. Viejo, Creative Problem-Solving and Music: Analyzing the Correlation between Music and Divergent Thinking Abilities (2023)

Their study indicated that music also plays a role in the creative imagination of an individual, allowing individuals to imagine scenes in their minds with specific details such as the climate of a landscape, or the sensations of knitted wool against skin or the sounds of a train carriage during peak hour. Not saying that the creative and imaginative power of music is suited only to writing, it is employed by many different creative styles such as painting, drawing, sculpture, web design and photography. As well as people who simply play to fill the empty silence while they are occupying themselves. I have also noticed some books are even providing playlists to accompany their reader’s journey through their novels, examples include Veronica Eden’s Hell Gate (which was my first discovery of playlists in novels) and H.D. Carlton’s Haunting Adeline, which definitely enhanced the reading of Carlton’s novel with very dark gothic vibes that suited the narrative beyond words.

The few articles I have read so far in the interest of this post have suggested the same thing: music is a catalyst for imagination, creativity and productivity as well as informing the healing process for traumatic experiences. Music is a powerful thing and I am very grateful for the artists who provide these amazing pieces, both classical and contemporary.

Green Mage

Bibliography:
- Adams, B. G. (2009). Coping with traumatic experiences: An analysis of the health benefits of combining music listening with the expressive writing paradigm (Order No. 3386109). Available from ProQuest Central. (304864998). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/coping-with-traumatic-experiences-analysis-health/docview/304864998/se-2
- Kang, A. (2023). Creative Problem-Solving and Music: Analyzing the Correlation between Music and Divergent Thinking Abilities. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 13(11), 199-205.
- Listening to “happy music” may lead to more creative mind: Study. (2017, Sep 06). Xinhua News Agency – CEIS Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/listening-happy-music-may-lead-more-creative-mind/docview/1936212605/se-2
- Pogacnik, M. (2007, July 16). Discovering creativity through music, listening and freedom. Nation’s Cities Weekly, 30(28), 5+. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/apps/doc/A166778341/AONE?u=slnsw_public&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=f80c0c2e