Today’s post is an animation special apparently. I personally think fantasy books work better as animations, unless they have a huge budget. We all remember the CGI in First Kill, embarrassing. Obviously I don’t know how much it costs to make an animation so I could be wrong, maybe the budget would be bigger, but I’ve been on an anime binge recently so that’s really influenced this post.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
I’m being so serious when I say this absolutely has to be animated. Holly Black recently posted a fan made animation of Cardan and Nicasia and it looked SO good. I’ve also really been into anime recently (I’ve always loved it but I’ve been on a real binge for the last few weeks). A style like Demon Slayer would work so well for a The Folk of the Air series, all of the characters are so pretty and that makes sense for a show about the fae.
They’d need to really lean into the character backstories and politics though. I feel like a lot of people go into this book thinking it’s a romance, which really isn’t the case. I adore Cardan and Jude, they are one of my favourite book couples, but it’s the politics of their relationship that makes it so interesting.
Talking about this book is giving me the itch to reread it. I’ve actually never written reviews for any of the books in this series so that could be fun to do. Hopefully I’d still think they’re five star reads.
Synopsis: Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
I also think this would work well as an anime type show. I’m thinking the same type of art style as The Witcher anime films. Personally, I think magical effects look way cooler in animation and you could make this so stylised and beautiful.
A great thing about animation as well is people can’t get annoyed when the actor doesn’t look like the original character. Plus, there are so many incredible voice actors that, let’s be honest, are better than most “Hollywood” actors that could do something like this justice. There’s a lot of angst and longing and no one does that better than anime voice actors.
I didn’t realise until now just how much I want to see a TV adaptation of these books.
Synopsis: A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.
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