/pony/ - Pony

i don't read as much as a lot of people, not because i can't, as i do have excellent reading comprehension, but rather it's a chore cause of my ADHD. If i could count the times i've had to reread the same page because my mind decided to go off on its own tangent; i'd have enough money to fund the film adaptation of it

that being said, i do have some books that i enjoyed quite a bit! some basic, some not as much, and also not in any particular order!

1. The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. Fun and exciting high fantasy novel in a BIG series that was a real page turner, i couldn't put it down! while i liked the first one, it did feel a bit close to LotR, where as the sequel definitely made its own path and story

2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski; I read this book before it was cool >< all jokes aside, i remember i looked this one up cause i had a bit of a silent hill itch, and somebody recommended to me; i can safely say it's not really that, but sort of the predecessor to the backrooms craze, and an absolute mindfuck; as well as just being weird and convoluted, but in a really fun way! i think it helped that many of the pages literally defied convention by twisting and doin weird stuff. but the story was great too, with several layers of unreliable narrators around this footage found in a dead mans place about a house that has impossible dimensions and an eldritch attraction; it was a great time

3. The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley; this is just a screenwriter formatting book, but it's also the book i've used the most; even well after i bought it for my screenwriting class 5 years ago; so for being the one book that im actually happy i paid for, it goes on this list

4. Lord of the Rings. I mean, what can i say that hasn't been said? it's the quintessential fantasy story that laid the foundation for all modern fantasy! i just feel silly that i never knew the actual end to the books until like 20 years after the movies were released ><

5. Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi; a taoist philosophy cannon by the 2nd most famous Taoist master. It showcases his views on spontaneous living, doubting reality, and is legitimately funny and quirky. If i had to choose something that is close to my own beliefs, it would be a Zhuangzi style Taoism. if the sky falls, what can you possibly do about it? thus there is no reason to worry about it :P

anywho, i hope you enjoyed that!

>>1192042
I feel that! Just got diagnosed 4 years ago myself. I have very intense ADHD according to the doctors. But reading makes me hyperfocus. Lucky? There are some things I can't do for the life of me, though. Generally dishes and emails.

Noelle, these sound Phenomemal. Thanks for sharing. I'll certainly buy the great hunt (or maybe the first book in the series) and put it on my kindle.

>>1192044
hey, if reading makes you hyperfocus, that legit sounds like a superpower! i'm lowkey jelly >< i can relate tot he dishes tho >.>

i hope you enjoy them! i mean, i know the screenwriting format book probably doesn't have much use to you unless you are also writing screenplays, but it's very handy!

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien: Got me into fantasy stories and games big time. I had it sitting at home for 10 years before finally reading it.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Ecco: Loved the movie with Sean Connery, so I had to read it at some point. A historical mystery in an abbey; lots of interesting characters.

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Probably the original „modern“ knights and swords story. Saxons VS. Normans in England in the Middle Ages, incl. Robin Hood. Also the book that created the name ‚Cedric‘.

Dracula by Bram Stoker: Not much to say that isn’t known. No movie ever covered it to a t.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: Fun, easy to read fantay novel.

In no particular order:

1. Like Noelle >>1192042 and Clarity >>1192077 , I have to include *LOTR*.

2. *The C Programming Language* by K&R: hands-down the best way to learn C.

3. *Theft of Fire* by Eriksen: engaging hard sci-fi, set in a future without LLMs.

4. *Harry Potter* series.

5. *Linear Algebra Done Right* by Axler: this book helped me to really understand what's going on.

O shiet, hi Rose. Sure been a while.

I really don't read enough novels anymore to say much here. I'll have to think for a bit. Unless K can add some graphic novel, then I'll be in the zone

>>1192129
Graphic Novels are A-OK

>>1192093
It seems everyone likes Tolkien in here! I got through the first two books but stumbled on the return of the king.

Theft of fire sounds dope on it's goodreads page, but what's an LLM?

>>1192077
Whoa I can tell we have super different taste. I kinda do like historical mysteries, though.

Neat
I can probably list 5 books, in non-important order, that I found good. I'll pick 1 for each author. (with an asterix)
Them being my top 5 favourites is similar to me listing my favourite songs. It may just depend on the day you ask me, since it's difficult to rank exactly.

> Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett (Discworld)
There's been plenty books I read in the Discworld series (The amazing Maurice) among them. And I think there are plenty of great subseries in there (Rincewind / Moist von Lipwig / The witches / ...)
The city watch subseries is just a pretty fun read. Of these books, perhaps my absolute favourite is the one that really introduced the main characters.
A new watchman dealing with the cynical world of Ankh Morpork, a night watch struggling to gain relevance. A plot to summon a dragon to take over the city. All while making fun of the fantasy tropes.

> The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
I once put down A Prayer for Owen Meanie as my favourite Irving novel. But it's been more than a decade ago that I read that one. The hotel New Hampshire is the first Irving book I read and that was during an English assignment on recommendation of my teacher after I found the orignal book (Patty Clark.. hahaha) not to my liking.
John Irving has a nack for writing sort of biographies drenged in funny anecdotes of the character's life, interchanged with all the drama that a person goes through.
The hotel New Hampshire sees the main character grow up with his family, losing the mother at an early age, emigrating to Vienna, survive a terror attack. Lots of themes with the family members, LGBTQ involvement and then some.

> American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Oh, how it stings to find out about the author here.
Nonetheless, American Gods is an exciting story of Gods fighting to stay relevant and a human main character getting involved. It has its funny moments, but mostly is a weird and thrilling story with plot twists and the whole shebang.

> The House of Silk - Anthony Horrowitz
I tried reading Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, but I find those stories a bit archaic and dull. Sherlock, while neurodivergent and very smart, isn't as much of an anti hero, Watson is very anal and the mysteries aren't as exciting.
The house of Silk, however gave me the sensational Sherlock Holmes. A bit of a sarcastic prick thinking he's smarter than the rest. The mystery actually goes places, there is some really thrilling debelopments and unexpected reveals. It's the stuff I'd read Sherlock Holmes for.

We haven't got Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yet? Well, it's probably bound to show up.
So for something completely different:
> The Art of the Infinite - Robert and Ellen Kaplan
This books builds up mathematics within history and arrives at some results across different domains, all building it up.
I don't know how easy it is to read if you're not really familiar with math to begin with, but it does capture what reqsoning mathematicians have in building out math like this.

Anyways, I'll leave it at this for now.

>>1192134
Oh, I have to mention
> Things my girlfriend and I have argued about - Mil Millington
Probably nit that well known, but it's a hilarious tale of catastrophe upon catastrophe. A man manages to weasel himself to the top, only to have his life thumble down around him. A cynical story that us bound to give you a chuckle.

>>1192130
Just makin' sure. Of course, a non-fiction book or two probably may sneak on here.

Anyway, trying to come up with five, let's see....

"Cujo" by Stephen King
No surprise that I have at least one horror book on here, is it?

Cujo is probably not Stephen King's BEST book, but it absolutely my personal favorite. It was written during his infamous years wher ehe was so hopped up on coke he barely remembers writing any of it. But, I find it to be one of his more concise and beautifully simple ideas.

There's a woman: There's her son. There's a car that won't move. And there's a rabid St. Bernard's outside that wants to tear them apart. And that's more or less it, at least once the action moves to the main location.

King is a writer I love, but he DOES have a tendency to veer off and introduce a plethora of different ideas in one story. Not so much here. It stays focused on the core bit of tension, and it's wonderful. I also find the film version by Lewis Teague fantastic, and in general, it's just my favorite King story.


"Direct Your Own Damn Movie!" by Lloyd Kauffman

This is not really a book I have on here because I have read it hundreds of times or anything like that. It's on here because it's one of the most effective creative kicks in the asses I read.

For those that don't know, Lloyd Kauffman is the man who created the film company Troma, and director and writer of films like The Toxic Avenger. Schlocky, gory, low-rent movies to be sure and not for everyone's taste... but there is no one who is quite as big a spokesman for "everyone should be able to make art regardless of what that art is" as Kauffman.

Strictly speaking, the book is about producing and directing movies on a shoestring budget outside of the Studio System, but it is just also a very good motivator of a book, and it's what made me pull myself together and make a couple of short films years ago - and it's one I think back to whenever my motivation for anything creative I wanna do wanes. Having met the man and seen that his interest in what everyone does is genuine, regardless of their "status", and even hving him ask me if I had any movies to recommend after an interview... well, that probably helps my love for this book.

Beause Lloyd doesn't pack things up nicely or in easily marketable language. The entire book can be wrapped up with this (paraphrased) sentiment from him:

"Whatever you make might not be good. There's a good chance it'¨ll be a piece of shit. But it'll be a piece of shit you actually made, which will put you miles ahead of the constipated coffee shop hipsters who have spent the last five years talking your ear off about the script they are totally gonna write some day".

Or, in another equally crude one:

"Inspiration isn't a magical fairy that flies by and flashes her tits at you. You gotta go find it yourself."


"Reaper Man" by Terry Pratchett
Glad to see I am nto the only Discworld fan in here - although admittedly, I have read pretty few of these books. Of the ones I have read though, Reaper Man is by far the best.

The story of Death himself getting a break off of "work" to try and live among mortals for a life and reaching a completely different understanding of what a life is and what his job is in its end. It's hilarious to be sure, like all Discowrld books, and it does raise a few moments of existential dread. But it's also oddly calming, strangely reassuring and, honestly, pretty beautiful.

"What can the harvest hope for, if not the care of the Reaper Man?" is a line that lives rent free in my head.


"Mr. B. Gone" by Cliver Barker
Since we all know I love horror, of course I have checked out some Clive Barker. And you may expect his short stories that led to famous movies, like Candyman or Hellraiser to make their way to my little list of books, but instead, it's one I picked up on a whim.

Mr. B. Gone is the biography of the titular demon from hell... and the story of how he got caught inside of the very book you are currently holding in your hands.

That is not a joke. Between actually telling his story, Gone talks directly to you, the reader, begging you to burn the book and end his existance. And like an actual demon, he will try every single trick he can imagien to get you to do what he wants. Sometimes he'll promise you great riches and fortune if you burn the book. Other times, he'll threaten you with violence or eternal damnation. he desrcibes himself as "moving in the flicker of your eyes as they move from word to word", and it actually does get really damn scary. It's the one time I've read a book where I kind of got worried if something was standing right behind me, like he promised he was.

Great stuff ,and a relatively short read.


"TOMIE" by Junji Ito
Well, I did ask about Graphic Novels, although this is really more of a collection of stories with a reoccuring character.

Junji Ito is a hell of a mangaka. His stories make almost no sense outside of their own nightmarish logic, and he can create some of the most nightmarish, gory images you can imagine. But there's almost never a sense of pointless randomness to his stories.

And Tomie, a series of stories about a demonic seeming woman who makes people so obsessed with her that they take to violence, only to reform and do it all over again, is a perfect example. Almost every story explores a different kind of love, lust or obsession with the titular Tomie. It can be envy of her appearence, it can be sexual desire, it can be a desire to be able to depict her beauty in art, it can be a desire to have her as a maternal or child figure... it's never the same thing twice. And it's always creepy as hell and always leads to some of the most insane visuals you could possibly imagine.

It also helps that the first few stories - including the very firsto ne whic his the one that made Ito famous - shows that even he, famous for his great level of detail, started with scratchier, messier art. It probably sounds mean, but seeing this soothes me sometimes when I am extra hard on my own percieved lack of skill.

>>1192077
Dracula really is pretty friggin' great. And I suppose someday I should check The Last unicorn. I at the very least loved the movie.

>>1192134
>Gaiman
Myeah, I like to run on Death of the Author. I'd be hard pressed to let go of some of the best Gaiman stories I've read. I also started reading Sandman shortly before everything came out about him, and I definitely still intend to read the rest.

I don't have favorite specific books but I do have favorite book SERIES

Number 1 has to be Wheel of Time, it's definitely my all time favorite.

Number 2 is The Expanse. Basically the science fiction equivalent of the best high fantasy.

Number 3 is The Crown of Stars series. If you liked Game of Thrones but wanted there to be more religion then this series is for you! It's set in a fantasy world based on our own world circa 1100s or so, don't remember exactly. As I said, religion is a major aspect of it, but so is magic and court intrigue as well as war. All my favorite stuff, really.

Number 4 and Number 5, I'm not so sure about. The three I mentioned already are pretty much my main favorites, anything past that is up to my feelings at any given time and right now I don't have any major feelings one way or another about anything I've been reading.

>>1192037
> The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. My all time favorite children's book.
Reminds me that Tery also wrote the Tiffany Aching series for young adults.
And man, that series goes incredibly dark, on anything after the Wee Free Man. Like, waaaaay darker than the adult novels.

>>1192042
At some point I need to get my mitts on House of Leaves. All I've heard about it has been really interesting.

>>1192077
> Dracula
I have that book, haven't gotten around to reading it. I did like the short story "The Judge's house" once and it was pretty scary.
I did read Il nome de la Rosa once.

>>1192093
> Harry Potter
I had the opportunity to just start Harry Potter once (couldn't finish as my SIL went and wanted to borrow the book from mùy ex at the time and I came second). Yeah, JK Rowling gets a lot of crap nowadays an,d as a result, people shit on her work.
But I found Harry Potter at least compelling. And I did read Casual Vacancy, which was a pretty nice rtead.

>>1192136
I haven't yet read one of the big works of SDteven King. I did read a collection of short stories once.
It had a story about a guy who gets into cyclo training and starts to imagine him being among road workers representing his heart and bloodcells or something.
And a story about a guy who gets obsessed with numbers after visiting some cryptic site.
Though my favourite one was the guy who got locked up in a port-a-potty and has to wade through human waste to escape.

> Reaper Man
That's been a while ago now.

To be honest books are so subjective that I think it only makes sense to rank them differently from day to day, because subjectively they will be better or worse depending on the moment, right?

>>1192134
I fucking love Guards Guards. Not as much as I loved the later books in the series though! Snuff is a masterpiece.

>>1192135
That actually sounds so good, lol.

>>1192136
Ohhh, thanks, Esh! These are so lovely. You really have a developed critical voice. I'm a King fan myself! I read him a lot in my teens.

I love that everyone reads pratchett here. I didn't get into pratchet until this year, and I've been screaming through titles with rapt attention.

Tomie is FUCKED UP. I thought about that story for days when I read it. Honestly, just completely FUCKED UP.

>>1192138
Thanks for sharing, Harlowe! These are all completely new to me, which is nuts. I thought I had something in common with everyone.

>>1192140
I loved the tiffany aching series, almost as much as I loved the watch. Thunder on my right, Lightning on my left, I'm crying like a little girl.

>>1192146
You know? Snuff is the one I picked up some time ago and I still have to finish.

But I watched the Wendigoon and the Flawed Peacock presentation on The King in Yellow.

And now I decided to take a break and re-read my book of short stories of E.F. Benson. Ghost stories, I suppose.
And a very brief detour to read the Elle est trois, la mort short story.

>>1192148
A lot of people say it's a little too political or on the nose, but I loved that about it. I think it was written while he was in the beginning stages of dementia, and the tone is very different from anything else.

Pratchett's writings are like an Ocean. You can sail anywhere you want, and discover something completely unexpected every time. I could never read even one series all in one go, it would just be too much for me. I'd need diversions too!

God you're a freaking book head aren't you! Those sound like super niché.

I'm going to be going to bed, getting up early to travel tomorrow.

Thank y'all for entertaining me a bit.

I probably will be gone for a day or two, and I don't know if I'll post after that, but to anyone I didn't get a chance to reconnect with on this short visit to talk about books, I just wanna say it's been good vibes thinking back on this place, over the years.

Enjoy your days

<3

>>1192146
Pratchett was a genius, pure and simple. Comically, yes, but also in terms of adapting abstract ideas. It is hard to get an actual guffaw out in raw text form, but goddamnit if these books have not made me laugh out loud.

Hah, well, go ahead and read Uzumaki too, then. That story has one of VERY VERY few Comic book chapters I flat out refuse to ever read again next time I go through Uzumaki.

...and another one of those is another Junji Ito short story. That man knows how to gross someone out.

>>1192130
> what's an LLM?
Large Language Model, like ChatGPT.

I started reading at a very, very young age, compared to most people, and I really find it nearly impossible to pick my 'favorite books ever' even if I expand my analysis to a 'top ten' or such.

I want to come up with something to say. Though. Maybe I can highlight two works in my 'top hundred' books. If that's alright.

These are also the last two books that I've added to my personal shelves (and they've been a part of my mind for a long, long while now):

>

'What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East' was authored by Bernard Lewis and published in 2002. Looking online, I've seen this great summary and feel inclined to simply repeat it. "In this influential work, historian Bernard Lewis examines the historical, cultural, and political reasons behind the decline of Islamic societies relative to the West. Lewis explores key events, from the Ottoman Empire’s stagnation to modern political upheavals, seeking to explain how once-powerful civilizations fell behind in terms of economic, technological, and political development. Themes: Historical decline, cultural clashes, modernity versus tradition, nationalism, and the impact of Western colonialism."

'Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA' was authored by Mark Riebling and got published, in contrast, back in 1994. I believe, though, that my edition has follow-up information relating to the late 1990s and other stuff slid in. I'll do the same thing of relying on somebody else's online summary since it looks good to me (why not, really). "Mark Riebling’s investigative work delves into the covert and often contentious relationship between the FBI and CIA from World War II through the Cold War. It explores how inter-agency rivalries hindered intelligence efforts, sometimes with disastrous consequences, including the mishandling of crucial information before the Kennedy assassination and during the Vietnam War. Themes: Espionage, institutional rivalry, national security, bureaucratic conflict, and the consequences of secrecy plus mistrust."

I've finished reading The Hobbit for the first time in ages. Also, the first time I've actually read it in German.

They made some strange translation choices in it, like not calling the dwarves in the usual fashion, e.g., "Thorin Sohn of Thrain" but instead "Thorin Thrainsson".

Is it worth buying an e-reader?

>>1193608
I prefer hardcopy books, but I think it's certainly worth getting an e-reader if you want to save space or want to read on travels and stuff.

>>1193608
I've found them very convenient for work and travel.

>>1193618
>>1193645
Yeah I mostly want something for travel. Physical books are a no but I guess I was also considering a tablet or an eink tablet.

I'm thinking for the relatively cheap price and long battery life you guys have convinced me on just an e-reader to load library books on to.

>>1193618
>I think it's certainly worth getting an e-reader if you want to save space or want to read on travels and stuff.
Great points to make.

I read this five times over.

Ι ρεαδ θισ φιεβ τιεμζ οβερ

Й ред θис фйв тймз овер

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees.

only novel I've read and still waiting for part two.

I bought The Shining today, I wonder what the differences are to the movie.

>>1193733
>>1193733
Bottom line: a lot.

There's a reason King himself is not actually very fond of the film. Not because it's a bad movie, but it's pretty off as an adaptation.

I consider them two very different takes on the same idea, mostly, and both absolutely more than worth experiencing

>>1193733
>>1193776
When King made his famous quote that's something like "If the main character is going to be played by Jack Nicholson and then asked to ham it up at full force from the exact first second of the movie on, then you're basically getting rid of half of my book, especially since I didn't want that man to be a Doctor Doom or Lex Luthor type cartoon villain", like, honestly, I feel for King. It has to be kind of heartbreaking even if the movie commercially has been a huge hit.

>>1193776
Have you read many of his works?

>>1193778
It was also a great movie. Good books don't always make into good movies if they aren't adapted and changed where necessary.

>>1193919
>>1193919
A pretty decent chunk, though not much from more recent years.

>>1192037
I'm going to assume series count as 'one'.
These'll be a more general 'top five' because I don't really want to rank them around much.

>Wings of Fire
I kind of fell in love accidentally with the series. I didn't expect it, but the world caught me by surprise. Tui is really, really good at writing side characters and background characters well, to the point that they feel 'real' for lack of a better word. Like what they're doing is sensible for them, individually, instead of just being a plot device character as so many end up. Those aren't terrible, but, it's what makes Wings of Fire feel so much more 'alive' as a setting.

>Mating Flight
Another surprise, and one I absolutely adore. Has probably my favorite depiction of dragons so far. Very strange, proper xenoficiton, following a young dragon on her titular mating flight. Despite the name, it's not really 'lewd' or anything. Or, well, okay, it can be, but that's not the focus, and the main character can't feel anything anyways, so it's always treated with a level of detachment. Mostly it just follows a series of dragons on a sort of 'coming of age' event. And that's just a lot of fun.

>Vainqueur the Dragon
Ah, one of my absolute all time favorites. Vainqueur is just the best. Man definitely encapsulates all that is dragonkind in one fell swoop. A true gigachad, who takes what he wills, yet treats his treasures right...
There's a shocking amount of growth throughout as well. Vainqueur already has a heart of gold, but as we go throughout, he goes beyond that. He learns what it is to value others. To treasure them as well as any gemstone. He honors his adversaries, and ends up a shockingly mature soul, for what we first meet. Albeit he still has his draconic wildness that gives him such charm. Great series.

>The Hobbit
Gonna be real, this might be controversial, but the Hobbit is way, way better than Lord of the Rings.
Both due to Bilbo actually having a meaningful arc, and in respect to the entire setting and struggle actually feeling like it goes somewhere.
Lord of the Rings is probably more 'realistic', but realistic isn't inherently better. And I found the tale of the dwarves far more compelling than "evil rings" in the first place.

>Ender's Game
No dragons this time! Unless you count the dragon present in that one game that fucks with Ender's brain a bit. But that's some weird bullshit going on with the aliens trying to communicate with him, so, I wouldn't count it.

Good book. One that I kind of grew up with. Was a gift from my uncle, and one I read a few times. I always appreciate its angle on kids in general not being anywhere near as stupid as people act. I always hated that. Kids aren't dumb. Honestly, they think more than adults. I feel it's rare that media in general writes them well, as consequence of not understanding this.

>>1194054
>that image
oof, I feel that. always gaslighting myself over social insecurity

>>1194054
I'm sorry but that dragon is extremely immature. "UMMMM nobody is talking when I'm around! Y-You all need to grow up!" No. You're the problem. We just don't bring it up because every time we do you end up throwing a bitch fit

>>1194068
>>1194071
>The duality of man
Winter did nothing wrong by the way.

>>1194072
They don't understand how I use my cloak of glimmer. Wizard heil Ishtar. They don't understand how I use my cloak of glimmer.
All my wizards clerics, wizard heil Ishtar

Anyone here read the Chronicles of Prydain? I feel like getting those books.

>>1194222
No, but I must admit to having been at least a little curious after last time I watched The Black Cauldron.

That movie is a bit of a mess, but learning that there's actualyl a whole book series it's based on, and the aprts of the fantasy world we see actually being fairly intriguing definitely catches my attention.

I might have to look them up on soem of my audio book apps. There's a lack of fantasy stories on there for me right now anyway.

>>1194268
The Black Cauldron movie was actually what got me into fantasy way back when in the 80s.

So yeah, I'm interested in getting into that series.

>>1194281
>>1194281
I don't think it's outright awful as some will claim, but it is certainly a bit tonally confused and jumbled. There's a lot to like about it.

I was actually just looking through my audio book app trying to think of fantasy novels I wanna listen to, but I tend to like my fantasy pretty big and colorful. "Medieval setting and then MAYBE some guy casts one spell or something vaguely  dragon like shows up for a chapter" seems to Be what most people write, judging from the story breakdowns I've looked at today.

>>1194285
It's not an easy to find book here, but I'll keep my eyes open.

I'm half way through the Shining now. It's somewhat different, but not as much as I expeced really, just in details and scope.

>>1194680
Ooooh, halfway through, will be interested in what you're going to say when you're all done!

>>1194071
To give LORE here, you're not entirely wrong, it's just that Winter's 100% in the right if he were to explode when they tell him what's really going down.
Trouble basically boils down to how they handled the BBEG. See, Winter just came from some real traumatic events around magic, where his brother has had some major identity crisis over it after spending years as another dragon thanks to a cursed amulet. Winter'd even put on that amulet himself, just to get a feel for what horror story his brother went through, so he has a first hand knowledge on just how bad that stuff is.

And yet, his friends, the 'found family' he traded his own for, the ones who he was going to return to from his old, abusive one, who literally tried to sacrifice him pitting him and his brother against one another, ended up being much the same. Saying when the BBEG put a spell on him that they PREFERRED him under that magic... Actually liked him better when he was enchanted.
Needless to say this put a pretty big spike on things. Especially when one of the friends was buddy-buddy with the BBEG, and the other was actively trying to hide information from that friend about how the BBEG was actively engaged in genocide the Icewings...

This all culminated with a later point when there's a big fight between the Icewings and the BBEG's army, and Winter goes off to help his family. Abusive though they might be, they were his family. Well, those 'friends' of his took this as some kind of shocking betrayal, for some unknown reason, and ultimately managed to trick the BBEG into enchanting himself using a scroll disguised as a strawberry.
Though that, too, has major problems, because they did this by turning him into a totally different dragonet, not even just deaging him but outright modifying his entire state of being, even going as far as to make him a hybrid Rainwing.
Needless to say, considering Winter has had personal experiences with that, he'd be unhappy.
And given his pretty strong moral codes, that even included saving Foeslayer, a legendary Nightwing villain by Icewing lore, because he found the punishment too far, it's very likely he'd have some strong words for the immorality of what they've done.

Ultimately he never returned to the school. He knows they're hiding stuff from him, and so, he chose to leave it behind, tragically blaming himself.
The rest of them don't do more than write. Kinkajou at least visited. But, frankly, I hope he moves on from them.
They're bad friends.
Kinkajou's the exception.