I WANT TO GO TO A BALL AND DANCE ON A JUDAS FLOOR. WHEN YOU BUILD ONE, INVITE ME TO IT!!! (although, uh, give me some time to memorize the floor plan first and learn the safe tiles because otherwise that would be bad...)
I had many moments of thinking “no, no , no, oh god no, oh please, don’t do that, no, oh jesus, no” D: D: D: Yes! GPOY so much. I was reading it in a youth hostel in London sharing a room with my mum and my friend and I kept wanting to yell at the pages but I couldn't and they kept looking over at me like 'wtf is up with you' and I was just like 'this boooook, omg. HOW COULD HE'
And yet, because the character work was so well done I never hated, or ever even really disliked, the character whose actions I was begging to be different, for the words to rearrang themselves on the page. YES. (I am just going to agree with everything here) I love the way the characters were written so you understood what they were doing even though you kind of hated it (and that is one thing this author is really good at, layered, believable characters)
and one that is IMO coded gay Which one are you thinking here? (I'm not disagreeing, just wondering (: ) (The author is female and has written other books with female mcs and female pov, not that that affects this book, I just thought it was worth mentioning (: )
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS NOW. PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ISI, LOOK AWAY Okay, I am bad at thoughts but I will try and have some. Evgard thoughts: I loved the Evgard plotline so much, I could've read a whole book about that because I love gray moralling and the good guys being not so good. I mean, it's clear that the Arcasterians are bad because of the slaving and treating people like objects but then the merish come storming in and it's all about vengeance and their so bloodthirsty and it's understandable but at the same time I just wanted to make them go away (but then the duke was worse in so many ways so I was just CONFLICTED) and I loved how I wasn't sure if it could be called a happy ending and there was no real resolution, just the chance of more war. TD;DR I LOVE STORIES WHERE I DON'T KNOW WHAT SIDE I'M ON AND I LOVE PEOPLE SWITCHING SIDES SO THE WHOLE EVGARD PLOT WAS BASICALLY WRITTEN FOR ME.
RL thoughts: One of the big things about the main story was how much I loved their friendship. I mean, not so much when it was crashing and burning but in all the flashbacks I was reading and thinking how much I wanted Francis to be my BEST FRIEND FOREVER. (Particularly the castle one, where Francis is talking about the ghist tower and it just shows how much time they've put into building this world/very unsubtle metaphor for their friendship. (When I was at warwick castle the other day with Sass and her friend and we were running around the battlements and going up the princess tower I just kept thinking about that scene and wishing I had more internet friends close by to go running round castles talking about worldbuilding with) ) And I have just realised that the Michael/Francis friendship pre-fuck-up reminds me most of my internet friends and the way it's so easy to be friends with all you guys and how you're always interested in everything and there's always fish around to help worldbuild or plot (if not to actually visit castles with) and this thought totally ran away with me. I (thankfully) don't have a lot of experience with what Michael has gone through so I think it's a testament to the writing how well it came across, particularly considering most of the past was implied (and I think that almost makes it worse for the reader because instead of it being spelt out, you're left to fill Michael's past with your own worst fears.)
In conclusion! I have more thoughts than I thought I did. I want to dance on your judas floor and be BFFs with Francis (in fact, I want to be BFFs with both of them because they seem like awesome people to have around when you're worldbuilding) and I was going to say something about the Arcasterians/merish parallels to Romans/Celts but this comment is already VERY LONG so I will just leave it there (:
Spoilers for TTG
I had many moments of thinking “no, no , no, oh god no, oh please, don’t do that, no, oh jesus, no” D: D: D:
Yes! GPOY so much. I was reading it in a youth hostel in London sharing a room with my mum and my friend and I kept wanting to yell at the pages but I couldn't and they kept looking over at me like 'wtf is up with you' and I was just like 'this boooook, omg. HOW COULD HE'
And yet, because the character work was so well done I never hated, or ever even really disliked, the character whose actions I was begging to be different, for the words to rearrang themselves on the page.
YES. (I am just going to agree with everything here) I love the way the characters were written so you understood what they were doing even though you kind of hated it (and that is one thing this author is really good at, layered, believable characters)
and one that is IMO coded gay
Which one are you thinking here? (I'm not disagreeing, just wondering (: )
(The author is female and has written other books with female mcs and female pov, not that that affects this book, I just thought it was worth mentioning (: )
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS NOW. PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ISI, LOOK AWAY
Okay, I am bad at thoughts but I will try and have some.
Evgard thoughts: I loved the Evgard plotline so much, I could've read a whole book about that because I love gray moralling and the good guys being not so good. I mean, it's clear that the Arcasterians are bad because of the slaving and treating people like objects but then the merish come storming in and it's all about vengeance and their so bloodthirsty and it's understandable but at the same time I just wanted to make them go away (but then the duke was worse in so many ways so I was just CONFLICTED) and I loved how I wasn't sure if it could be called a happy ending and there was no real resolution, just the chance of more war.
TD;DR I LOVE STORIES WHERE I DON'T KNOW WHAT SIDE I'M ON AND I LOVE PEOPLE SWITCHING SIDES SO THE WHOLE EVGARD PLOT WAS BASICALLY WRITTEN FOR ME.
RL thoughts: One of the big things about the main story was how much I loved their friendship. I mean, not so much when it was crashing and burning but in all the flashbacks I was reading and thinking how much I wanted Francis to be my BEST FRIEND FOREVER. (Particularly the castle one, where Francis is talking about the ghist tower and it just shows how much time they've put into building this world/very unsubtle metaphor for their friendship. (When I was at warwick castle the other day with Sass and her friend and we were running around the battlements and going up the princess tower I just kept thinking about that scene and wishing I had more internet friends close by to go running round castles talking about worldbuilding with) )
And I have just realised that the Michael/Francis friendship pre-fuck-up reminds me most of my internet friends and the way it's so easy to be friends with all you guys and how you're always interested in everything and there's always fish around to help worldbuild or plot (if not to actually visit castles with) and this thought totally ran away with me.
I (thankfully) don't have a lot of experience with what Michael has gone through so I think it's a testament to the writing how well it came across, particularly considering most of the past was implied (and I think that almost makes it worse for the reader because instead of it being spelt out, you're left to fill Michael's past with your own worst fears.)
In conclusion! I have more thoughts than I thought I did. I want to dance on your judas floor and be BFFs with Francis (in fact, I want to be BFFs with both of them because they seem like awesome people to have around when you're worldbuilding) and I was going to say something about the Arcasterians/merish parallels to Romans/Celts but this comment is already VERY LONG so I will just leave it there (: