The Demon's Lexicon: Squee post the First

[altogetherisi]

Believe me, there will be many.

This is the incoherent, and thus spoiler free one. I imagine there will be at least one that is more coherent without spoilers and at least one with muchly spoilers, when we are allowed to do such things. Fellow fish, is there actually a date people agreed that we are allowed? Have I imagined that we aren't meant to? Whatever, that isn't this post. This post is the one where I say

OH.

MY.

GOD.



IT'S FREAKING AMAZING.

Literally. I am amazed. I am stunned. I am dazzled. I am enchanted. I am addicted.

When I say all I've done since Monday is read it, and then read it again, and then read it some more, I am not kidding. You guys, just

EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words are, quite literally, failing me. But, Sarah so so so did not fail. At alll. In any sense.

It is VERY HIGH QUALITY WIN. Brilliant, marvelous, gorgeous.

I've said for a while now that I wanted to marry the Finnish cover of this book, and I do, but now I can say that, not judging the book by its cover guys, I really love this book frantically, desperately, deeply. I don't think there was one single thing I didn't like. I read ever single word in the correct order, and I adored each and every one and the simply superb whole they formed. Genuinely, I can't think of anything, any character, any plot point, that I didn't like. Seriously good.

Fish, our fandom is gonna to rock so so much.

And, just for the record, I would like to say that I did see the big twist everyone has talked about coming. I don't think it reduced its sheer emotional impact any, though I suppose technically I couldn't know that. It was like knowing it was coming, I could feel it coming, and I kept wanting not to be right, but I was and just oh. The pain and the beauty.

God, I love Sarah so much.

I carry it around the house with me. I sleep with it next to me. I CAN'T STOP READING IT.

I keep saying I'm meant to be revising, but seriously, since I bought this book on Monday, I've done maybe two hours of revision. Which is ridiculous, and foolish; I'm going to fail all my exams and never make anything of myself and I'm going to spend the rest of my life (and any benefits money) on books, Sarah's books, this book in particular, and I DON'T CARE, its a totally valid lifestyle choice you guys, ok?!

Ack, I'm meant to be going to see Star Trek again later, but I have no idea which squeefest will hold my attention. I just.

So, so good.

Comments

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

There just AREN'T words are there?! I thought I saw it coming and then was right but then I was surprised by the twist...if that makes any sense? Trying to stay spoiler free! BASICALLY I didn't see it coming and squealed and flailed and shrieked. But even if I had seen it I would still love it. And still be reading and re-reading it. And as soon as we can be spoiler-y I am going to write my favourite lines EVERYWHERE because they are so, so wonderful and must be shared with the world!

And I have to go to work all the rest of the week and next week I have to go to Exeter (which I am lamely more excited about now even though I go there lots. But now it's WHERE NICK LIVED!) and will not be able to read it during that time. Which is tragic because all I want to do is read it.

I too loved everything. Everything. Never has a book been more worth hype and excitement - as pure and as deep and as abiding as my love is for Harry Potter, I feel like Sarah's blown J.K. out of the water. Certainly for the debut novel - Philospher's Stone vs. Demon's Lexicon? The latter EVERY TIME!

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

I saw it coming quite early on, and then a spent a while second guessing myself, wondering if it was going the other way, wondering whether I was being too clever or else whether I was walking into a cleverly laid author trap. I wasn't, but it was still so so amazing, so painful and simple and brilliant.

I didn't really like Exeter when I went there, but I kinda wanna visit now just to walk around where they were. I want to find the pubs they visited. I want want want.

I am actually confused by my loving absolutely everything. I want to have a favourite character, a favourite relationship, a favourite scene, a favourite moment, a favourite joke. I am so used to putting up with the bad bits for the good its of a book or show that now, I am stunned and confused. If I tried to write my favourite lines out it would be the entire book.

Never has a book been more worth hype and excitement - as pure and as deep and as abiding as my love is for Harry Potter, I feel like Sarah's blown J.K. out of the water.

As blasphemous as it feels, I'm pretty sure I agree. I am amazed at even the concept these words suggest, but yes. She so so has. I could just see her subverting tropes and teasing us and making the characters different, better, not what we were expecting, not at all disappointing. Perhaps later someone will point something out to me, but at the moment I can't help but flail wildly because it is utterly flawless.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

I was so preoccupied with other, more obvious things that I totally failed to think of it! Which made me happy because I don't like guessing twists. But I am also so glad that if you DO guess, it doesn't diminish your enjoyment at all.

Exeter is quite nice. I do not share Nick's love for the pointy sculpture but it is a nice town. (And weren't the pubs in Salisbury? I remember getting very excited when they went there because I suddenly found myself saying 'SARAH BLOGGED ABOUT HER VISIT TO THESE PUBS! She wrote notes and they thought she was a health inspector! And now the scene is real! WOW!'

You're right - I cannot have a favourite character, or a favourite scene. And I love every line. But I do have a few favourites because they struck a huge chord inside me and I had to re-read them lots before I could carry on.

It was weird - I wrote that and then paused to think 'did I really mean that? Am I just being over-the-top?' But I really don't think I was. I'm not comparing the two on a grand scale, on the scale of all the HP books and Sarah's (currently!) single book it would be impossible. But I feel totally justified in comparing HP1 and TDL because they were both debut novels for a series of fantasy books. And I think TDL was better.

[elaraesque.livejournal.com]

wait. what is this book? is it like the next hp/twilight/huge series that i should jump on the bandwagon before everyone else does kind of book?

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

I don't really like guessing twists- it can give you a sense of satisfaction, but usually also reduces the reveal. I seem to have developed a mind that likes trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together though, and I definitely get ahead of myself sometimes; I have a terrible habit of skipping ahead sometimes skipping entire paragraphs. When I know its a really important book, I force myself not to, but this means that sometimes at really tense moments I actually find myself refusing to look at a whole page, just staring hard at each line, trying to keep my traitorous eyes on task!

While I was reading HBP, I seriously read every single word, didn't skip anything at all - until Sectrasempra (and argh, I think I've spelt that wrong) when everything was so exciting, Harry went to hide the potions book, and I skipped over one bloody paragraph of description in my hurry... the one bloody paragraph that happened to mention both the cabinet and the diadem. I was incredibly angry later, knowing I could have realised but hadn't. That drove me crazy. Grrr.

But, I also despise spoilers, of practically any kind. Hatehatehate them. Because while figuring something out for yourself can be satisfying and exciting, simply knowing whats coming, and often without the finesse the author intended for the reveal is so blank. Crap. I hate them.

The pubs were in Salisbury, yes of course. I was typing quickly (had to go out) and knew they weren't in London, but also knew that if I picked up the book again and actually opened it to check I probably wouldn't ever leave the house. Actually, that's really annoying - I was previously planning to visit Salisbury for the first time in a couple of weeks, I could have visited those pubs! Damn.

Huge portions of the book spoke to me. So many chords were stuck, Sarah was practically playing me in an orchestra. For various reasons, some more personal than others, but from single one liners to entire emotional relationships, it was breathtaking. So much of it felt personal; I could notice things that she would blog about, and some of the dialogue really sounded like convos she would have, while some of it felt like it was somehow written for me. Which I have to say, must be the mark of a truly remarkable author.

I don't think anything will ever replace my love for HP; that's something very special, and a huge part of my childhood, and while it wasn't my first fandom it was the one that introduced me to the wider world of fandom generally, the one I return to again and again. But... there have been other books that I honestly think are better and more enjoyable, but I can't admit that without qualifying it :P But yes, I am pretty damn sure that I am now ranking TDL right up there at the top, and definitely above HP. Sorry JKR but, well. Up your game! SARAH AND TDL WINS.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

I'm the same about reading ahead - I don't do it on purpose, but when I know something important is looming my eyes tend to flick forwards. (I'm particularly bad at doing this when I can see out of the corner of my eye a blank space which means the end of a chapter. I am SO BAD at not letting myself read the last line before the blank space!) But with this I managed! Somehow!

Luckily for me I never had the problem with HP because (and this is going to sound lame!) we sort of...read them as a family. We all fell in love with them at the same time and as each book came out fought over who would read it first and whether it was fair that I finished them first just because I read like greased lightning. And my parents decided it WASN'T (meanies!) so every summer a book came out you would find us sitting in the living room listening to my mum reading it to us all. So we had to hear every word!

I just want to paraphrase your whole comment! I absolutely agree - the whole thing was so much like her, I could imagine her telling these stories on her journal and it felt so personal! And I could empathise with every character. Not all the time, (in fact not very often for one!) but at some point I thought 'yes. Yes I know just what you mean!' I don't know if you ever saw the play 'History Boys' but there's a line in it about some of the best bits in reading being when you read something you can understand, a thought or idea you felt was special to you. I had that so many times.

No, nothing can replace HP because it was a phenomenon on a scale I don't think will ever be repeated. And it was my childhood - I was eight when I read the first one and seventeen when I read the last one and as the books and the characters grew, I did too. So I have a very special bond with them and will love them my whole life. But had I never read HP and someone gave me TDL and TPS today, I would undoubtedly say I would rather continue reading Sarah's series. (But would rather not have to choose and read them both!)

So BASICALLY this was a pointless comment because I was just agreeing with you the whole time! But I am hideously verbose and cannot just say 'yes' when fifty more lines can also do!

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

It should be. It deserves to be.

I'm hardly what you'd call a big twilight fan, but I am a big HP fan, and it is better than HP IMO. Definitely.

I did a post the other day, before I'd read it, but I'll repeat myself, because it deserves to be read by many (even if I feel irrationally possessive of it every now and then). It's called The Demon's Lexicon. It's the debut novel of Sarah Rees Brennan, who already has a devoted following including myself due to her having written HP fanfic and a hilarious blog (so the bandwagon is hardly empty). It is FREAKING AMAZING.

"Set in modern day England, it is about sixteen year old Nick and his brother Alan, who with their mother have been on the run from magicians and the demons they summon their whole lives. While in Exeter they meet siblings Mae and Jamie, and Alan becomes marked by a demon. To save Alan's life, they have to stop running and fight the magicians. But while they try to do this, Nick's whole life begins to unravel..." is what the blurb would say if I paraphrased it.

It's meant to be out June 2nd, but I got an early copy. But YES, YOU SHOULD READ THIS.

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

BASICALLY this was a pointless comment because I was just agreeing with you the whole time! But I am hideously verbose and cannot just say 'yes' when fifty more lines can also do!

This will prove to be yet another thing we have in common, as I will now demonstrate. (Ha! I typed demons! ...oh god, I'm obsessed)

THE HISTORY BOYS. OMG I LOVE THE HISTORY BOYS SO MUCH. I saw the film three times and I haven't been able to bring myself to see the play performed yet since it wouldn't be the original boys. But I have read the play over and over again. My favourite ever history teacher loved it also. So, I think you are talking about how (paraphrasing again) literature reaches out and grabs hold of your hand, comforting you and yeah, saying things you have thought and felt far more eloquently than you thought to phrase it. And yes, I felt so much of that with Sarah's TDL- flashes of insight and humour and also moments where I just identified incredibly strongly with what was going on.

Your family reading HP together is so adorable! I was a similar age, I met Harry when I was eight and was nearly seventeen when DH came out; I went through a lot with that series, really grew up with it. We didn't read it together like that with HP, but we did do something similar when my brother and I were even younger and our Mum read the Narnia books to us, and later, us to her; and later still, we read HP to her! (About the same time I insisted on reading GOF aloud to my cuddly toys. Yes, I really did that.)

But this is something different, so gloriously different, and yes, I think it really is better. Touching and heartbreaking and hilarious and just oh so brilliant. God, I just adore it so much. Will be making all my friends read it, though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to actually part with my copy long enough for them to borrow it.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF THE HISTORY BOYS!! OH HOORAH!!!

I was insanely lucky enough to see it about two months after it debuted in the National with the original cast because my History teacher decided that whilst we were visiting England for the museums, it was very important we were all theatrically broadened too! And it was the most incredible thing ever and I have been very much in love with Dominic Cooper ever since. :P And yes, that was the bit I meant! It does describe it perfectly doesn't it?

My family reading HP together was LAME! Especially when it got to the end of DH and my mum was crying and we were all crying and trying to hide it...it was a pathetic tableau! (I used to pretend I was a teacher reading Harry Potter to my cuddly toys as well! You have no idea how relieved I am not to be the only one! And uh, lots of other books too. The entire works of Lemony Snicket at one point, I remember.)

I am going to rant about this book so much that my friends will be forced to get it for themselves just to shut me up. *evil grin* And THEN of course they will be ranting about it too (at least they had better be!) and we will all be merry together! And nobody is touching my book but me. I suppose Sarah can touch it when she signs it (AGH EXCITEMENT!) as it is actually her book...but nobody else! They will bend the spine and traumatise me for life. :(

[altogetherisi.livejournal.com]

NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF THE HISTORY BOYS!!

This is not a state I could bare to exist in. And yes, to see them at the National, you REALLY ARE INSANELY LUCKY and I am so INCREDIBLY JEALOUS. Aw, that you love Dominic Cooper! I have quite the soft spot for him, and indeed for any History Boy's graduate, though the originals particularly of course. Finding out that Matt Smith was a former History Boy was one of only a handful of facts I could find out about him, but was those scant few facts rather softened me up and so far has me won over. One of the things I thought was so cute though was as each of my friends saw it, almost all of us fell for a different one. So while I do greatly appreciate Dakin/Dominic Cooper and Posner/Samuel Barnett particularly, it was Irvin/Stephen Campbell Moore that actually stole my heart away that day...

Aw, I never made it all the way through ALL the Lemony Snicket books. I tried for a while, and when I first read the Bad Beginning I thought it was very original and exciting. I think I read seven, then scanned the next few and read the end a couple of years later. I don't know, I think I found them repetitive, and I was getting impatient with the plot, and had other things to read, both to myself and to my cuddly toys (um, also occasionally in a classroom format. I am so amazed that I am not the only one who did that. Wow.)

NO ONE WILL BEND THE SPINE. Eurgh. And I was thinking, I can't possibly let someone read my copy now, I mean, I can hardly leave the room without it, I couldn't actually lend it out, but maybe in a couple of weeks...? But by then it will be signed (!!!) and Sarah signing it will just make it even more precious, and me more possessive, I can tell, so no, just no. I got my copy of Hamlet signed by David Tennant (!!!) a couple of months ago and now won't even share it or allow others to touch it overly, let alone let anyone else borrow it entirely. IT IS MINE, ALL MINE.

[hanelissar.livejournal.com]

I know. I get jealous of myself for it sometimes because it was the most amazing evening. And Dominic Cooper won me over when he stripped off his trousers and - I swear - winked at me. But they are all amazing and I love them in their own special ways. I do love Rudge/Russel Tovey as well, especially since I watched 'Being Human' and remembered how charismatic he was onstage. :D

Yeah they were immensely repetitive and I finished them only because I'd got halfway and was determined to finish! After the seventh book they did get original plots. And then I didn't read them for years but recently I did and now love them because you can tell they were written by someone who loves literature and allusions. I mean, a hunchback called Hugo?! A guy who lives on a desert island and tells everyone to 'call me Ish'?! A guy who is a poor moral leader and sits with his feet in clay all day so that he LITERALLY has feet of clay?! I admit I got over-excited at the things I never picked up aged 13.

I know, it is a dilemma. :( I AM SO JEALOUS!! I wanted so badly to get tickets to Hamlet but it didn't happen. I almost cried on my birthday when my mum told me 'we thought about getting you tickets for Hamlet but got distracted'. *sad sigh* But I expect he will be in other plays. And maybe the Doctor Who hype will have calmed down and tickets will be less like diamonds and gold dust. Maybe!

[omnipresentdmat.livejournal.com]

LKJSDFSJLKD RIGHT? ISN'T IT AMAZING? RIGHT? OH MY GOD WHY CAN'T I BE COHERENT, I'M TOO GLEEEE. I WANT THIS TO HAVE AN AWESOME FANDOM SO BADLY, AND I KIND OF FEEL LIKE IT MIGHT BECAUSE IT'S FSLKDJF AMAZING.

[evelynlela.livejournal.com]

It is a valid lifestyle choice, I plan to join you.