bananaman-pdf

[bananaman-pdf]

take figures out of their boxes btw. sew patches on your favorite jacket. go to bed with your favorite plushes. wear the pants you usually save for special occasions. draw something cool on your wall. put a sticker on your laptop. dye your hair and pierce your lips. glass is meant to break, metal is meant to rust. items are meant to be used. that's how the world knows that somebody loved them.

[bananaman-pdf]

holy SHIT i was gone long. extremely sorry for that, but i cant keep focused long. i might come back soon, so watch out for that

[bananaman-pdf]

k im back. fourteen

okay so theyre doing it. escaping to go home with maven! bonding moment ahead, i can feel it.

oh wait cal is coming with them? aaaaand weve got ourselves an obligatory awkward moment where the protagonist catches one of the guys bare-chested™. sigh. well whatever. girls be thirsty ig. lets point out how hes got a bruise near his heart?? is he okay?? i suppose he is but ouch.

cal. cal, you adorable man. what are you so nervous about?

oh wait so maven asked cal to help mare go to her home. ohhhhh. that makes sense.

cal obviously thinks its a bad idea but mare takes no shit. she wants to go home. so cal agrees. i should mention how adorably funny mares excitement is. like a toddler lmao.

maven isnt coming :(

MARE HUGGED HIM AAAA

But just because he isn’t coming doesn’t mean I will forget what he’s done for me already.

mare your soul is beautiful.

shes feeling more comfortable with them!

…but this mightve been immediately regressed as soon as she saw the war armor. and also the books on war tactics- i wanna point out they are written in a language called “Common” of norta, the lakelanders and piedmont?? -but back to mare, shes clearly Not In Board with this. she sees the war as the lives of many reds being lost for the silvers benefit.

its also implied that cal was expecting to play chess with maven. im pretty sure its chess.

she catches a glance at scars on his back. he keeps them despite having access to healers to tend to them. this is interesting. since he is shown to be the type to see past his own glamorous life and privilege, im guessing he keeps them as a reminder of his peoples suffering. maybe hes trying to connect with the people he knows little to nothing about, and thats why he also sneaks out pretending to be red.

they leave, and cal leads her to a… basement storage room. im genuinely confused why are there weird metal shapes that move in here. mare is suddenly passive-aggressively complainig about his huge armor closet. i get that shes mad at how close hes to the whole war tactic planning but… its not like hes got much choice is it.

he responds honestly saying he doesnt want to wear armor when he bring her to her family as to not make them feel threatened i suppose?

“[…] We don’t want your family getting the wrong idea, do we?”

“What idea do we want them to get? I don’t think I’m exactly allowed to introduce you properly.

mares got a good point. honestly i just assumed they were gonna have a walk around the stilts and see her acquaintances and loved ones from afar. wouldnt going to her home and talking to her parent require a plan or an explanation that isnt “ive been betrothed to one of the princes because they found out i have powers. oh yeah, i have powers! neat huh? so as i was saying, ill have to pretend to be a princess for the rest of my life and this might be the last time i get to see you all.”

oh ok so theyll pretend they took mare in to work for the royals like at the beginning and cal will be her ride. oh yeah cal has a motorbike which is cool as shit. but also… if this werent a fantasy universe this would look hella cliché.

he built it- yeah ok that is pretty damn awesome.

mare hesitates at first but obviously gives in and puts the helmet on. she wants to go home, damnit.

she got so nervous she held onto him so hard he had to pry her off. and i mean, its her first time on a bike obviously shed be pretty scared.

also she missed his warmth as soon as she let go. makes sense that shed be at least a little touch starved. aw.

mare takes the chance to ask him, in her own way (making remarks about how often he does this and all), why he wants to hang out in red bars rather than his luxurious palace. he comments that hes going to be king one day and doesnt get to be selfish. mare points out the king should be the only one who does. and it mqkes sense cause thats how she sees it. the only way shes known how to live is stealing and risking her life. and shes seen the silvers get everything they need and want. it has frustrated her understandably.

cal finally answers. the king should know his people. yeah i called it. makes sense! he wants to empathize with them. hes doing what he can. hes trying to be a good leader. to see what the world is like instead of being told how it is by everyone else.

“[…] My father does everything he can to keep us safe, and so will I.”

“My world is already in ruin,” […] “Your father keeps your people safe, not mine.”

ouch. but true.

cal tells her that it would cost them they alliance to other kingdoms. that theyd be tron apart by them. which… makes sense. but mare believes its possible to make it better. that norta could be the start.

the conversation dies as they make it to her home. cal waits outside bc he noticed how nervous mare was, the sweetheart, but she tells him to join anyway. they go in she and wakes up his brothers bree and tramy first. mom and dad join in as they notice whats going on. everyone is happy to seer her. well. gisa only pokes her head out. and wheres shade??

they congratulate her on getting a job, and comment that the story for the brothers discharge and their full pension was a lottery they won.

Up above us, Gisa scoffs. […] “Yes, we’re very lucky,”

poor girl. shes lost her hand for all these things to happen. it feels more like a trade than actual luck to her. she gives mare the cold shoulder and asks about cal. which is a bit hurtful but… fair, from her point of view.

dad know hes not from around there. cal quickly makes up a story of how hes from harbor bay and changes his accent which i gotta admit, good quick thinking! he comments how the servants travel a lot, which prompts her mom to be horrified. mare remarks that its good money. i mean its definitely better than stealing, from their point of view mares doing an honest attempt at working.

bree is suspicious and makes a comment about liking kilorn better. lmao.

oh fuck. is shade dead???

“He tried to run away. He was executed. Beheaded.”

holy shit. dude. things are getting real.

mare is so angry shes making lightbulbs buzz. guess the act is about be up.

she makes a mess, cal cant get to her and everyone already knows. mare angry because they found out shade was in the scarlet guard. and yeah, thats more likely. before she looses herself completely, though, kilorn comes in. he snaps her out of it.

but obviously the bug secret is out. and at first kilorn think it was the silvers doing, but she tells him its just her. he acts like shes a complete stranger despite her family clearly stating that she is red. cmon dude, shes going through a lot and you decide to pull that?

“Give me a knife and I’ll settle this right now,” I say, glaring back at him. “I’ll show you what color I bleed.”

she clearly means it, dude, stop that.

she explains everything. leaving out mr jacos’ findings, bc cal is there. she points out she doesnt know if theyll ever understand how or why she is the way she is. and i mean yeah, its one hell of an exception. she breaks the “rules”.

cal pretends to be a bodyguard now, and tells her its time to go. her whole family thankfully agrees to keep the secret, but kilorns fucking mad for some reason.

mare and cal leave, and he tries to comfort her about shade, but shes so close to loosing it she stops him, saying she needs to make one last stop.

its to wills!! she goes there to tell him everything, but he already knows somehow??

oh, some dude named tristan, also from the guard told him. shit, wills got some acquaintances, doesnt he?

tristan nearly bolts when he learns one of the princes is outside. of course he would! killing or kidnapping a prince? holy shit! he calls her a silver for “protecting him” but mare points out that cals pretty damn good at defending himself using his fire.

she makes her reason for presence there clear: shades dead because of the guard and she wants to use her princess privilege to help the cause. nice, short and sweet. and absolutely perfect to kick in some plot.

she shakes hands with will and seals the deal. shes in deep now. and im a delighted by finally seeing what i came in for.

so yeah, she goes back with cal thinking abt how theyre enemies now. and how weird it is that theyre both so nice to her. him and maven. i also wonder why. they both grew up surrounded by people that hate reds. how are they so tolerant?

when theyre about to leave on the sick motorbike ohmygod kilorn shows up. he better be here to say sorry.

no, hes just here to be sad about mare leaving. i mean of course he is. they were besties. he wants her to stay. cal has to step in to intimidate him just slightly to let go. im glad he didnt have to do anything too harsh. and that he tried to keep his composure as best as possible.

“You bargained for me too, to save me from conscription,”

yeah! so understand shits not cheap!

and as they leave kilorn says hell tell farley she said hello. oh god hes gonna join the guard too.

[bananaman-pdf]

wassup

its banaenaes here, i made a side blog to keep my posts better organized. heres the deal:

-ive began to read red queen on my main blog so i rb’d the stuff there and i will keep posting my chapter reactions here.

-no ones reading this

-i also plan on reading the other two sequels

-i also want to read the raven cycle and… mmmmmmaybe reread pjo as well. ive read the first 9 books (i never finished heroes of olympus after house of hades) and now that theres gonna be a tv show there an incentive to catch up again.

-my school life is bone crushing, so most of the post will probably be queued to post every 3 days or so.

thats it, no ones even reading this lmao

[bananaman-pdf]

Thirteen

mares going to her next lesson, which appears to have something to do with reading. it is implied that either the books silvers read are in a different… language? writing? maybe coded? maybe the silvers use fancier alphabets.

she also sees a map of the “old land”. huh. interesting. pre war i assume.

mr. instructor shows up, asking if she knows were they are. after a bit of struggle she searches for the capital river and points at a place. she gets it right! i know shes better than me at spacial orientation for sure.

he tells her to point some other stuff she might recognize, and sounds a lot better than all the instructors mares had so far. he shows her where delphie and archeon are. i cant remember the former being mention but it probably was. idk.

the place he points reminds mare of the name she heard other people gave it. “The ruins”, “The Ash City, the Wreckage” as shade called it. also shade gets mentioned a lot and it is heavily implied he has ties to farley and the scarlet guard which i really hope is true. nothins sexier than a man who fights oppression.

oh hello, theres no cameras in the map room! she asks about it and he says a very cryptic “So there is a difference.”

ok so history teacher man is clearly in the know of things and its making mare really nervous so she repeats her rehearsed backstory- which makes sense, her identity is a really dangerous thing, if shes outted thatd probably put the royals in a tight spot. she could die!

also i really appreciate that he is very kind to mare. trying to tell her not to forget where she came from, gently explaining what he is here to do… its nice after all the shit she already has to put up with.

mares on the edge of a panic attack but mr history man is still patient. he tells her no ones gonna know. she Breathes with relief.

so the man is in it for the Knowledge. he wants to know how this all happened, how it is posible that shes got powers. also hold up i wanna point something out.

we are told repeatedly that mare is a red with silver power… but she never… explicitly bleeds. the only thing we get that implies shes not secretly an actual silver is the mentioned of her flushed red cheeks being covered in makeup earlier. would be funny if she was silver al along lmao.

mr history man reveals that there are no cameras because he can turn them off. cool. but like COOL. as in- i am a five year old looking at a teen do a an awesome skate trick. hell yeah, twinsies!

“Mare, when a Silver says ‘power’, they mean might, strength. ‘Ability’ on the other hand, refers to all the silly little things we can do.”

he is a funny old man. i like him. also his sister was a queen??

oh. hes queen corianes brother. cals uncle. damn! julian jacos. i guess we now know who he got the niceness from.

so mr. jacos is gonna help mare understand herself better, but also tutor her as queen elara requested. oh yeah the rebellion stopping thing holy fuck.

i think thats whats gonna kickstart the actual plot. i mean sure, it started when mare wanted to get out her shitty situation and tripped all the way to becoming princess on accident. but theres been buildup for something to happen, clearly we’re gonna see fights and royalty overthrowing, rebellion and maybe even death. so maybe the guard will make a comeback and mare will act on their side secretly. thats my theory anyway.

jacos gives an “inspirational” speech that is hollow and he clearly recited from the queen. he clearly disagrees. but why? weve seen cal doesnt agree with the way things are either. is there something to it we dont know yet?

well, he states that he disagrees with the idea that reds are inferior and should be treated as such, and maybe he really has that mindset and its not that hes been radicalized or something. but who knows?

he wants to prove mare that they are not different. because she is the living proof. i like this man a lot.

she agrees. cue timeskip.

basically: queenie 🤝 future queenie

^torturing mare^

atara, the dove killer from queenstrial, asks her if she likes the hall. “obviously its better than ya poor neighborhood from before” she says.

ik this is a fictional boon but holy shit the eugenicist takes from these silver ladies is going to drive me insane. “um the red village sucks but its just their nature to be slaves lmao” shut up shut up shut UP.

mare agrees with them before claiming that anyone desperate enough would succumb to slavery. preach girl. elara obviously pulls the “gosh i am terribly sorry for this stupid idiot princess girl being so rude dont worry she is being indoctrinated and will be sucking out dicks well soon enough”

but then, a woman called colonel macanthos asks what the plans against the rebels. oof.

macanthos claims about explosions on harbor bay and delphie and mare is rightfully happy. i am too, let my girl farley make her awesome comeback!!

the queen makes up a lie about gas leaks and belittles colonel macanthos about minding her business, that her field is strictly the ground force. how making the guard seem competent only accomplishes their goal of terrorizing the whole kingdom. and then everyone clapped. literally.

mares feels lonely. she seems to miss cals company and like maven, even if she doenst trust him. shes thankful not to be left alone with him even though theres a high chance catholicism isnt actually real and it doenst make a lot of sense to keep them not alone because they might fuck. but ok.

shes suspicious maven hiding something. hm.

cut to mr jacos’ awesome lessons that brighten mares day. theyre trying make mare use her powers somehow. she suggests it only works when she feels threatened. jacos tells her its because shes like a child that hasnt learned how to control it and use it to her advantage which- no shit sherlock, thats very obvious.

confession time: mare barrow has a fucking death wish. should not be as surprising as it feels. she felt peace when she was about to die friend on the rich peoples’ electrical fence.

she uses this to her advantage and trues to feel complete calm to harness her lighting powery things. she does the thing!!

and by the thing i obviously mean using a lightning balm to pulverize a bookshelf. jacos is proud nonetheless. and thats all that really matters. mares making progress!

they look for different rooms to practice on, mr jacos records everything, mare gets better at her control. nice. she even gets shockproof clothes!

so something that struck mr jacos is that mare can create energy, something that is supposedly not possible, only manipulation of existing things is possible. which is weird because as mare points out, cal and maven can do it. they create fire.

oh wait nvm mr jacos says its because their bracelet thingies work like lighters or something. so yeah. mare was gifted with the power of creation. cool cool.

shes scared. scared of how different shes is not inly from reds but from silvers too. and god its is scary. it is scary being patient zero. so much that it overwhelms her and makes the sparks go off. but good thing our man mr jacos is there to help mare calm down. i love this dude.

she runs. runs from the… everything. yeah.

she runs outside and lets herself have a little main character moment in the rain let her have it. she thinks about how frustrating everything happening is how fast the things happen and wont stop happening. before the sentinels come. but wait! maven tells them off! yeah!

maven tries to joke and relate to her, but she just stops him. yeah. tell her how you feel about it, mare. its important to communicate.

he opens up about how little agency he has. hell, he cant even think what he wants in her moms presence, which- holy fuck i can feel that. that sucks ass too. and of course he always feels like cal is taking up all the glory too. he lives in his shadow.

“Slowly, he exhales, and I realize the air around us is strangely hot.”

what

ok it wasnt anything romantic about to happen. he just tells her that being a silvers is being a loner, even if she says uts stupid (it is). before she can go back to her lessons, he offers to help with homesickness. dude stop being so nice wth… i dont need more reasons to simp.

[bananaman-pdf]

Twelve

shes got a schedule now. for learning how to be a princess. also what is “protocol” supposed to mean?

theres something so extremely funny to me about mare calling her makeup “war paint” like some straight cis guy. such “im not like other girls” energy.

lucas and mares banter is so good. please become besties.

of course the women all eat together. of course this is mares torture.

Across from me, Evangeline laughs into her hand. “You’re still taking Protocol?”

shes is so obnoxious girl what are you five. shut up.

“You mean you aren’t” […] “Excellent.”

on the other hand mares response is an a++

queen elara mentions lunch will be with the other queenstrial girls. nice! maybe some of them wont be horrible stereotypical rivals/enemies.

mares anxiety when she realizes shell have to see these people again still: 📈

oh and then theyll go to the capital, archeon. that name is so cool.

mare is kind of a messy eater. lucas is a good not-friend and tells her.

lady bess blonos- her protocol tutor -is a blood healer, which means she can heal herself. there are also skin healers who can heal other people. shes there in case mare looses control.

lucas leaves her and she wanders towards the window where she see what appear to be people training with the help of a machine or something? oh nvm its cal and maven. using their sick fires to hit targets. nice.

evangeline, however, uses her sick metal darts to hit the targets.

lady blonos shows up and mare seems distraught about… something. is she really that ugly?

oh ok so its like an old lady using plastic surgery to look pretty. but wrong. aight.

lady blonos mentions her horrible posture and i can only think of that one tiktok about this person following another tiktoks advice to make your face look thinner that made them push their head forwrd too much- its so funny but i dont think ill be able to find it. anyway. bad posture. yeah.

mare is understandably upset about being called a savage, but even angrier because she knows shell need lady blonos’ help.

alright, soup time.

the glass terrace sound really pretty… columns that work like prisms? maybe theyre like… square shaped, to do that, right?

two girls from house iral and haven walk up to her as she enters.

ok so the iral girl- sonya -is dark skinned and dark haired (and cat like?) and haven girl- elane -is a pale red head and quiet. they sound cool ngl. but they are a little bitter over participating in queenstrial for mare to get the princess tittle by tripping.

sonya calls her grandma- lady ara -this old lady sounds awesome lemme tell ya. HER NICKNAME IS THE PANTHER??? THATS SO FUCKING COOL DUDE.

lady ara is good at poking at the holes in the story king tib and queen elara came up with. it helps that she makes mare incredibly nervous.

so the recap for lunch is that evangeline is very good at chatting for two people and the queenstrial girls are Cowards for not ganging on her.

mare is very aware of the iral women. they will come for her again.

hdjkfjgjf maven being described as friendly puppy is so adorable. mare. what are you doing mare. they were supposed to be the Enemy. be careful growing attatched to them.

mare comments about lady iral and maven seems on edge about it. i mean yeah. she was a fucking war spy i should hope they are worried. he tells mare hell tell queen elara to do something about it.

aight, she became aware of maven status again. dont let your guard down, you never know who will be a twist villain.

he offers to show her around but shes got lessons. so he leaves her with a gentle and warm hand grab. adorable.

“You know, we’d get there much faster if actually moved.”

“Shut up. Lucas”

see?? theyre already besties.

[bananaman-pdf]

Eleven

maven helps mare learn the names of the houses and recognized them. house of samos aka evangelines family is the highest. they also dress in plain black silk and have no shinies. digging the elegance here.

ofc hes in charge of the weapons used in war of course thats likely why he is so important in the first place. of course it about the war. it always is.

mares specially nervous when they leave, because silvers are watching and she has to maintain the lie that put her into this clusterfuck and its hard. its hard and nobody understands. well maybe maven does. he reassures her again and goddamnit the bar is so low. why. hes literally being a decent person for all i know he will turn out to be the main antagonist. this is what ive been reduce to. simping for decent dudes. wow.

there are hint at mare being able to perceive the cameras and potentially any object that uses electricity to function. which would be amazing if this turns into something like a government overthrowing thing which it is shaping up to be. i like where this is goin.

the mention of sentinels reminds mare of the extremely real possibility of the guard attacking them and exposing them. to the whole world.

tiberias: i made this red girl a silver princess!

me: you fucked up an already traumatized child, is what you did. look at her shes gotten worse anxiety and paranoia!

prince boys want some quality time with them girls, huh.

GSHDJJDKDJ OFC QUEENIE THINKS ITS INAPPROPRIATE. LADY WHAT ARE YOU CATHOLIC?

…on second thought. lets not apollo-dodgeball this.

cal saves it by suggesting they escort each others girlfriends, which, if they knew better, would suggest their bug prince likes-likes the red girl. im guessing he kinda does. yeah.

“Like any wife, she hates her husband for challenging her,”

girl what is this the xvii century.

im sorry to miss aveyard but i deserve financial compensation for having to read “she-devil”. what makes you think the devil isnt THE girlboss. uncreative.

guys dont leave maven alone with her please.

mares got her priorities straight. he doesnt let these pretty-boy princes make her swoon over them. silvers are silvers.

i am reminded that mare i short. dgjfkf lmao.

shes so passive aggressive towards cal as they go to her room. like- sure hes a royal but. its not like he chose to be born one.

cal says mares a lot like maven. huh. inch resting. says shes smart- to which mare narrates her education was poor, but obviously he elaborates, pointing towrds her understanding of people. at how she even noticed he didnt belong when they met at the stilts.

she has a moment of poor power control but nothing really happens. hope she gets to learn how to use those soon. i have a feeling theyll get someone to teach her.

cal tells her about her family. she feels extremely guilty again. theyll release her brothers and kilorn from conscription as per her request and they sent someone to tell her parents where she is.

getting to her room and noticing the cameras when cel doesnt makes her very aware of her power. she thought it was normal. cal doesnt know how to comfort her :(

[bananaman-pdf]

Ten

hey uh… sorry for being gone so long i had a LOT of shit to do and im very weak so sacrificing my sleeping hours is unadvisable and detrimental to me. so i have a plan to read in a lot and then queue the posts to 1 every three days or so, to try and keep some consistency… idk if itll work well though, so well see.

also! i have the rest of the books, so i dont have an excuse not to finish this anymore. lets see how it goes. hopefully i dont abandon this.

anyway.

chapter 10, according to my calculations, around the first quarter of the way through.

we start out with our darling mare, here, thinking about how theres nuance to the red/silver division and shes right in the middle of it, which is a great way for me to bring up something that ive wondered and i think i havent rambled about yet.

is mare really the first red that differs from the norm, like, ever? because that sounds unlikely. theres mentions of other kingdoms in this book, and even then, kingdoms are usually big. whos to say there arent any other powerful reds hiding because they knew as soon as they found out, theyd be persecuted for being different, even if they arent at fault. or hell, how about a silver with no powers? has that ever happened? i bet their families would try to hide their existence from the rest of the world or outright execute them. i dont know which ones worse. maybe theyd be disowned and sent to live with the reds. all of these are great book worthy ideas as well.

i have the feeling that there might be more reds out there with powers too, and the story will head that way. for all i know the scarlet guard could be precisely this! maybe a new generation is born with powers through evolution, because it hasnt been explained yet if in this universe theres always been reds and silvers or if this was the product of evolution or even of genetic alterations. theres so much to talk about here, like, what if a silver and a red have kids? what are they like? are they powerful reds or powerless silvers? only reds or silvers? can they even have children together? is mare secretly the product of one such union? who knows. not me, thats for sure.

mare attempts to get into character here. also- is mareena pronounced as mare-ena or marina? cals joke about mare being a good nickname hint towards the former, but who knows, maybe this is a heavily debated topic in the fandom. whats the general consensus, here? comments are appreciated. well, back on the story, mareena seems to be a cold unimpressionable girl, for mare.

people are talking about her, and tiberias (is it ty-berias or tee-berias?) and elara stand above everyone else. as our girl here said “To look powerful is to be powerful.”

cal is seems displeased and maven absolutely pissed. damn. these two seem interesting, but i sense their dynamic is gonna be one of those “noble and kind older brother, resentful and selfish younger brother” which hm. i dont know if i like that. but i dont wanna be cynical, maybe this will better than just that.

“At least I won’t have to deal with a good liar.”

is anyone else smelling that? its the wonderful scent of a good roast.

king tiberias anounces this queenstrial brought more than a future queen and tells us more about her “origin story” , where we learn that ethan titanos was killed by lakelander spies. i dont recall who they were though… >:/

the king and queen make a big show to, as mare kindly puts “slip a Red girl into a crown without anyone noticing”, which yeah, you gotta take measures because people are sure to complain about it. im sure they still will even with this whole sob story.

props to miss aveyard for writing future queen evangeline as having horrible fashion, pretty accurate to irl rich people. what the fuck is a “dress of interlocked metal rings”??? im picturing it and it sucks, sorry.

hdjfkgk ofc the king says he will “atone for [his] ignorance” bitch you people hate reds, stop clowning.

evangeline punching air mentally rn. girl just wanted that calore ass (its funny bc calore means hot get it. get i-)

maven proposes as scripted and mare has a short moment of consideration. who would she have chosen if things were different? kilorn, obviously. i want to point out maven seems to be kinder but idk it could be his act.

cal gives his gentle king™ speech and obviously chooses evangeline. also this girls has some azula vibes im telling you. maybe that is her whole thing. i just hope hes bullies her brother too because fucking ptolemus??

she radiates the same evilness as queen elara, but i wish she could be like a subversion of that trope. evil step-mom and now evil technically-step-sister. what if they become besties instead. would be wild right.

on another not im still wondering if shes genuinely into cal or if shes more of power-hungry #girlboss. maybe its both.

nvm evangeline fucking hates her i dont think this is anything short of a potential slowass burn friendship. mare also hates evangeline. sigh. i know this was written back in 2015 but i can dream.

as expected, they bring back the scarlet guard issue. something something we want to breed the most powerful children possible to keep our power over the reds and other kingdom, especially now that there are some rebellious reds out there against us.

damn i wish we could see what farley was up to. lowkey really liked her.

maven speaks to her reassuring- cool, nice to seem him warm up -but mares too preoccupied feeling guilty about having a great feast while her family likely wont be having a good meal. holy shit gisa was supposed to work to get them out from the stilts… they are probably worse off now. they dont even know that she is supposedly never going back home. her guilt is completely understandable.

oh- she was getting drunk to cope- yeah probably for the best that maven stepped in. also he apparently was a dick because he wanted to choose his wife. i mean, kinda understandable. and hes not one of the worst people mares had the displeasure to face so far. ill stay on alert for any potential friendship.

he didnt even have a girl in mind but he still wouldve liked to have that choice- i kinda resonate with this so he gets extra points. but obviously mares irritated because she doesnt get the luxury of choice. or anything, really. she never has. understandable, girl, vent all that shit before it consumes you. but also. maybe. not. in public.

aw damn, maven is the unseen brother, hes jealous but also… lonely. i think. yeah, poor kid. i mean hes still rich though.

lets talk about that though. mare rolling her eyes out at every person here complaining is such a mood. yeah their all rich and privileged what have you got to complain about bitch. but yeeeees i knooooow that they have their other, non-money-related problems. its just kinda funny. this girl has suffered hunger, trauma and constant distress and shes listening to a prince complain about not getting to choose who his wife will be.

ok thats it for now. ill try to read more often, or at least have some chapters queued.

[bananaman-pdf]

nine

mares new name is, and i quote “Lady Mareena Titanis, born to Lady Nora Nolle Titanos and Lord Ethan Titanos of the Iron Legion. Heiress to the House Titanos. Mareena Titanos. Titanos.” awful, i love it.

there are red maids preparing her, and being quiet because thems the rules, sadly. they make her more silver-y putting on her a lotta make up to cover her red blush. she refuses to let her earings her bros gave her go.

cal shows up! hes here to apologize for getting her into the whole mess that happened. aw. i mean ik its basic courtesy but if its silvers then i suppose its nice… he asks abt lucas and mare says hes fine.

lucas’ family thinks hes weak. dont be like lucas’ family.

cal says hell make sure lucas serves her well. she thanks him sarcastically. he plays along, but nicely. i rlly like him…

mare asks him to take care of her family as he apologizes again, and asks him if hes sorry for not letting her escape which- cmon dude, yk cals right on this one, they wouldve hunted you down.

he encourages her that shell be able to hold herself, that she must- because its dangerous otherwise, yeah dude weve been knew. she thinks about how she will be. that what her theory is, anyway. and it makes sense. they dont want a red queen! *insert funny drum sound*

he encourages once again, saying shell get the hang of it. and then reveals his cool firebending. nice.

shes escorted by lucas and some other guards at a feast, meanwhile she rehearses her sob story i mean backstory in her head.

the view is pretty yeha aha aha, LIFFDOF. nice. or rather… desendof…? man how do i invert sbahj refrances.

mare freaks out bc shes never been in an elevator and lucas is nice enough to slow down.

when they get there queen elara quickly grabs her arm in a very evil-stepmotherly manner and directly projects her made backstory directly onto her mind. nora nolle was an oblivion. oblivion>boom>storm>weather>lightning, basically.

she scares her a little more, your life depends on it and all that stuff.

[bananaman-pdf]

Eight

one more for the day (technically its already sunday lmao)

flashback time. to when bree was conscripted.

bree is described as being really tall, or big, even compared to the soldier taking him away.

next, tramy. and then shade.

she sees her painful memories, even nightmares. nightmares of her brothers in the war and then feeling like shes seeing her life in reverse.

she “wakes up” to see queen elara in front of her, behind bars. shes torturing mare, probably her power. the queen tells her its to keep her from electrocuting someone. and oh boy a conversation is in order.

queen elara reveals she was the shadow looking through her mind -makes sense- because she wanted to know her. shes a whisper. she taunt mare and tells shes only alive bc a lot of ppl have seen her do the sparky thing. and then leaves.

she freaks out about her new discovery of powers and calls for one of the security officers to tell her family where she is. he tells her to change so he can take her upstairs. she does. she notes the lack of red in her clothes. imean its not the first time theres no explicit discrimination, but idk.

the officer- revealed to be another magnetron and cousin of evangelines, lucas samos, leads her upstairs. shes taken through the self darkening diamond walls of the hall of the sun. the darkening comes from a red haired officer that lucas informs is called a shadow, blender of light.

she mentions the lighting shield might have changed her or released something in her, when the cameras dont affect her.

shes finally led to the room where the king awaits for her. the queen stands to his left, the princes to his right. the officers leave.

they tell her they wanted to kill her but cant, and show her a stack of papers with some interesting info. mares name is mare molly barrow, her bday is 17th november of the 302 of the new era? inch resting.

the queen had an idea but cal seemed to be against it. the cant kill her yet apparently. so they will giver her a character sheet with some backstory and have her larp as a silver princess so they can study her and understand her. cool. her father was ethan titanos general of the iron legion, dead when she was little. that might come back later.

theyll have her marry maven- aight. yeah. sure. maven aint happy about it either.

they mention how she finally has a purpose -which, fuck you- and this might do something to stop the scarlet guard somehow? doubt it. the king is being a dismissive liar according to mare. cal explains it will be a distraction. someone the reds can look up too or something. i really hope his lil speech about her compliyng is an act. i feel like it is.

mare asks for her brothers to be brought from the war and for kilorn to be safe. nice, putting her awful situation to some good use, at least. if shes gotta suffer shell at least be a martyr. she now lives in the hall of the sun and will be tutored there. a princess conversion, right? wow

[bananaman-pdf]

seven

aight so in light of today being saturday and ill have a lot of homeswprk to do starting tomorrow ill read a little more.

yo mare feels so betrayed by this revelation? like it makes sense that she has a huge vendetta against silvers… but if my judgement isnt completely clouded, just bc he was born in the royal family doesnt mean he shares their values, beliefs, etc. i mean idk we know little to nothing abt him. and it definitely makes sense that shes shocked, obviously her reaction is justified here.

a house patriarch called lord provos uses his telky powers to transform the garden. a shield of lighting appears. a girl called rohr of rhambos (what) appears rises from the center of the arena. shes around fourteen and a strongarm that can pulverize statues and crack the fucking ground. i love the tiny and destructive trope.

“So this is a pageant.” *inhales* MARE.

yeah they have to pair up the most powerful daughter with the prince so that their kids are unstoppable or something. its fucking incredible when you remember that these people (apparently) dont even fight in the front lines. like its just to flex on their kingdoms, right?

next is heron of welle, the governor of the stilts i suppose? shes a greeny, fixing the mess the prev girl left and making some tall-ass trees grow, so much they touch the lightning net and burn. the next girl, a nymph from house osanos puts down the fire with her sick waterbending. etc, etc, etc, according to mare. one she remarks abt is a twelve year old that makes things go boom boom. oblivion is her power name. we keep ading powers and sick names to the list holy shit. weve got animos, animal control.

now its time for another one. evangeline of samos, the house that mare was serving earlier -with the ptolemus dude- whos starkly not-like-other-silver-girls here. she doesnt wear silk dresses or gilded armor! she wears leather with studded iron! yeah fine show us your power licherally everyone loves you, show us why.

“magnetron” obviously she gets the coolest sounding name. mare is called down to serve some house that look like yellow birds according to her. they claim she already has won. even if she didnt do anything yet.

shes a metalbender yaaaay! she uses her studs as bullets. then she bends some metal pipes towards herself and uses it as a shield against the lightning sparks. she makes the boxes where all the silvers are move around.

one of the silvers in the box mare is serving knocks her down.

the big reveal… she falls to the lightning net and doesnt burn… she feels alive!

she falls with her uniform charred but herself untouched. everyone sees her. evangeline is scared. so scared she attacks mare, but our girl defends herself and makes a four feet hole in the opposite wall.

she makes a run for the hatch in the ground where the silver girls came from as the sentinels follow her ordered by the king, down the chamber and into a hallway. cameras turn to watch her. shes desperate to go outside and find a market to blend into a crowd and have a chance to escape.

she slides between to sentinels and finds a window to the outside but this time her sparks dont work. luckily, cal finds her and heists her up before the sentinels show up. the smoke makes her dizy, and im guessing shes fainting

[bananaman-pdf]

six

theres a security search the next day - happens once or twice a year, this time its the third-, and a royal servant red shows up with the officers, and addresses mare.

okay- shes been summoned to summerton- a thing that apparently Never Happens To Reds, but apparently its not because of the thing that happened yesterday? (x) doubt.jpeg. all of her family silently says goodby in their own way each- do they really think theyll kill her??? is that how normal this is?? i shouldnt even be surprised at this point the reds just live in a fucked up society (insert joker memes here). she whispers i love you to them- goddamnit stop.

they take her and she looks at kilorns house as they leave. she remembers farley was expecting her payment today and shell be disappointed.

they take her away in a transport and past the hall and officers with no protests, despite the mentions of travelers being checked all over. mare attributes this to the servant lady being well known.

she -ann walsh, now- ever so helpfully, tells mare shes from the stilts like her and knew tramy and bree- whos mentioned to have been a heartbreaker? -and tells her shes going to work here, telling her as if she knew what this is about.

mare assumes it was cals doing, he pulled some strings and got her a job. if this is true consider me an official cal simp™

mare feels incredibly relieved abt it, even considers she could ask cal to do the same for kilorn!

now walsh takes her down to a dark tunnel, that leads to the hall of the sun. when mare asks, she just responde that she serves the king now.

things are kinda busy today, lady walsh says, more than ever before. mare mentions shes seen more silvers going upriver than ever even for that time of the year. she asks whats going on, and walsh tells her it Elect The New Queen Day for the first time in 20 years. wooooooow original. the “daughters of the high houses” aka a bunch of silver girls are gonna compete for throne. and by compete im guessing theyre gonna stand and look pretty and the one whos best at it gets the spot. i can already see where this is going and not just because i read the back summary of this book. i just hope they execute it well enough that its not tedious to read through.

oh my fucking god the next line is already mare roasting the concept of choosing a queen: “So, what, they do a spin, say a few words, bat their eyelashes?” mare i love you so much girl. i know i underestimated you when i began reading but you are shaping up to be a good character.

lady walsh is weirdly mysterious abt it, its some “youll see for yourself” type’ deal. mare joins the other servants, but lady walsh doesnt, -which makes her nervous- into the spiral garden, where the silver queenies are.

the spiral gardens are described as resembling the arena back home, which makes mare uncomfortable. her powers seem to be on the verge bc of it even if she doesnt know it yet. she works, helping the cooks and cleaning.

queenstrial starts.

a bunch of silver families enter, they all wear different colors to differentiate themselves i suppose. one of the silvers she recognizes as samson merandus, a whisper (mind reader) from the arena fight.

mare is called to serve on a table of a silver family and she overhears a conversation where she absolutely destroys a character we are just introduced: “I assume he is the one unfortunate enough to be called Ptolemus.” and she is RIGHT. anyway the silvers complain abt having to wait for the royals to show up. just abt the kind of whining rich ppl would do. and do irl too.

mare points out the obvious what kinda problems would the high class have with royalty? but she cant eavesdrop, bc thats not allowed and bc a sound announces that things are about to happen. mare says its like the beginning of the first friday feats and somthn tells me that it is, kind of. lets see. if this ceremony is abt girls slaughtering each other this might be interesting.

the king enters, and mare remarks how he is fatter than in the coins. hm. she point out how he wears his victories proudly despite not being the one who fights. his name is tiberias calore the sixth, king of norta. the queen is mentioned to be kin with samsons house. her names elara, the king mentions. oh yena he gives a whole introductory speech after someone screams about wanting to end the scarlet guard.

they introduce prince maven of house calore and merandus son of the queen? thats a mouthful. the other one, crown prince of house calore and jacos, son of queen coriane. hes the heir of norta. tiberias the seventh bc they licheraly cant come up with a different name apparently WAIT HOLD UP ITS CAL???? HUH?????????

[bananaman-pdf]

five

mare runs away and takes injured gisa home, running away because she cant face her mom and dad and- god… poor girl. gisa was the best chance their family had to better conditions… and maybe she didnt tell gisa to do it but she was the one that asked her for help, obviously she would feel all the guilt, all of it.

she settles near a tavern and pickpockets the drunk ppl thats stumble out for a while, because she cant bring herself to go home. one of the men catches her and gives her “a silver tetrarch worth one whole crown”. naturally, mare is completely taken aback. when she asks he says that she needs it more than he does. its nice to see mare is shown kindness at last. its probably really strange for her and that why she has such a hard time thanking him.

so now this mysterious dude asks her if shes from the village and if shes going back. mare makes a show of being a little bastard by retorting like every question he asks is stupid. mare mentions she makes him nervous which hmm.

so he expresses his concern about her making everyone in the bar go bankrupt and offers to… walk her home i guess? and his name is cal! mare keeps giving himthe cold shoulder lmao. on the other hand, this guy seems nice!

she tries to shut him up when he tries to do small talk by mentioning his nice payment, and that brings her to tell him she has no job and will be drafted when she turns 18. he wonders out loud if she really couldnt avoid it. she says stealing is the best she can do, but that gisa has a job- and remembers not anymore. fuck, that hurt huh.

she breaks down and vents about how horrible she feels- for hurting gisa, for stealing from her own people, for everything shes lived through, probably. cal listens, and gives her another coin, tells her how sorry he is and goddamit im already attatched to him. also i made the mistake of opening the book on the last page and read his name yesterday by accident so i have more reasons to keep liking him. ugh.

cal leaves her at the edge of the village- it makes him uncomfortable- and she walks back home alone. she finds her dad outside- apparently for the first time in a while, checking why the powers out. we are reminded of his prosthetic(?) lung, and mare wonders if gisa will need something for her hand too, now.

they both fumble around the utility box to get electricity to work, because it broke. she mentions how both her and her dad are are avoiding her mom, how they are both tired and angry at the world they live in, until mare does something.

ive noticed this before, when she was fleeing the silvers in summerton. there was a vague allusion to the guy that attempted to drown her being electrocuted. im pretty sure it was just the mention of flashing lights or something and then the dude fainting- lemme look it up: “My head smacks the stone bottom and i see stars, sparks, before my vision clears. Every inch of my skin feels electrified.” …huh. not so subtle then, i guess. i knew bc of the description behind the book that she discovers she has powers despite being a red. but wow, electricity, huh? nice.

anyway, back to the read. she says she think she touched an exposed wire and got pricked by the thing, but the porch light lit up. it was definitely her.

she and her dad head back inside, an mare mentions how her mom would be happy hes going out. she also mentions nowadays he repairs trinkets for kids, even if he barely works. he asks her not to tell her mom. he doesnt want to give her hope that hes getting better when hes not. he doesnt think hell ever get better. thats… hm. war really does things to one. she agrees, they both wish things were better.

she feels the impotence again when seeing gisa sleep restlessly with her bandaged hand still over a pile of clothes. and at this point i realize that they probably cant even afford medicine. that hand is hurting like a bitch. and gisa has to try and sleep through it. what the fuck.

mare opens shades letter- oh yeah, that happened, even before kilorns master died -and catches the same phrase farley said in the video on her brothers letter. he is in the scarlet guard. oh…

[bananaman-pdf]

…bro??

so basically the broadcast caused a huge uproar in summerton and reds were tortured left and right for information. so naturally mare ran away and found gisa so they could get out before the gates closed, but ehn gisa heard that mare hadnt gotten what she neede she attempted to pickpocket someone, a huge cloning silver, and they got captured by him and they held mare down. an officer showed up- the same that let them in and knew gisa- and they shot her on the fucking hand

[bananaman-pdf]

ok so it appears that theres mare barrow the protagonist so far, lives with her mom, dad and little sister, gisa. her job is pickpocketing ppl to feed her family. she also has *checks book* three brothers that were drafted for the war: shade, bree and tramy.

they live in a world were ppl either have red or silver blood, and “silvers” as they call them, have special powers. for example: telekinesis, strength, healing, growing plants, waterbending, and thats what i can recall mind control too. silvers are the high class and reds are low class, even seen as workers/slaves by mare and pretty much every red so far. i mean yeah who wants to be a slave.

anyway, her little sister is a seamstress’ apprentice and shes the one whos got the best chance of getting the family to a better life, while mare is almost 18 and dreading to be drafted soon. she also has a friend, killorn waren, whos a fisherman apprentice.

there are also these fights between silvers, colosseum style, like for entertainment.

the plot is kickstarted when killorns’ master dies and since he hasnt finished training hes going to be drafted. this pushes mare to make plans to escape with him, so she looks for this old man tradesman, will whistle. he introduces her to farley, a warrior looking girl whose willing to transport her and killorn as “cargo” but for the high price of 1k crowns per person. mare desperately accepts, even if she doesnt know how shell get all that cash

eventually, she settles on asking gisa for help, so she agrees. she helps her enter summerton, a place where the merchants gather to sell to the silvers, and mare tries to follow around a crowd, until she sees on one of the news boradcasta that theres been a terrorist attack on the royal family, by a group called the scarlet guard, which farley is a part of. yeah, she literally appears on the news. thats where im at. updating after every chapter now.