quirky-booknerd

[quirky-booknerd]

yall ever think about how the “you keep me human, tom” line probably goes all the way back to the academy when thomas was the last and only person treating alastair like a real human being instead acting like the real him was the mask he put on yet hated so much, in turn really being alastair’s only link back to his real self and humanity? yall ever think about how thomas probably literally kept alastair human and stopped him from sinking into the facade he’d had to rely on for so long?

[quirky-booknerd]

!!!Spoilers for AGGGTM series!!!

I loved the agggtm (a good girl’s guide to murder) series, and although every book was interesting, book three (as good as dead) was definitely the most unique. I’ve read a lot of ya mysteries, and although I’ve loved most of them, they tend to be fairly rinse and repeat. Young heroine investigates case determined to find answers, discovers things missed by police because of her ability to integrate with the younger crowd, pulls together all her clues, has some large confrontation with the antagonist where the antagonist explains their motivation, someone comes to the rescue, mystery is solved and main character has some trauma but remains a “good guy”. That was pretty much the layout of agggtm and ggbb (good girl bad blood). It’s not a bad thing-I really enjoyed those books-it’s just so similar to so many other novels. The thing about agad is that it didn’t follow that out line at all

Agad (as good as dead) starts with Pip clearly facing severe trauma and using unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with the death of Stanley Forbes. She then decides to try to solve a mystery to “fix” her trauma, because she thinks if she can find a black-and-white case to solve than she can overcome her trauma. When she discovers that someone is stalking her and the police won’t take her seriously, she decides that this will be the mystery that will “fix” her mental health. A lot of investigative work later, she’s kidnapped and discovers the identity of her stalker; Jason Bell, the abusive father of Andie Bell, who was the victim in her first case.

Up until that point, besides the severity of Pip’s trauma, this follows the fairly standard ya mystery outline. However, things change drastically once this point of the novel is reached. Pip manages to escape from Jason Bell, but right as she’s about to run away from the complex where he was keeping her, he pulls up to the complex and gets out of his car. Instead of running away, Pip takes justice into her own hands and kills Jason Bell. She decides that she’s going to frame Max for Jason’s death, and to do that, she enlists the help of some of her friends, without telling them the whole truth of what happened. That was the point of the story that things really got interesting (and controversial).

I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying that what Pip did was unrealistic and horrible and how could she, but to be honest, I wasn’t mad. Maybe it’s because I mostly read fantasy/sci-fi and am used to reading about morally gray protagonists, but I think I would have been more surprised if Pip had actually gone to the police. I think people really discount her trauma, not only from book 2 but also from book 1. Her trust in authority figures is completely shot. In book one, the antagonist ended up being her friend’s father, who was a father figure, a teacher, and ultimately an authority figure in her life. His betrayal fundamentally changed her interactions with other authority figures, because now there’s that seed of doubt. Then comes book 2. Now Jamie is missing, and when she goes to the authorities, they refuse to help her. At this point, she’s dealing with some trauma, and now another authority figure has betrayed her, by not believing that there was an issue when she knew there was. Basically the same thing happened at the beginning of book 3, where Pip goes to the police to tell them that she has a stalker, and they think she’s just seeing things. These are three major infractions against authority figures, so when Pip is in an extremely traumatized state, the last place she’s going to look for help for is with an authority figure, like the police.

Next up, there is of course Pip’s distrust in the legal system. The police botched the Andie Bell/Sal Singh case, and while this might not have been a deciding moment for Pip, it probably started to sow the seeds of distrust with the legal system. The two main reasons why she doesn’t necessarily trust the legal system are Max Hasting and Charlie Greene. Pip found out that Max was a rapist who would drug girls and then rape them. She turned over this information to the police, and Max went on trial. After many days of trial, Max is deemed not guilty. Pip knew that Max was guilty because he’d admitted it her in an audio file that she legally couldn’t share because he hadn’t allowed her. Before the results of the trial came out, Pip had faith in the legal system because of her belief that the truth always comes out. After all, the truth came out in the Andie Bell/Sal Singh case, so why shouldn’t it come out in this case that was seemingly clear cut? Only, the truth didn’t come out, and instead a rapist was on the loose and a bunch of girls were deemed liars or simply misremembering. Pip now no longer believes that the legal system always brings out the truth, because she’s seen first hand how it didn’t bring out the truth. The next reason why she doesn’t trust the legal system is Charlie. Charlie’s younger sister was murdered, so he made it his life’s goal to find the killer’s son and murder him. Charlie ended up in Fairview just down the street from Pip, and they ended up having a few conversations over the course of the novel. Although the killer of Charlie’s sister was punished, Charlie didn’t see this as sufficient punishment, so he sought justice on his own. Charlie tells Pip that he believes in justice, just not in the courtroom. He thinks that words like good, bad, right, and wrong are all completely subjective, and sometimes you have to take justice into your own hands. While this wasn’t a situation of the justice system failing Pip, it did put it in her head that sometimes you have to take justice yourself.

So now, going back to agad, was it logical that Pip killed Jason Bell? Absolutely. She’s clearly struggling with her mental health and she has severe distrust of authority figures and the legal system, not to mention thoughts of Charlie and seeking her own justice running through her head. I actually think Pip committing this murder was what made this book so good. People saying that Pip never should have done that are discounting her trauma, and definitely should reread at lead ggbb.

Ultimately, agad is probably Holly Jackson’s best novel because it doesn’t try to make things pretty. Pip undergoes serious changes throughout the series, and instead of trying to keep her the perfect morally clean girl, Jackson let’s her get morally corrupt and never ignores her trauma, something that so many mystery writers do. Jackson also doesn’t try to make Pip killing Jason a type of moral high ground, instead says simply that Pip had a choice, and killing Jason was what she chose.

[quirky-booknerd]

Andarna: GROUP HUG TIME!!!!!!!

Tairn: Given the circumstances, I will let you hug me for four to five seconds.

Violet: Forty five seconds?!?

Tairn: No! I said four TO five seconds.

Violet, hugging Tairn: Too late.

[quirky-booknerd]

Friendly Reminder

"Thank you for being my shadow. Thank you for being my friend."

[quirky-booknerd]

FOURTH WING IMPLIED SPOILERS!!!!

Violet: Xaden has a really weird way of saying I love you

Tairn: what do you mean?

Violet: hey Xaden, do you love me?

Xaden: Did something happen?! Are you injured?! Do I need to go kill someone?!

Tairn: …in his defense-

Violet: this is why we can’t have nice things

[quirky-booknerd]

This!!! It is such an amazing novel. There’s action, mystery, drama, amazing characters, queer representation, and so much more. It deserves so much more praise than it gets

a dark and hollow star not being more popular is criminal actually

[quirky-booknerd]

Thalo: (standing right behind Arlo) …is now a good time to chat?

Nausicaä: …

Arlo: …

Thalo: …I’ll come back in twenty minutes…

Arlo, knocking on Nausicaä’s door: Are you decent?

Nausicaä: Morally? Never. But if your asking if I’m clothed, yes, and looking fly as ever.

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Juliette: *holding a knife to Roma’s throat*

Roma: Are we flirting or…?

Juliette: I’m going to unalive you

Roma: Definitely flirting

[quirky-booknerd]

SPOILERS FOR CHAIN OF THORNS

I still haven’t forgiven Cassandra Clare for killing off Christopher, HE WAS A TEN AND ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME CNA FIGHT ME

they are a ten but they are fictional and dead.

[quirky-booknerd]

Aurora Cycle characters sexualities (head cannon) but I’m very fond of projecting

Auri: That one token straight

Tyler: lithromantic bisexual

Scarlett: cupioromantic pansexual

Fin: panromantic pansexual

Kal: demiromantic and demisexual

Cat: biromantic asexual

Zila: aromantic lesbian

Saedii: aromantic pansexual

[quirky-booknerd]

Aurora: I’m cold

Kal: *gives her his coat*

Meanwhile…

Tyler: I’m cold

Saedii: Seems like a you problem

[quirky-booknerd]

!!!SPOILERS FOR THE AURORA CYCLE SERIES!!!

Okay so one thing that has always bothered me from the Aurora Rising series was the scene where Auri, Tyler, and Kal are all sitting at the bar on the World’s Ship, and Tyler says Kal’s last name and the Syldrathi recognize it. This then later leads to Saedii finding them, and this just kinda spirals until we find out Kal’s parentage. While in theory this sounds like a great idea, the question is, why hasn’t anyone ever figured out who Kal is before? Kal says in the book that neither of the leaders from the Aurora Legion know he’s the star slayer’s son, but they are world leaders, so if the other Syldrathi knew Kal’s last name well enough to realize he’s the star slayer’s son, shouldn’t these people know? Also, Magellan definitely implies that there were other Syldrathi in the Aurora Legion, so in theory they should have crossed paths at one point, and then, even if Kal’s last name was well known among the Syldrathi and not any other species, then one of those Syldrathi should have known it and outed him. Maybe it’s just me, but something doesn’t feel quite right here…

[quirky-booknerd]

THIS!!!! I’ve always felt like there was something not quite right about James’ character, and I felt like this post perfectly sums it up. Cassie spent so much time trying to make James perfect that she ignored all the potential his character had.

On this week's episode of E!’s Botched: James Herondale's character (Meta)

We've now reached my meta piece on our Angel-Demon Boy Extraordinaire, James Herondale! (Not to be confused with just Angel Boy Extraordinaire, Jace Herondale).

I adore James’ character so much. He's such a sweet, comfortable, and noble main character that you absolutely can't help respect, admire, and sympathize with him in the main trilogy. James, in Chain of Thorns, is on the Jem-tier of sympathetic and lovable. That being said, I have some criticisms of the way his character arc played out in Chain of Thorns especially that I'd like to pick apart... because I can. Moreover, I have a, uh, wee problem with the way I could literally hear Cassie fiddling around with the levers and gears of the narrative as far as James is concerned in The Last Hours (which starts mainly by the end of Chain of Iron and going into Chain of Thorns but was there from the beginning). If you’re super not-in-the-mood to read any criticisms of James (even one where I’ll be blaming only the narrative and not James in any capacity at all), then feel free to not read this.

Powers Begone

James and Lucie lose their demonic powers at the very end of the story. There is no opportunity for growth in the future regarding James and Lucie's demonic heritage. James will no longer be able to use the runed gun that only he can use. This is boring insomuch as it forces the reader to acknowledge James' and Lucie's powers and their inherited darkness as something that was created for the purpose of existing as an obstacle to overcome, rather than as a portion of themselves to come to coexist with. It's not necessarily bad writing but it's just extremely cookie-cutter writing, especially as it makes the central conflict in the story something that will bear no real power in the future and nor will it have a legacy– it has no weight. If the narrative has created these demonic powers to be something that can be detached from the characters with no caveats, then James and Lucie have only managed to be victims of these powers in the story before they shed them. The Belial powers that they've inherited are like raindrops on a windscreen. Rainfall is an obstacle to driving, it's a nuisance, and it can even make you get into a car accident. But at the end of the day, once your windshield wiper is working, you can brush the raindrops away. The narrative brushes away James and Lucie's powers at the end of the story, which is fine, but it also brushes away any and all of the consequences this power should have. The narrative has wiped away any of the long-term effects of the emotional, psychological, and physical consequences or legacy that their powers could have. This isn't a plea for James and Lucie to be destroyed by their powers, but rather, I feel like this complete loss of power and "moving on", which is part of why I find the Epilogue to be so weak, sanitizes James and Lucie's line from being tinged and stained with their inheritance. And while I reiterate that this is not categorically bad writing, it’s just kinda boring to me. James' arc ends exactly where it started, but without the poetry of a "come full circle" storyline. My issue is that James' character does a complete 360 (and not a 180) in a... lame way. Considering this demonic power is what raised Jesse from the dead (a really good thing!) and was the catalyst for the creation of the gracelet too, the disappearance of it makes for, yeah, a very sweet story. And a sweet story is just never as poignant as a bittersweet story. But this last sentence is just me projecting. Maybe. Moving on.

(N.B. But another reason I didn’t think the Epilogue was good, despite it being so warm and pure amd enjoyable for me, is because we damn well know that Cassie is good at writing bittersweet endings. Your main character living with demonic poison in his veins as a mute monk for 150 years before he can finally be with the love of his life and without having forced her to choose only one of the two men she’s ever loved is peak bittersweet writing. Your other main character sacrificing his literal memory to a Demon Prince to get his close friends out of a literal Hell realm and then slowly becoming empowered after that trauma and regaining his memory is peak bittersweet writing.)

You Can’t Spell Herondale Without Hero

James’ goodness is as good as it is bad in the context of the story, and I attribute this paradox to the fact that he’s a Herondale. There’s a Herondale legacy to protect, after all, with his character, and as a result, the story is simultaneously enriched and hindered by James’ parentage and characterization. I'd even argue that said characterization is the direct result of having said parentage, which isn't a bad thing at all. But, what I have an issue with is the way James' characterization feels, you guessed it, entirely sanitized. No, I'm not saying here that there was an Original Dark James that got lost in the wind or cut from the drafts (I mean, yes, I do absolutely think that, yes, but I'm not gonna try to tear apart his character on that basis, because it'd be mean, but it's also pure speculation, and I have no desire to pick apart the Secret Dark Original Ending anyway).

The narrative spends a lot of time protecting James, his heroism, and his nobility, and its choice method of protecting James has been to strip James of his agency. James spends the whole of The Last Hours experiencing things happen to him, but not really doing things. He gets possessed by Belial, he gets blackmailed by Belial, he gets the gracelet put on him by Grace, he gets stabbed by Cortana, he had his wife run away to Paris before he could stop her… I could go on. He spends the entire series being hurt and manipulated by other people and entities because he’s just so good and loving, and he spends little of his time actually making choices that can permanently affect others, for better or for worse. Because James spends the majority of the trilogy literally not having much free will at all (gracelet followed by possession back to back), the story essentially bulletproofs him from having to be anything but a noble, good hero who simply can’t help but just have Hell and Earth constantly hurtling toward him. This goodness also hinders the story as well because James is simply too good, too noble, too innocent to be anything else but a victim by virtue of his treatment by the narrative. The way his goodness is preyed on constantly and the way he is just mainly reactive to the whole situation is quite… bland. And moreover, the other characters spin around him like he’s the sun, which, as I noted in a previous ask, makes for weak character development as you can’t fricking blow up the sun. He’s fixed in his own orbit as actions in the form of comets bounce off him. Nothing that happens and that has a negative legacy for the other characters actually manages to touch James as he becomes an increasingly passive actor in a story that is fundamentally founded on him. On top of James being, quite obviously, the perfect gentleman and husband and also being obscenely rich, fortunate, and privileged, it feels like he was robbed of the opportunity to be anything less than ideal by the way the narrative puppeteered him.

We know James Herondale always felt like he was “not cursed, but damned” and was “destined to walk among thorns and flowers”. The setup for The Last Hours in the prequel short stories was dark, and we all know Cassie was about to end off this series in a very sinister way. I won’t ramble on about that last point too much, but I do wonder if James was originally supposed to be characterized with way more darkness within him (at least, more than the amount of darkness that I'm expecting), which would lend to a very interesting contrast between his idyllic family and upbringing and whatever “damnation” he felt lived within his soul. I also wonder if simply not characterizing James like this was Cassie’s way of making sure that she didn’t taint Will and Tessa’s legacy directly and didn’t undo Wessa’s Happily Ever After. Regardless, the narrative coddles James (and Lucie, and Cordelia) and strips him of any complexity or dubiousness when, in my opinion, the foundation was laid for something exactly like that.

(N.B. Jem is kind of like this too... ish. It doesn’t really bother me, as Jem was supposed to be a foil for Will but also because Jem simply never got everything his wanted, and definitely not when he wanted it.)

Concluding Thoughts

Now let’s get something straight: As a romantic lead, James Herondale is excellent. I thought his enduring love for Cordelia and the way he exemplified the idea that goodness can literally break apart the forces of Hell was amazing as a core theme in the story, and I am so fond of my annotations for all his scenes with Cordelia, because I can barely think of anyone who deserves that kind of love and joy by the Epilogue of ChoT. But the way Cassie wrote James implies a character that is so pure, innocent, and well loved, that all he can be is the hurt prince, a target because of these very qualities, someone who sometimes does things like shoot a gun… a gun that he literally gives up by the end of the story anyway. James is warm, kind, brilliant, strong and big on loyalty. But… what did James Henry Morgan Herondale really do in The Last Hours besides serve whatever purpose the book absolutely needed him to, be beautiful, and destroy at least one (1) doorknob on a certain warm, passionate night?

[quirky-booknerd]

this is not a request IT IS AN ORDER Y’ALL GO READ IT IT’S SO GOOD!!!!

i am now ordering everyone to read the warcross duology by marie lu

[quirky-booknerd]

*at the beginning of Warcross*

Hideo: *teasing Emika in public*

Asher:

Hammie:

Roshan:

Emika: what? he’s just being friendly

[quirky-booknerd]

SPOILERS FOR THE BALLAD OF NEVER AFTER

okay so we all know that when jacks stopped evangeline’s death by going back in time, he was told that time would take something of equal value from him. it literally just occurred to me that that item of equal value was evangeline’s MEMORIES. jacks had a traumatic past, but with evangeline he was able to form good memories. now all the sudden, evangeline lost her memories, so now jacks has to deal with his unrequited love, which he is the prince of. not to mention, he now has to deal with the girl he loves being with another guy, just like he did with tella and legend. so although he managed to bring evangeline back, he lost her all the same.

[quirky-booknerd]

midnights is literally alistair carstairs’ album. anti-hero? alastair carstairs. paris? alastair and thomas. would’ve could’ve should’ve? alastair and charles. you’re on your own kid? alastair carstairs.