#Lissa reviews Midnight Sun

[kradogsrats]

OKAY so the meat of Neither Crows Nor Eagles is actually “Lissa and Kpp’Ar tag-team through the Titan Heart arc WAY better than Viren navigated it on his own” and yeah that’s gonna take approximately forever to write

but I still just wanted to post a little chunk that resembles “done” because a) idek man it makes me stupid happy, and b) I swear to god that three stanzas mimicking the Midnight Star poem structure might have been the single most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced writing, please look at it and feel the pain it caused my soul

—

Lissa spent days scouring the library—histories, sagas, ancient poetry. Even a few tomes on magic that looked somewhat comprehensible.

In the end, she stumbled upon what she was looking for almost by accident. An otherwise extremely dry analysis of settlement distribution across the area of what would eventually become Katolis made an unusual reference to a contemporary heroic lay, which sent her after several collections of pre-kingdoms era poetry, seeking to identify the original verse. As she paged through the fourth of the half-dozen volumes the librarian retrieved for her, a handful of stanzas from an unrelated, even earlier poem caught her eye. 

"It's about an early human queen, referred to only as 'Bone-crowned,'" she told Kpp'Ar, back at his house. "It's not clear whether or not she really existed—the whole story may be a metaphor for fallen Elarion, to express human suffering and grief after the expulsion."

"Spare me the senseless academic waffling," Kpp'Ar grumbled, flapping a hand at her. He bent over the text. "It doesn’t matter whether the individual existed, as long as the spellcraft is sound."

Lissa pointed out the stanzas in question. "Here. It’s not much, unfortunately."

Unbowed queen, with harden’d heart, no traitor’s rule left in her stead. Cast from her throne and crowned with bone, her people to the wilds she led.

Exiled queen, with pow'r undimmed, an ebon gaze swept o'er the waste. In barren ground no seed was found, both root and stalk by blight erased. 

Wand'ring queen, with children frail, faced winter's bite and hunger's sting. 'Til warmth of Earth drew bounty forth, growth like unto most tend'r spring.

Kpp'Ar frowned, thick brows knit together. "Actually, this is quite promising," he conceded. “Workable, even.”

"How? It doesn't look much like a spell.”

"Did you expect a shopping list? The reagent and incantation would have been closely-guarded secrets, particularly for a working of this scale. But there are signs." He tapped a stanza. "Here—a reagent of the Earth primal, that brings the warmth of a second spring to the land."

She thought back to what little she remembered of primal sources lore. It came up far less often as poetic imagery during the later eras she was more familiar with. "Wouldn't warmth come from the Sun primal?"

"Do you know of many plants that grow better when on fire? No," he answered himself testily, not waiting for her response, "the spell would require the vitality and fertility of Earth. Think of the heat of a beating heart, not a lit flame."

He went to one of the bookshelves and selected several thick tomes. Lissa peered curiously at the pages as he flipped through one of them—it appeared to be some manner of reference text, cataloging properties of Xadian flora and fauna. Some entries he dismissed without a second glance, including several forms of dragon, but others he reviewed more carefully before moving on.

She watched as he muttered over the pages, absorbed to the point of having forgotten her presence. His shaggy hair fell across his face as he bent his head to examine a diagram in detail, and he pushed it back impatiently, tousling the pale streaks that raked through it like skeletal fingers. 

Bone-crowned, she thought. She was less familiar with stories from the pre-Katolis region than those of her homeland, but she recalled the queen’s tale as being one primarily of betrayal and bloody retribution. The grisly crown was usually depicted as wrought from her enemies’ remains, growing more elaborate as she continued to exact her revenge. If the epithet instead described a natural coloration—it posed significant challenge to certain assumptions. Not even to mention the question of when the popular perception had changed, and how.

She wondered if anyone had published a monograph on the topic, yet. Maybe she’d write one. Assuming there was any interest in scholarship remaining after famine ravaged the kingdoms.

"Here," Kpp’Ar said abruptly, startling her out of her thoughts. He smoothed the open page with his hand. "This is a possibility."

The illustration showed a hulking creature of rock, man-like in its shape and stance, but without recognizable features. Deep fissures ran over its craggy surface, and its gaping maw hung open in a ferocious bellow.

“A magma titan,” Kpp’Ar explained. “Uncommon, but not unheard of, particularly in the volcanic wastelands near the border. Its heart, for lack of a better term, is a massive crystal of concentrated magic. Potentially enough to restore Duren’s fields to flourishing, and spur them to produce before winter.”

Hope—real hope—swelled in Lissa’s chest, lifting away some of the smothering dread that had weighed her down since Sarai admitted the dire situation. “You think it can be done?”

“Perhaps.” He drummed his fingers against the page, still frowning. "Unfortunately, magma titans are quite difficult to kill. It will take a dozen soldiers, at the least. Maybe two."

Lissa’s fragile bubble of hope crashed back to earth. "There's no way that many can march into Xadia. It would be seen as an act of war—that's the last thing we need."

"Indeed. Which is why they must not be seen."

"If magic could sneak an army over the border, it would have been done centuries ago." She hesitated. It seemed like common sense, but there was a lot she didn’t know about magic. “Right?”

“Conjuring illusions that deceive normal beings is trivial, but dark magic does little against the senses of an archdragon,” he confirmed. "Which is why I'm proposing speed, not spells. Cross, hunt the titan, and return in a single night. The most time-consuming part is locating a target—my presence will speed that step significantly."

It took Lissa a moment to register what he'd said. "You?" she exclaimed, a wave of mingled disbelief and dismay rising in her.

Kpp'Ar cast a look at her, brows raised. "You know someone else who can perform a tracking spell?"

"No, but—" She grimaced. Until now, the entire prospect had been, if not academic, then at least abstract. It was one thing to think about a dozen unnamed soldiers venturing into Xadia after a monstrous creature, but entirely another to imagine Kpp'Ar—who seemed to hold all the brittle frailty of ancient parchment, ready to crumble at a touch—doing the same. He had not, to the best of her knowledge, left his home in years, save for the morning Viren died. She remembered him blinking owlishly in the sunlight, stumbling after her through the streets.

She remembered how his hands shook when he’d touched Viren’s lifeless body. So, so gently.

“Couldn’t you do it from here? Or this side of the border, at least?” she finished weakly.

“Not accurately. To track a specific individual using a direct sample, maybe—but a broad specimen match requires proximity. There's also a chance the spell will need to be refreshed multiple times, depending on how far away the target is revealed to be.”

He closed the book, looking down at his hands resting on its cover. “This plan cannot be executed without a mage. Not quickly enough to make a difference.”

Lissa had nothing she could say to that. Neither Katolis nor Duren had a high mage to take responsibility. Seeking outside aid risked widespread panic—a single kingdom’s choice to hoard and isolate rather than stand together could bring the collapse of centuries of peace. 

“Contrary to what you may believe, there are things I care deeply for. People, both present snd gone,” Kpp’Ar said quietly. "We both know he would go without hesitation, if he were here.”

His hands curled into fists against the book. “He’s not, and I am. It is what it is.”

Lissa opened her mouth to somehow protest further, then closed it with a sigh. “I’ll inform the queen.”

[supermassive-blue-tint]

Midnight Sun Thoughts: Chapters 1-5

I am five chapters into Midnight Sun and I have SOME THOUGHTS. This is going to be a very long post in which I stream of consciousness type everything that comes to mind. Also I am very much enjoying the book, but I am also going to be critical of it too!

Possible spoilers below!

Let’s start with the positive things!

Getting a look into the minds of the Cullens/Hales makes me love them even more! Emmett is such a bro, so easy going, never anxious about anything (I mean we knew this already, but it’s just so much more pronounced!) I LOVE how Rosalie’s mind is portrayed because it’s so damn honest. She is selfish and vain. As someone who is currently learning that I don’t have to put every single person in the world before me, a little look into her mind is reassuring and refreshing. She only cares about protecting herself and yet Emmett still loves her... she’s still worth something even though she isn’t ‘good’ like Bella or Esme. Seeing the way Alice’s visions work is also amazing. Like the way she can search through thousands of decisions and the way things blur when someone is undecided. I also found it very interested that right from the beginning Alice already knew that Bella was either going to end up dead or a vampire. Kind of makes a little more sense now as to why Edward tried to keep Bella human for so long... he hated being confined within only two futures.

Another thing I thought was a great touch was the way Charlie’s mind is a little more wordless than the usual mind. Edward can tell what he’s thinking, but can’t hear the actual words. I wonder if Renee has some kind of gift too? I haven’t read to the end so no spoilers if this is true! Also interesting to think about how Charlie’s gift might have manifested if he had become a vampire.

It’s interesting how in Twilight the readers can never fully comprehend the horror and repulsion that the Cullens/Hales cause in humans, because we’re reading it from Bella’s perspective and she seems to be immune to this. It’s great to get a look into how most other humans do have some kind of subconscious understanding that something isn’t right and that the Cullens/Hales are a danger to them.

I also love the way Bella is described. It’s not how I imagined her in Twilight at all, which indicates she doesn’t see herself clearly.

Let’s get into some things I didn’t like...

Firstly, school being described as purgatory and then later hell, is so obviously Mormon/Christian. Please note I may get damn salty about this as I have actual religious trauma that often manifests as me picking apart Christian religion. Trust me I have nothing against you if you are Christian... I’m just traumatised by Christian religion and I think I have the right to be critical of something that harmed me. Anyway, the blatant Christian imagery is rife in the most stereotypical way. The angel and devil on the shoulder are mentioned as well. There are so many more nuanced Christian ideas that could be used... but instead it’s really obvious imagery. I also noted the mention of ‘atonement for sins.’ Not terrible, but really rubs me the wrong way as that’s the sort of rhetoric that distorts the view of the self and makes one think they are ‘bad.’

The most accurately Christian thing about this (and I feel I need to stress here that I’m about to talk about something that happens when Christianity is done WRONG. If you’re not doing it wrong then I’m not having a go at you) is the way Edward perceives his nature as monstrous. I cannot fully describe to you the parallels this draws to my own experience of feeling like a monster for being gay (/maybe demisexual or grey asexual, idk). Edward’s self hate, the seeing of himself as a sinner, as contaminated and not good enough for anyone else are very real and common results of Christianity gone wrong.

Another thing (not related to Christianity at all) that made me really uncomfortable was the way that Edward waited for an outright ‘no’ from Bella when he decided to talk to her again after the first night visiting her room. Obviously as we have already read this from Bella’s point of view, we know that she likes him too. But he doesn’t know. So when he hears things from her like ‘leave me alone’ and decides that’s not enough of a rejection and he should keep pursuing her it brings up this horrible idea that only no means no. Which is not the case, obviously body language and other words can indicate a lack of consent. Of course he does wait for her to eventually say yes, which is good... but he ignores so many implied ‘nos’ before that.

I also don’t like how Esme is reduced to the loving mother archetype. There is nothing wrong with this archetype, but it eclipses all the rest of her personality. There is an important place for loving mothers in the world, but not because it’s what women are ‘designed’ for, and not at the expense of a woman’s individuality and uniqueness. In a similar vein I hate it how Bella is perfectly ‘good’ and selfless. It’s such an unrealistic idea that perfection even exists. But it’s what Christian churches (particularly more traditional or strict churches) ask of their followers. It’s a ‘be perfect or you’re going to hell’ vibe.

I’d also like to point out that I don’t necessarily think Smeyer would intentionally go and put all this Christian stuff in Midnight Sun or any Twilight saga book. I think it’s more likely that she is so involved in it all that this is genuinely how she sees fit to explain the world. I remember reading Twilight as a 12/13 year old and never ever noticing any of the thinly veiled traditional Christianity hidden in it because I myself was so much a part of it that I didn’t know there were other ways to see the world.

Okay, end rant. Tune in next time for Lissa reviews Midnight Sun but then accidentally addresses her religious trauma.

[thebookrat]

Daaaaaamn, Daniel! Back at it again with the bargain books! And the super fresh, relatable memes. I like to keep current.

Anyway: BOOKS! There are so many you guys omg so many book deals. I'm never allowed to take a week off from FYR posts again. Also, there are a ton of contemporary deals that look really great, so take that, internet that says I don't share enough contemporary! Make sure you click through to see the full list of deals!

*** All book covers are clickable, and lead directly to the deal! ***

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE FAIRY TALE RETELLINGS, GET IT GET IT GET IT READ IT NOW

Blessed-or cursed-with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she's known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn't hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servants. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who's been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he's forced to marry a troll princess.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George See above, and also note that you can pick up a whole bunch of other fantastic JDG books right now for $5 or less!

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.

Stolen Enchantress by Amber Argyle While we're speaking of fairy tale retellings. . .

Any girl who goes into the Forbidden Forest never comes out again. Except the one who did. Larkin should have been watching her little sister, should have paid more attention to the trees looming over her family’s fields. Now Sela is gone. Knowing full well the danger of the forest and its beast, Larkin goes after her anyway. With her sister clutched in her arms, she manages to escape, but not before discovering the truth lurking beneath the wicked boughs. She may have evaded the beast once, but with the full force of his magic now fixated on her, she isn’t sure how much longer she can resist.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell It's been awhile since I've mentioned it, so allow me to reiterate my love of David Mitchell. BSG was the book that started it for me.

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews | A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date.

Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourn I'm currently reading Honeybourn's upcoming When Live Gives Your Demons, which, hey, best title ever.

Coworker, childhood friend, and worst enemy: the changing dynamics of friendship (and maybe...relationship?) are front and center in this charming debut novel with equal amounts of wit and heart. Quinn is having a rough summer. Her beloved grandmother has been put into a nursing home, her dad’s gambling addiction has flared back up, and now her worst enemy is back in town: Wesley James, former childhood friend and life ruiner. So when Wesley is hired to work with her at Tudor Tymes, a medieval England-themed restaurant, the last thing Quinn’s going to do is forgive and forget. She’s determined to remove him from her life and even the score for once and for all—by getting him fired. But getting rid of Wesley isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. When Quinn finds herself falling for him, she has to decide what she wants more: to get even, or to get the boy. Wesley James Ruined My Life is an engaging romp through rivalry and restaurants from debut author Jennifer Honeybourn and chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads

Amid Stars and Darkness by Chani Lynn Feener And I just finished reading the follow up to this, Between Frost and Fury! My relationship with this series is FRAUGHT. I neeeeed you to read it and tell me what you think, because, I mean. . . I had opinions (but I couldn't put it down).

A high-stakes space opera that combines science fiction and romance, this debut novel features plenty of action and a heroine whose unique brand of humor and tenacity make her easy to root for. Delaney’s entire world is thrown into chaos after she is mistaken for Lissa Olena, an alien princess hiding out on earth in order to escape an arranged marriage. Kidnapped by the princess’ head bodyguard, Ruckus, and imprisoned in an alien palace, Delaney is forced to impersonate the princess until Olena can be found. If she fails, it will lead to an alien war and the eventual enslavement of the entire human race. No pressure or anything. Factor in Trystan—the princess’ terrifying betrothed who is intent on unraveling all her secrets—and her own growing feelings for Ruckus, and Delaney is in way over her head. Chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, Chani Lynn Feener’s debut novel Amid Stars and Darkness is a thrilling space adventure complete with perfectly detailed alien planets and a super sexy secret romance.

READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP >>> via The Book Rat

[supermassive-blue-tint]

Lissa Reviews Midnight Sun: Chapters 6 to 11

Welcome back to another installment of my Midnight Sun review in which we might address my religious trauma and gayness (yet again).

Possible spoilers below!

Right! First thing that comes to mind, is that any time Bella experiences shock, or anger or annoyance, Edwards is... AMUSED? Like the person you love is experiencing a potentially unpleasant feeling and you’re laughing? Like this is a thing that happens SO consistently it’s ridiculous. Every time this happens he doesn’t really seem to be thinking about her, but himself. He often laughs in relief when she’s annoyed at someone else (Mike, Tyler etc) but it happens ALL THE TIME and I feel weird about it. Instead of laughing he could be like ‘wow yeah dude that’s annoying af’ instead of being like ‘ah this confirms she loves only me, thank fuck.’

Next thing, I LOVE how Alice is so keen to be friends with Bella! And in chapter 11 I think, Edward makes some comment about how Bella would feel about having a vampire girlfriend. Like as if Midnight Sun wasn’t unintentionally alluding to Balice enough, now we have that actual line. I’ve never been a Balice shipper, but damn Midnight Sun could get me on board honestly.

I totally never thought about Edward getting back early from his hunting trip with Emmett. Like it literally never ever crossed my mind that he could have been there watching Bella when she fell asleep reading on the lawn. I think I always assumed that he was away hunting like the whole time. I thought this was a great little unexpected moment. I also wasn’t expecting anything to come of the guy who was going to attack Bella in Port Angeles. I had absolutely no inkling that Edward would go and do anything about it after he resisted murdering him the first time. I liked that they let law enforcement ultimately deal with him though.

Also, I know Edward is a creepy stalker, always being in Bella’s room... but in Twilight I seemed to have a sense of him being in her room A LOT more than he actually is in Midnight Sun. And I wondered why that was exactly... and then I realised it’s because the events of Twilight take place over such a short amount of time, but Twilight is written with so much detail that it seems to go on for a long period of time. It feels like Bella and Edward finally going to the restaurant in Port Angeles is a really slow burn the way it’s written. But it actually happens so damn quick. Not a whole lot of time for Edward to be in Bella’s room. I think where I’m up to it’s only happened maybe 3 or 4 times. But that’s like every night that Edward’s been back from hunting. Which means that they’ve basically fallen in love over the space of a total of... idk, two weeks? I’m sorry Stephenie I think your Mormon is showing.

Speaking of the Mormon showing... Edward’s inability to think about anything sexual (even though he’s trying to avoid thinking about Bella like that because he doesn’t want to physically hurt her), is 100% an unconscious display of Christian/Mormon guilt. Like I’ve lived Christian guilt, and I can tell you, feeling terrible about looking at anyone in a sexual way is like the number 1 symptom of Christian guilt. I know Edward has all these other reasons... but I think this says a lot about Smeyer’s experience, and about the general experience of people who are in extremely strict Christian situations.

Also along these lines, the way Edward thinks of himself as a monster... also very common in Christian guilt. Though it’s made so fucking comical because he most often uses the term ‘monster’ when referring to the fact that he SPARKLES. How horrifying lol.

And again, the whole ‘I shouldn’t be with this person, it’s wrong’ vs ‘But I really love this person’ thing is absolutely what I experienced as a lesbian/kind of grey asexual person who grew up in the church. Like idk why so much of Midnight Sun and Edward’s thoughts seem to resonate with my experience of being LGBT in a Christian church, but it really does.

Ooh one last positive note, still loving getting to know Alice, Emmett and Rosalie more in this book. (Jasper and Esme don’t seem to have such a big role. And I think we all knew Carlisle pretty well from Twilight.) Alice’s visions and how Edward interacts with them in her thoughts is fascinating. Emmett’s total lack of caring about Edward breaking all the vampire rules is so sweet. And Rosalie doing everything she can to protect herself, and being so damn mad about it when Edward endangers her family by telling Bella, shows more about her character and how threatened and unsafe she feels. Let’s be real though, it’s not surprising that Rosalie’s greatest instinct is to protect herself given what happened to her. I briefly mentioned this last time, but getting to know Rosalie better is super important for me right now, as I often feel like the most angry and irritated and annoying person in my household. Rose is that in the Cullen/Hale family. And yet they still love her and they still want her around. I think she might actually be my fave of the Cullens/Hales.

Guardian vampire. GUARDIAN VAMPIRE.

Thanks for tuning in for my second Midnight Sun review! 🖤