#a fatal grace

[goodoldcharley]

I often think we should have tattooed on the back of whatever hand we use to shoot or write: 'I might be wrong'.

A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

Three Pines Quotes 04 / ??

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

'I think people who have had that experience and survived have a responsibility to help others. We can't let someone drown where we were saved.'

– Louise Penny (A Fatal Grace)

[realclaramorrow]

how do I singlehandedly create more tumblr interest in the chief inspector armand gamache detective novel series because so far all I can see is

-1 louise penny quote (its a good one tbf)

-2 fanart

-50 bazillion simping for alfred molina

he's not an unnatractive guy and I love his portrayal of gamache but guys please

[frey-draws]

Grace Howard- No wait, Geese Howard- No wait, Grace Howard- No wait, Geese Howard- No wait, Grace Howard- No wait, Geese Howard- No wait, Grace Howard...

[out-of-body-xperience]

Sabrina (1954)

[sunshines-child]

Nico is a femme fatale, Percy is a beautiful princess, Jason is a fucking angel descended from heaven.

this is it guys everyone else go home

[swordoffrivolousthings]

Thoughts about Heroes of Olympus and how it could have been better.

Sometimes I think about what would have made HOO a better series. And I'm not talking about the obvious 'too much focus on romantic relationships' and the lack of usage of certain characters or the dumb ending.

I mean the little things that would change so much (mainly character dynamics but also worldbuilding i.e. Camp Jupiter and Gaia's reasoning)

Some of the points are inspired by @crisisreading and their posts. They are the first I saw raise some of my own points so! part 2

Make the ages vary more in the main cast, trust me

Let Percy, Annabeth and Grover get older by 4-5 years. Let them become adults and find themselves outside the godly war. Let them even finish college, I wouldn't get mad. Let them do anything beside being teenagers.

I promise this would make the dynamics more interesting. Percy and Annabeth will be more mentor figures, than fellow comrades. This would create some distance between some of the them, but ultimately create something fun. Piper would come to see some aspiring female figure in Annabeth (I think this would ether be positive or negative, depending how Annabeth changed as a character over the years, but I tend towards negative). Leo would potentially have someone older to exchange ideas with. Jason would possibly feel intimidated by Percy's vastly superior age, prowess and experience, instead of being able to clash heads with him.

Hazel would have not one, but two that people that would play parent to the others' reckless behavior. (go snort your harmful stereotypes up your ass, Riordan.) Frank, when telling Percy and Hazel about his stick, would possibly find in Percy a kind hand (not that he wasn't kind already, let me explain) and Percy would probably share with him this feeling of vulnerability - not dump it on Frank - about having your life tied to a specific thing. I mean his Achilles heel, with which he would have lived for far longer.

And a whole lot more.

2. Add Grover into the series as a perspective character

You have a new trio dynamic introduced in the first book of the series. Let the original trio interact as main characters and let us see how their relationship has changed.

Grover's opinion on the conflict between the gods and Gaia would be important. He is the Lord of the Wild, and Gaia is the literal personification of the Earth. Let us see his struggle between the loyalty he has to the gods and his friends and his powerful feelings towards protecting nature.

Also, he would act as a protector for the demigods. Because while I enjoy Hedge, he is not enough to keep them safe.

3. Throw the bullshit about Gaia getting revenge for Kronos' defeat out of the way

Gaia, as mentioned before, if the personification of the Earth. One of the first gods to emerge from Chaos.

Gaia can, of course, keep her resentment for the gods defeating the son that freed her from her pain (caused by Ouranos initially). But she is a mother goddess. She should want obliterate humanity because humans are slowly killing her. Painfully. She wants to survive and the only way she sees how if by killing all the humans. She wants to save her children, aka animals, insects, nature, and the only way she sees is bloodshed. Gods are not rational in their anger, no one is. So let her be angry and vengeful and out for human blood.

DO NOT MAKE HER A FUCKING VILLAIN, MAN! Make her an antagonist, but someone's whose ideals are worth taking in and adapting. Kinda like Luke about the demigod and minor god recognition. Where have the themes of the original series gone? Remember, an important theme in BOTL was protecting the environment. It was one of the most important moments when Pan faded. Do not let that go to fucking waste. Especially not now, in the world we live in.

4. Show the effects the war had on Camp Half-Blood. Hint it at Camp Jupiter, when Percy does not have the memories to corelate it with

We've had years since the end of the Second Titan War. How did the gods change the course of events ? (the victors write the histories) How much of Luke's reasoning for starting the war was erased. (hint, all of it.) Show us how much the perspectives were shifted and how much the people that fought in it were made into martyrs and villain, basically becoming caricatures.

Let us feel how much this hurts Percy, Grover and Annabeth. How it had impacted and impacts their trauma, grief and utter horror. The younger, newer campers see them as wonderful, all-just and loyal heroes of the gods. The way they hate it.

Good moment to implement the new cabins for the gods and let the new ones forget that it wasn't always this way. Let Percy's demand to the gods be forgotten, shoved under the rug. The tragedy unfolds, use it.

Since in Camp Jupiter none of the main characters have fought, let us see the subtility. Let the older legionnaires be ragged, scarred. Older and weary, with eyes glassy and suspicious. Have younger recruits have this heavy air around them. They know what happened, what killed most of the older people in the legion.

Have Jason, Hazel and Frank see these things in Annabeth, Grover and Percy too. They realise that oh. oh. these three have fought in the war, of course they would. Show them gain respect for the trio. The same kind of respect they have for the veterans back home.

5. Cut one of the Seven from the prophecy.

I know this seems radical, but it is a symbolism thing, which I think would be more interesting in a world based on Greek mythology.

It is established in PJO that three (3) is an important number: 3 Olympian sisters (Hera, Demeter, Hestia), 3 Olympian brothers (Hades, Poseidon, Zeus), 3 Fates, 3 quest members, 3 Furies, 3 godly realms (the Underworld, Olympus + the sky, the seas). Use this.

Give us six (6) prophesized heroes. It is, after all, the second most used number in the series and a multiple of 3.

I suggest Annabeth. Why? because she has her quest from Athena. Let that be her top priority, while hanging out on the Argo II to get to Rome. Let her bond with the younger demigods and have her possible death be always on her mind. Bring her hubris into play and she would think herself the chosen one, the one demigod child of Athena to survive. This would make her falling into Tartarus with Percy not letting her go more taxing on her psyche.

Show us how she hates herself because she took one of the principal quest members to certain death. She feels like she'd jeopardized the whole saving the world thing.

Cut the Seven to Six and let Annabeth die in Tartarus. Show us why a single-man quest is a death sentence. Why three (3) is such a valuable number.

6. CONSEQUENCES!!!

Jumping straight off the last point.

Change why Annabeth would end up in Tartarus. Make her ignore the string around her ankle because she thing that nothing bad can happen to her now. After all, Arachne is gone, right.

Let this be her undoing. I do not care how she dies, but make her choices, her hubris, be her undoing. Do not let her death up to a chance, a mistake or miscalculation. Show how toxic Tartarus is, because we do not see it enough, but make it Annabeth's idea, the plan by which she dies.

Do not make it Percy's fault. Let him try to do everything to keep her alive, but still failing. Attack his sense of loyalty, his self-esteem. Show how the experiences and her death affect him.

Bring the trauma from the last war back in those chapters, in a place where demigods leave something behind.

To less drastic things - let the others get hurt. Permanently. Show how this life affects and damages people physically, too.

Have one lose an eye, another get horrific scars. Lose a limb, a part of themselves. Do not make it seem like any other could have gotten the same wound.

Tailor them to their character, their pride and their skill. Hit them where it hurts most and let us see how it changes them.

Also, about Leo. Kill him too. The fact that he ended up alive is a deux ex machina. He should have suffered the consequences.

Also also, bring back the fatal flaws. They are missing from the series. Play with them, show why they are important parts of their characters. Bring back ancient Greek fatal flaws, and new ones that make sense in a modern world.

Hurt them because what hurts them is part of who they are. Show us why the Greeks invented tragedy.

7. Age up the target age. Go more young/new adult

I understand that PJO was made for middle schoolers. But the target audience had grown up alongside the characters, and as such they have matured.

This is why I said to age Percy, Grover and Annabeth up further. Leave some distance for the old and new readers to get up and personal with the new main characters. Have them find common ground with the new demigods but have their anchor in the old ones.

Make the readers work to understand and refamiliarize themselves wit the older demigods. Because they've changed.

Targeting a more mature audience allows exploring n. 6. The realistic consequences of living with the fear that something will come and eat you. How just a little mishap could change you for life. (or what has been left of it)

Please do not go grim dark. Show that despite this all, their purpose has not stopped existing. A life exists outside of your appearance or disability still exist, and while it would be hard, do not lose hope.

8. Hope, or lack of its importance in the Heroes of Olympus series

Alongside other callbacks and reinforcements of PJO's lore, where is Elpis (hope)? Why doesn't she appear as a larger theme in the books? I don't know.

Elpis is still in the jar, having been used as a threat of defeat. But now Kronos is gone. Have Gaia use it as s symbol for her own cause.

Make hope Gaia's argument. The most important part of why her cause stands. Gaia is waking now because there is no hope for the betterment of the planet while in human - and therefore godly - grasp. She wants to save the planet, but they, the destroyers, are opposing her.

Hope is what she wants to bring back. The hope that death will not be the end of life, but further evolvement and betterment of all species.

This argument is what the counterargument should unravel. All species? Why are humans considered irredeemable, unworthy of becoming something greater?

Why can't they not coexist and why can't humans learn how to care about the world surrounding them.

Make hope for humanity and for the environment not a question of if they are capable to coexist, but how we can manage that. Humanity and nature are not mutually exclusive, but two halves of the same whole that need each other to sustain their longevity. Yes, nature can exist without humans, but humans can't.

This does not mean that the best way forward is to kill all humans.

There is no need for hope in HOO because there are no greater questions being asked about topics that require hope, because otherwise we would descend into nihilism and fatalism.

9. Give the gods reason to act the way they act, or a look at a greater narrative problem in the series

I may be generalizing, but the gods act erratically and make choices convenient for the plot, as it is, to happen.

Hera: how, specifically, does she know that Gaia is rising and what her plans are. Why is she against Gaia, when the older goddess has a track record of helping the Olympians on different occasions in the myths. Why does she decide to act when she does, how she knows that the king of the giants (whatever his name may be) is coming after her right then.

We don't know.

Athena: we understand why she wants the Athena Parthenos back. Why not force the Romans to give it back. After all, she is a goddess, even if the Romans don't respect her as the Greeks did, she has power and sway over them. Why send her children, a supposedly important part of what brings her glory, to a near-certain death. Is it misguided vengeance, an obsession to get the statue back at all cost, or simple cruelty. These reasons could apply very well to sending the Romans, yet she doesn't.

Zeus: why lock down Olympus? Paranoia, which fair, but you are a King, why wouldn't you look after your subjects? (bc Riordan chose to ignore part of his characterization in the myths and part of his godly domain) (I know kings aren't perfect, but after the last war, one would think he would do everything in his power to stop another one before it begins) Why not seek justice for Octavian's lies, that affect their ability to win the war, and kill/imprison him? Justice is part of his domain, as Zeus Nomius.

I know that we wouldn't necessarily need these answers, but without some of them, some choices left hanging seem to be there only to add to the drama and danger of it all.

All in all, I have many problems with the 'Heroes of Olympus' series. Some of them are nitpicks and personal preference as a high fantasy reader in my free time. Some of them would really add to the story and continue the themes of PJO.

Please ask me if something wasn't clear to you. I'll happily explain further.

If you find something you don't agree with, let's discuss. I'm open to changing my opinions.

[rat-prophetess]

Pathologic 2 + text posts, part 2 (part 1 / part 3 / part 4 /part 5/part 6) [Patho classic HD part 1/part 2/part 3/part 4/part 5]

Bonus:

[echo-stimmingrose]

Say it with me now: Thalia Grace turning the prophecy over to Percy by joining the hunters, was not her being selfish.

[1800-lemon-boy]

Friendly reminder that Thalia choosing the hunters was the best choice because if she was the child of the prophecy her fatal flaw (ambition/need for power) would have led her to betraying the camp.

<33

[goodoldcharley]

The bistro was his secret weapon in tracking down murderers. Not just in Three Pines, but in every town and village in Quebec. First he found a comfortable café or brasserie, or bistro, then he found the murderer. Because Armand Gamache knew something many of his colleagues never figured out. Murder was deeply human, the murdered and the murderer. To describe the murderer as a monstrosity, a grotesque, was to give him an unfair advantage. No. Murderers were human, and at the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost. Gamache's job was to collect the evidence, but also to collect the emotions. And the only way he knew to do that was do get to know the people. To watch and listen. To pay attention, and the best way to do that was in a deceptively casual way in a deceptively casual setting. Like the bistro...

A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

Three Pines Quote 07 / ??

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

A Fatal Grace (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #2) by Louise Penny

When I had been recommended the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, the person said "they only get better with each book," and with this second book, she was right. This is how I want my mysteries: tough and logical. Penny gives you just enough to think you've worked it out, but then goes a bit further. I like that: it wasn't too easy, and I felt like I was part of Gamache's team, working with him to solve the case.

I'll definitely be reading more Gamache books, and soon. I'd rather be reading a good, reliable series than continuing to try new things (at least for awhile: I want to be consistently reading books I enjoy!)

[everythingwasalreadypicked]

Something something Thalia and Alabaster sharing a fatal flaw... something something childhood bestfriends Annabaster... something something Thalia being made Artemis's lieutenant to satisfy her thirst for power and to get her off Olympus's back, Luke promoting Alabaster to General for the same reasons...

Something something Thalia renouncing the kid she knew and cursed the gods with all these years, and not recognising both him and the child they took in anymore

OHHH I'm having thoughts and Unwell no one stop me

[lookingthroughmirrors]

There are people who think Annabeth is very powerful because she is the leader of the seven. What do you think about this? Is Annabeth really the leader of the seven and she is very powerful because she has "the control"?

I haven’t read much of the books of the heroes of Olympus series, but I think Annabeth as a character has always stayed the same in the fact that she has always had a superiority complex, to the point where it’s her fatal flaw, and I don’t think it’s discussed enough.

I suppose I think about it the same way I think about people saying that Annabeth was the leader between her, Percy and Grover. What it really was, was that Annabeth couldn’t be wrong and as you said, ‘have control’. Something I am familiar with from HOO is the scene between P*rcabeth and Akhlys, and I think it’s a very clear representation of Annabeths character, particularly her reaction to the events of the scene. She is scared because she doesn’t have control. It’s all but confirmed when she says “some things aren’t meant to be controlled” which then leads to a Percy spiral and him passively thinking about suicide, which, is its own entire thing but I think it’s very relevant when talking about Annabeth. Particularly because it all comes back to control.

I truly believe Annabeth is only viewed as a leader because she likes to have control, and her superiority complex that she’s automatically better because she’s a daughter of Athena, which again, is shown entirely from her introduction in the first book, and is pretty central to her character as a whole. I think Percy and Jason probably acted the most like the leader, and I kinda feel like Annabeths role is pretty interchangeable. Personally, I think bringing Thalia back to be part of the seven would’ve been more impactful. Especially because when you look at the quests the OG trio went on, Annabeth doesn’t really do anything in particular that means they would’ve failed had she not been there. Which is why I also don’t think Percy gets enough credit for the role he played in his own quests.

Every single member of the seven had better, more interesting and are factually more powerful than Annabeth. They did not need Annabeth there to do that quest, and I think that really Jason and Percy acted more like leaders, both of which have also been leaders in the past and have more experience (Jason through the legion and Percy through TLO, since he led all of camp halfblood against the titan army. Percy did, not Annabeth, Percy did but that’s besides the point). I think Annabeth is simply elevated because she’s a fan favourite, not because she is a leader or anything. And I don’t mind Annabeths character, if her flaws are addressed.

So no I don’t think Annabeth is overly powerful, and I think the only reason she’s seen as the leader of the seven is because she’s the only one who cares about being seen as leader, in comparison to the others to an extent. I really think it was more that nobody had the energy to fight her on it, then her being the true leader.

I hope this answers your question! Also feel free to ask more I love getting these, it’s exciting!!

[blkanniechase]

i love the parallels in house of hades with annabeth and percys fatal flaws. They got stuck in tartarus because Annabeth’s hubris made her think she defeated Arachne, and Percy’s loyalty made him fall with her. Meanwhile, they escaped because Annabeth had to realize she can’t be the best and do everything herself, letting bob take the lead. And Percy had to leave bob behind denying his loyalty.