#clunky trans allegories is also a thing I like maybe

[trashbatistrash]

,

[telafel]

I finished reading that very questionable book the other day and I'm still so conflicted on it.

And here it is:

The book is 100% built around the ending and the ending makes some of the really ridiculous stuff and the gripes i had make sense, BUT then I have to wonder and doubt literally everything. But at the same time the ending also feels like a clever way to explain some of the sloppy writing earlier on in the book and not just for a real narrative reason.

I don't like that a lot of my complaints can be hand-waved by the twist at the end, because there's still a lot of egregiously bad segments and clunky writing earlier on in the book. I seriously resent how one of the main characters is treated constantly as thing punching bag for religious arguements because she has a strong sense of faith, but she is never forcing it on other or being judgemental. Then she is found to have a useful ability and she is *used*

And like the main character, Aranok, is just constantly played up to be so cool and selfless, but also this man that struggled through life for acceptance. But then you have out that while society doesn't have a high opinion of magic-users, he still had a mom and sister that love him dearly and he was sent off to this prestigious magic school. And in the sections that are his PoV show that, yes, he cares about people, but also has a maybe unintentional character flaw where he will reduce certain characters to tools and not have much thought outside of their usefullness (because he never gets to know much of these characters in any other capacity besides what they can do for him.) He gets shit from his girlfriend (one of the main characters) for not bothering to learn the name of a woman that died ostensibly because of him, but then he throws it back in her face when she learns the name of the horses they'll be riding on and not the stable boy....

Anyways.... besides the gripes, there is just a lot of Issues I have with the writing. All of the characters are very flat- for instance you learn one of the characters in the main traveling band is a pirate queen but that doesn't really matter much because the only way this manifests is how she sometimes thinks about the sea and she fights with two swords.... Yeah. All the characters behave the same too and the way their actions are written all feel like these big stage actions. I dunno when so many other details are lacking it all feels like these characters are on a very empty stage trying to make their actions come across to people far away. I'm very tired, im sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Also there is very little conflict in this story. Like stuff happens there are battles, but a lot of the side characters will just smile and agree and go along with things without a fuss.

The author really tries to diversify the story while doing it very half-hearted?? Like the same religious character that gets constantly challenged for her faith also has some obnoxious scenes where various characters try to matchmake her with this boy in their group making doll eyes at her, and when she expresses a lack of interest in sex or relationships she's challenged. Everyone is like "Well it's fine if you don't want sex, BUT you're REALLY MISSIN' OUT," which kinda feels shitty. Like is this ace rep or not? if it's ace rep then fine, but also don't have characters bug her about sex when she clearly expresses a boundary. But also the author implies towards the end of the book that no, she does experience attraction so she probably will get paired up eventually.... (with a side character that is heavily implied to be trans.) Also the whole attitude towards magic is almost an allegory for real life issues and hate etc etc. (I just found it kind of amusing that the cishet main character is like "They hate me for something I can't help!! i was born this way!!" when he can literally summon fireballs from thing air.)

But there are some genuine good points, like how the author can really spin together an interesting mystery through the story that really had me gripped to the end. I wanted to figure it out!!

Again there is this problem where like, at the end of the book you can't really trust if the gripes you have for the first 90% are legit or some weird play into the twist at the end, but let me tell you.... there is one part after the twist that I cannot really defend.

And I can't NOT talk about it because it bothered me so much, so like, Major Spoilers under the cut.

The twist is that the kingdom has had their memory altered en masse by a magic-user wielding a relic that greatly boosts his ability. He was thought to be minor but was biding his time during all the conflict and then struck and usurped everything. Basically he's put himself in place as king and altered everyone's memories so that they believe the true king is this demon-summoning necromancer and all this shit.

It makes some of the weird inconsistencies with characters make sense, and why there are people that will claim to have met the main character but he doesn't remember.

So

The weirdest thing about this twist is that Aranok and Allandria, the two first introduced in the book, are introduced as lovers. Their romance is *really* flat imo, but it's implied several times in the book that they have sex. BUT THEN when the mind-fuck is undone and they regain their memories it's revealed that they were never lovers, they were just close friends and for some reason they were puppeted into those rolls by the false king.

And like, i don't know that's really a Choice, because neither of these characters are consenting properly. It's consent under false pretense and it sits soooo sooo off for me. Especially when Aranok, not an hour later leers at her attempting to change and have some privacy because he thinks he can just see her naked because he did they they had their memories altered. It just... icks me out. It's not even unpacked really at all, they kinda just go "huh that's weird. Anyway-"

so yeah