#i just love these books so much

[tothestarsinvelaris]

okay so Cardan hides his tail because it gives away his real emotions. It makes him feel vulnerable, so he hides it away. and like, it can't be super comfortable to tuck it away all the time, but its better than having people use it against him. and when Jude is interrogating him, she first mentions the letter she found with her name on it over and over again - he's not really ready to admit his feelings for her, so he tries to redirect by bringing up his tail.

"Just ask me something. Ask about my tail. Don't you want to see it?"

Like, he is absolutely terrified of her (which he also had literally just said) nearly his whole family is dead, he doesn't want to die too, he knows she is capable of killing - and at this point he thinks she hunted Valerian down to kill him. and despite all of this, he's like 'let me offer you my most vulnerable and true self' but she doesn't quite get it bc she's also dealing with a lot and trying to process a lot.

and then by the Queen of Nothing, he has his tail out. his clothes are now cut in a way to let his tail be free. and its all because Jude has helped him see that sometimes being emotional and vulnerable isn't so bad. Even without her there with him, even with him horrified that he ruined everything because she hasn't responded to any of his letters - lets his tail be visible. And to quote him from How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories:

"Everyone finds different lessons in stories, I suppose, but here's one. Having a heart is terrible, but you need one anyway."

[bikananjarrus]

i think one of the things that makes the high republic books so special is just how much love there is in them. all different kinds of love are present throughout the books. romantic love, platonic love, familial love. love for community, for strangers, for the natural world, for learning. queer love and first love and rekindled love and lost love and love that can't be expressed in those exact words. the love and affection the characters all have for each other permeates the whole story, and i think above all it's love (and hope) that drive the story and it's just so beautiful to read <3

[helloiamacashier]

Anomalous, while shaking Amma's hand: "Nice skin you have."

Amma:

[lorethebookworm]

I know that we are all aware of the many similarities between All for the game and The Raven cycle but I feel the need to point them out anyway. These books are all amazing and life changing and I would not recommend them to ANYONE, but everyone in the world needs to read them. They are just books. No they are NOT, they are an experience. You read them for the first time because why not and then you have to re read them constantly because your whole life revolves around them now. They make no fucking sense whatsoever and yet every word is etched into my soul. Everyone in the books has so much past trauma and gains new trauma during the story. Everyone is SO loved. The found families are top tier, and every member would die for the others no questions asked. There's murder. There's abusive parents. There's iconic cars. There's unhinged characters obsessed with random things ( exy- finding a dead Welsh king ). There's ravens. All the characters are lgbtq because we say so. They're stories about finding your place in the world.

[icamefromacupboard]

i wish i knew enough people in the real world who i could talk to about the thematic masterpiece that is the raven cycle because like

it's about the ways the characters process their trauma/coping mechanisms as they grow up, right? and the way people actually do this processing in real life is through dreams. you know what else is basically a real life dream???

cabeswater is a reflection of the ways they're growing and learning about themselves and its one of my favorite things ever

[jiishwa]

rereading gtn is so crazy because i remember having zero clue what was happening for the first one hundred pages or so and now that i know everything from the first three books it’s like. oh wow. that’s what they were talking about?? or oh shit, i know where this is headed!! but the craziest thing of all is, for as much as i absolutely loved and was addicted to it on my first read regardless of being confused most of the time, im enjoying it even more the second time around. probably gonna end up rereading harrow and nona too but damn. what a great book/series.

[samcat18]

Weeping at how beautifully 'legends and lattes' and 'bookshops and bonedust' compliment one another -- i've never had another reading experience like it, where "right person wrong time" can actually be bittersweet and not just bitter, and where romantic and friendship loves are given equal weight and importance, and and and!!

They're also just such SWEET books, and getting to know a protag in book 1 and then learning so much more about them in a prequel is not something i've ever seen pulled off so well, and all of it wrapped up in a love letter to what books can Do and the communities they can create is just **chef kiss** stupendous

[egophiliac]

everyone out of the way, this is the only thing I'm going to be thinking about from now on.

(okay, there is one more thing)

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[ronanlynchbf]

tshirt that says NO LIVE ORGANISM CAN CONTINUE FOR LONG TO EXIST SANELY UNDER CONDITIONS OF ABSOLUTE REALITY

[doctormori]

I love this book to death, so here's some things I noticed <3

[songthursh]

Alright, I will start with this one then - everything starts with the glorious revolution and everything starts with the night watch 🌸

[misandriste]

ELOISE BRIDGERTON + being mistaken for a suitor

[obsob]

oooooooooough i love you i love you i love you!!!! hand in loving hand !!!!!!

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

I don’t think we talk enough about how Ford can see shrimp colors

[p4nishers]

i cant get over the ball being so CLEARLY all for crowley i can't get over aziraphale trying to woo him with a WHOLE FUCKING BALL because that's what he knows that's what romance IS for him because he's been wanting to dance with crowley ever since dancing was invented and he's so stuck in time with the way he dresses and talks and he still thinks a dance is the high of romance AND HE MADE A WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING BALL FOR CROWLEY JUST SO HE COULD DANCE WITH HIM like now it's so fucking obvious he gave away his BOOKS without a second thought and it was all for crowley he organised a whole JANE AUSTEN THEME BALL just so he could have an excuse to finally dance with the love of his life and i can't get over this i'm shaking my fists and pacing up and down he did not give a single fuck about anything other than dancing with crowley and HE BARELY TOUCHED OTHER PEOPLE'S HANDS WHILE HIS WHOLE FUCKING PALM WAS PRESSED TO CROWLEY'S AND i need to lie down