#jenna: bro bro we've talked about this. or rather we did once you FINALLY STARTED TALKING

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I didn't think there were other Septimus Heap fans out there so anyway thanks

Y’all, I have ZERO CHILL about the Septimus Heap series.

∙ I’m a sucker for found family, of course, and I don’t know that any other series has done it to quite the bonkers degree that Septimus Heap has. 

Sometimes family is your long-lost biological relations.  And sometimes family is two parents and seven siblings and a Young Army brat they accidentally kidnapped and their batty aunt and their batty aunt’s duck who was a cat and their mom’s other duck who was never a cat and an in-law with too many ribbons and their Young Army brat’s BFF and a smelly dragon and the smelly dragon’s boat-mom and the youngest sibling’s biological dad and the youngest sibling’s biological dad’s wife (who is also the Young Army brat’s second mom) and at least 1.5 trees.  And that’s before we get into the extended Heap family and start counting wolverines and witches and apprentices and Gringes and alchemists and Message Rats and scribes.

Like, somehow having a protagonist who (by default) has six older brothers and six uncles wasn’t enough family for Angie Sage, and she had to go and add a shitton more.  Which is amazing, because there are approximately twelve million characters in that series (six million of whom are Heaps) and I love every single one of them.

∙ If you don’t ship 821, you’re reading a different series from me.

821 (409 + 412) is my first OTP and I’ll ship it till I die. It shows the best side of both boys when they’re at their worst.  I love all the details that gradually emerge through the series about Boy 412 being the single most incompetent Young Army cadet in the history of the army (because of course Sep’s a mega-nerd who hates the outdoors) and Boy 409 basically carrying him through the do-or-die exercises to overcompensate for the dumbassery of his best friend (because of course Marwick is a softie at heart and no one else will talk with him about spaceships).  I’m just sayin, it’s a near-miracle that 412 made it six whole months without 409 before mostly-dying in a snowbank.

Plus, I love their weird messy dynamic as they become young adults together.  Syren especially hinges on how they effortlessly get each other, even when one or the other is behaving irrationally.  There’s such great contrast in their utter confidence in each other’s love, in contrast to neither one knowing quite what to do with his biological family.

∙ There is a trick to having screwball comedy and genuine, respectful, wrenching tragedy in the same work.  Angie Sage has it, K.A. Applegate has it, Louis Sachar has it, and few other authors do.

∙ Marcia.  Fucking.  Overstrand.

I cannot ever, ever get enough of the mentee-mentorship between Marcia and Sep.  I love how they’re both typically bad at getting along with other people — Marcia’s aloof and snobby, Sep’s awkward and off-putting — but then they meet each other and instantaneously start getting along because they’re the only two people in the universe who care as much as they do about magic.  And so they’re best friends in a matter of days, lifelong platonic soulmates in a matter of months.  To the point where they tend to forget to sleep because they want to do more magic.  To the point where it’s more than a little awkward how much closer Sep is with his magic-mom than his actual parents.  And we get why they like each other so much, because the books do an amazing job of showing that.

Also, can we talk about how fucking good Marcia is at navigating around Sep’s Odd Trauma Legacy Habits?  It’s her being quietly appalled but also willing to enable his insistence on wearing one specific brand of military boots.  It’s her refusal to accept “I’m scared” as an excuse but also making sure he knows how to feel safe while flying or using Darke.  It’s elaborate rituals around removing the bugs from the library instead of killing them.  It’s making sure the kid who hoards cabbage sandwiches can have an infinite supply of non-perishable food.  It’s supporting all the ways that he’s weirdly nostalgic for his godawful childhood, with the Young Army stew supplies and firestarter kits.  It’s her dealing with Sep’s “when in doubt, refuse to speak for months on end” default strategy through note-writing and journal-keeping.

∙ God DAMN do I love that Jenna’s journey as a character is all about her learning that the “don’t treat me like a princess... unless I happen to need something from someone” strategy is about her comfort, and that she can’t keep doing that if she ever wants to be a halfway responsible queen.  Way too often, stories imply that ““don’t call me ‘your highness’” is unironically a Good Thing in all situations at all times.

Anyway, I’ll stop screaming in joy now, because this is an Animorphs blog.