#like when i read gregor the overlander and realized

[lemuel-apologist]

reading little women when i was ten was a weird experience, because i absolutely despised alcott's writing, but jo was one of the few characters i truly saw myself in at the time

[dragonpyre]

What got you into fandom?

Into nerdy things or the fandom experience itself? Cuz my mom got me into nerdy things by reading classical fantasy books to us every night before bed (Harry Potter, Gregor the Overlander, Fablehaven, etc). I think what got me into the culture of fandom was when I joined tumblr in like 2013 and realized you could discuss media you love with other people in a large scale setting

Also fun fact: when my mom was like 12, she and her siblings wrote self insert Star Trek fanfic on a type writer. Yes she still has it

[originalwinnercheesecake]

So what do people actually think the background characters in the Underland chronicles look like

Just wondering. From all the (amazing) Fan art I have seen of Gregor , Lizzie, and Boots the fandom seems to have a pretty cohesive Idea on what they look like. Luxa also seems to have a pretty standard image in the fandom (Though wasn't she on the cover of the first design of MOS) with the only differentiation being how far along she is in puberty. Reminder if she was in the overland she would be in the sixth grade.

Other characters though Like really what do people think they look like. In my head Mrs. Cormaci is a plump/rounder women and I thought for years I had read that in the books until I saw fanart of her being drawn as more slim. Then I reread part of TPOB and was like Oh it never says what shape she is, I guess I just thought she was bigger because she is always cooking so much rich sounding food for charities. Then I remember seeing some one post once that what if she was Hazard's maternal grandmother. His maternal grandparents live in NYC, and Mrs.Cormaci is mentioned to have had a daughter.

Well that is bitter sweet because on one had that means that Mrs. Cormaci's daughter has been missing for years and in fact died without her mother ever knowing what happened to her (she also would not have known when her father died). Gotta then wonder if Mrs.Cormaci giving Lizzie her daughters old cloths is more than just her trying to help the Campbells while also declutter her house. But that also means Hazard has at least one Grandma who is really grand, if this relation was ever realized then maybe Hazard could come up to the overland for visits and stay with Mrs. Cormaci. Also she would probably have pictures of her daughter that she could show Hazard so he could remember what his mom looked like. Anyway I really liked this theory and wanted it to be cannon, but then i realized that since Hazard's overland features are his black hair and green eyes his overland relations probably have them to, and was like oh wow I never pictured Mrs.Cormaci having green eyes.

Another character I think about is Vikus. In my head the males in the underland Henry, Mareth, York all have short close cropped hair because they fight so much. Or in Howard's a short stack of wavy/curly locks cut just short enough to stay out of his eyes when wet. I do love the fan art I have seen of Henry with long hair though. But When It comes to Vikus , I guess since he seeks peace and is better relations, I usually imagine him with long grey hair and a long beard. to me he winds up looking kinda like men in biblical stories. Solovet however is muscled with a near shaved head. She is on the small side and slouches a bit when trying to appear as a gracious hostess and that plus her wrinkles make her seem non dangerous. When she is in planing/battle mode though she stands perfectly straight and those seemingly kindly wrinkles disappear, and she just looks completely terrifying.

Dulcet and Nerissa are other cases. Dulcet is described as being shy and very pretty. But as someone who works in childcare I can say with certainty that her hair is most likely a mess, her simple cloths likely have stains and crayon markings all over them. This girl is a beautiful mess. Then we have Neressa whom everyone knows is a mess. Since she is constantly described as wide eyed, tired, frail, to thin, and wearing her long hair a loose pony tail. But I don't often see it acknowledged that she canonically wears multiple layers of cloths at once or that her cloths never match.

I said most of the men in the underland would have short hair, could Hamnet have grown his hair out longer in the jungle, to try and make himself look different from how he did as a solider. Likewise I also imagine his lizard skin cloths being frayed and raggedy at the edges, much different from whatever military uniforms regalians wear. Anything to help hims see something different when he looks into the water. Can we talk about how when Gregor first meets Howard he describes him as tall and really strong, Then during his time with the plague Howard looses like 20 pounds and has scars wear ever he had bumps. Howard likely could not even fit into his old cloths after getting better.

What do Gregor's parents look like. We know they are both thin and tired. His dad's hair has gone completely white. Grace's cannot be to far behind with how hard she works and being in a state of constant worry for her family. Do fans still Agree with the theory that Grace is white and the Dad is black?

Also one more thing. Why does everyone think any of the underlanders that haven't completely greyed over have silver-blond hair. Like I know Luxa has that shade. Luxa would also probably be blonde if she has been born i t he overland. But it only specified that a silver tint was part of what distinguished the underlanders. Personally I always thought they could have any hair color (examples I imagine Howard being brunette and Mareth having black hair) but that it would always be paler than an overland counter part.

Like I know and respect that the characters descriptions are vague on purpose, and that the fun is that we can imagine them looking in so many different ways. But like really how do people imagine their favorites look. What little we get implies that the characters do not fall into the young adult novels trope of making them all look super hot. They are scared, beat up, anxious, and some are wearing cloths that do not fit them, some are missing body parts. To me that makes them infinetly more fun to imagine than most YA novel characters

So seriously if you have any strong clear/headcannons as to what you think certain human characters look like, please share them int he comments.

[oneunexpected]

Happy TUC20! Last year, for the fifth anniversary of TUC Week, I wanted to create a playlist for every book in the series with one song per chapter. Well, I never got around for it, but when I saw @prophecyofgray's event I decided I’d use it as a second chance!

So, here’s my chapter-by-chapter playlist for Gregor the Overlander, with a brief description of why I chose each song. This one was tough, because so much of it is exposition, but I hope you enjoy and tune in to a couple of tracks during your (re)read! Click here to listen on Spotify. If you're gonna listen to anything, listen to Track 24, that's my favorite :)

1 - Could Be a Curse by Kaina - I almost went with Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” for this one, because I wanted to capture how cooped up Gregor feels, and I think both songs capture that feeling of wanting more out of your life than you’re getting. I went with Could Be a Curse because the line “What if I die here, holding my breath” reminds me of Gregor at this point — he’s spent the last few years of his life holding his breath, wondering about his father’s fate.

2 - Come Along by Cosmo Sheldrake - Gregor and Boots meet the cockroaches and run to Regalia in this chapter. Cosmo Sheldrake’s music has such a unique and almost fantastical quality to it, and I thought this would be a good choice to represent how strange this new world is to Gregor and how quickly he’s whisked off into it.

3 - Uninvited by Alanis Morisette - This song goes hard. It was written for a movie about a fallen angel, so it captures the whole “I’m curious about you but also I don’t feel like you belong” dynamic Luxa and Gregor have in this chapter.

4 - Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes - “A new world hangs / Outside the window / Beautiful and strange.” Just another song I thought would be good for Gregor’s introduction to the Underland, especially with its line, “No more to see the setting of the sun.” Of course, Gregor’s only goal is to see the sun again.

5 - Plainsong by The Cure - I chose this song more for its sound than its lyrics. The shimmery, quiet chimes that begin the track give way to this explosion of synthy strings and bass, and I chose that to represent Gregor walking through the moths and seeing Regalia for the first time.

6 - Hotel California by The Eagles - Honestly I could not decide what song to use for this chapter. I nearly used the song I ended up using for chapter 10, but I went with this classic mostly for the line, “I had to find the passage back to the place I was before.” Gregor is realizing the fate of every other Overlander that falls, and he’s also beginning to realize he is something of a captive, so I think the song’s concept of a too-good-to-be-true place that traps all who enter fits well.

7 - Sinnerman by Nina Simone - One of the greatest songs ever, used here to try to replicate the chaos of Gregor on the run from the Regalians on the river, not knowing what danger waits for him.

8 - Come Away to the Water by Maroon 5 and Rozzi - The first of many tracks I stole from The Hunger Games soundtrack. Shoutout to Suzanne for reusing themes. This song is creepy, kind of charming, and intended to lure the listener to a slaughter — perfect for the gnawers, who in this chapter promise to hunt Gregor to the last rat, matching well with the song’s refrain, “We are coming for you.”

9 - Eight by Sleeping at Last - I was stumped on this one, so I turned to Sleeping at Last, whom everyone in the fandom was obsessed with before I joined tumblr. This chapter gives us the first glimpse behind Luxa’s walls as we learn of her parents’ fate. The lyrics “I was little, weak and perfectly naive / And I grew up too quick” match her very well, and frankly, they match Gregor, too.

10 - Run Daddy Run by Miranda Lambert - Another THG classic that fits too well. “Mama’s been crying in the kitchen / Sister’s been scared of the dark / I’ve been gathering the pieces of all these shattered hearts” represents Gregor’s family situation in the wake of his father’s disappearance all too well. In this chapter, Gregor finds out his dad is alive but held captive, and the chorus “Daddy, can you hear the devil drawing near? / Like a bullet from a gun, run, Daddy, run” fit the situation well for me.

11 - Baba O’Riley by The Who - Another chapter I was stumped by, but I ended up focusing on Gregor choosing to bring Boots on the journey for this track. I liked the line “don’t cry, don’t raise your eyes” for the idea of bringing a toddler on a deadly trek. This song depicts hope in a period of war, and I feel like this is the chapter where Gregor really begins to believe finding his dad is possible.

12 - Yellow Light by Of Monsters and Men - This is a good TUC song, through and through. I chose it for this chapter because of the line “Ignore all those big warning signs,” because this chapter has a lot of those. This is the first time we get a hint of Solovet’s true character, and it’s also the chapter where an inconsolable Nerissa foretells Henry will meet some fate worse than death.

13 - Electric Co. by U2 - U2 is my favorite band, so you’ll get a lot of them in these playlists. Sorry that I have the music taste of a 50-year-old man. Anyways, this chapter is where Luxa and Henry dare Gregor to jump off the side of the cliff, and also the chapter where Gregor learns Henry’s parents were killed by rats. “Boy, stupid boy / Don’t sit at the table / until you’re able to” reminded me of Gregor’s inability to hang with Luxa and Henry, but the whole song, which is about this young man careening out of control, reminded me of Henry.

14 - Cut the World by Anohni - This is the chapter where the questers have a discussion on whether or not weak individuals are worthy of protection, and Luxa is extremely passive on the topic. This is a beautiful song I almost saved for Marks of Secret because I think it’s a good song for her, and MoS is really her book in my eyes, but I decided to use it here. “For so long I’ve obeyed / That feminine decree / I’ve always contained / Your desire to hurt me / But when will I turn and cut the world” are good lyrics for Luxa, who is unwilling to take a stand here (but eventually does “cut the world” on behalf of those who can’t defend themselves in the fourth book, as we know). But I also like the song for the crawlers, who take abuse from every other species — Temp and Tick can hear this whole conversation about whether or not they’re worthy of living! — and survive regardless.

15 - Road Drum by Mozart Gabriel - This song has a strong beat, but it’s still pretty quiet, which I liked for the ring dance the crawlers perform. The song’s lyrics depict aid from spiders and foxes that the protagonist receives as they run from evil, and I liked the way that matched with Gregor splitting off from the group and running away from the battle with the gnawers and ultimately ends up in a spinner’s web.

16 - Roslyn by Bon Iver and St. Vincent - Song selected mostly for vibes, and also because I like the line “Wings wouldn’t help you down,” which is a little nose since Gregor’s imprisoned dozens of feet off the ground. This song’s kind of a bummer, which is a good enough fit since Gregor’s trapped wondering if all of his friends are dead and if he’ll ever be able to find his father, but it also has a pretty melody, hopefully a little similar to the sort of lullaby the spinners play to calm down Boots.

17 - Acrobat by U2 - Another Luxa song that I almost saved for Marks of Secret. It’s a little too on the nose, maybe, because this is the chapter where Luxa and Aurora the Coiler to allow everyone to escape. “And I must be an acrobat / To talk like this and act like that” fits Luxa well at this point in her character arc — a bratty 11-year-old who seems haughty and cold, only to have these moments where her brave, selfless core is revealed.

18 - We’re Going to be Friends by The White Stripes - this is a gentle song for a relatively gentle chapter, a sort of breath of fresh air. Gregor saving Luxa with root beer (and then letting her try it after) is a turning point in their relationship, and Boots pouring out a little for everyone to try is one of the most harmonious moments we get in the whole book.

19 - The House of the Rising Sun as performed by The Animals - “Oh mothers, tell your children / Not to do what I have done.” I love this song for Ripred. I love the way it sounds, and I love its lyrical content. Obviously, he’s not a man destitute in New Orleans, but he is certainly a cynical old rat who recognizes all the ways he’s gone wrong. In terms of regrets, it’s also a good song for Vikus, who is staring down his own mistakes in this chapter.

20 - Sympathy by Vampire Weekend - Ah, the mutual need song. Also the Gregor-Luxa-Ripred triumvirate song. “Enemies for centuries / Until there was a third” is pretty good for them, right? This is sort of a tongue-in-cheek piece about what we’re willing to do, and what we’re willing to look past, so long as we have a common enemy, so I think it’s perfect for Gregor and Ripred’s famous conversation, and also for the spiders joining the quest now that their backs are to the wall.

21 - Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls - This chapter was so tough for me. We got Gox drinking Treflex, we got Luxa talking about how she tells herself she’s gonna die every morning and Gregor realizing that’s not too different from what he does, we got a more in-depth description of bonding, and somehow I ended up with Iris, which I know has become kinda tacky. I thought a song about wanting someone to really understand you was fitting for a chapter about bonds, but also fitting for Luxa talking about how her parents’ death affected her.

22 - Little Dark Age by MGMT - Not really much to explain here. Every character is miserable in this chapter, and something about this song reminds me of Henry’s increasingly concerning behavior. “Forgiving who you are for what you stand to gain?” Sounds Henry-ish!

23 - 500 Miles by Peter, Paul and Mary - Tick’s death is a point of no return for Gregor in this whole series, the first major loss he experiences. Even beyond the grief of losing Tick, the situation in this chapter is so desolate, with Boots sick and all of the horrible things Gregor has witnessed finally catching up with him. “500 Miles” is about homesickness, but also recognizing that you can’t return, and the saddest line to me is “Lord, I can’t go home this way.” Gregor can’t go home, yet, either, since he hasn’t found his father.

24 - Until The End of the World by U2 - If you listen to any song here, PLEASE listen to this one. I made this whole series of playlists just to work this one in. It tells the story of Judas and Jesus, from Judas’ point of view, which is so, so perfect for Henry and his relationship with Ares and Luxa. I love the way this song sounds — I can just imagine those opening notes when Gregor decides what he’s going to do — but my favorite part is the outro. This technically happens in the next chapter, but “Waves of regret and waves of joy / I reached out for the one I tried to destroy / You / You said you’d wait until the end of the world” is such a perfect thing for Henry’s demise because of Ares’ decision to break the bond.

25 - King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men - “And as the world comes to an end / I’ll be there to hold your hand / Because you’re my king and I’m your lionheart” makes me cryyyyyy for Gregor and his dad in this chapter. Gregor’s been so brave for so long, and the reunion they have when his father finally becomes lucid again is the best moment in the book, even though scores of rats are waiting to tear them apart.

26 - Drowning Man by U2 - Another chapter, another U2 song, this one for Gregor bonding with Ares. The whole song is a good bonding song, but the lyrics “Take my hand / You know I’ll be there if you can / I’ll cross the skies for your love” remind me the most of their particular situation, down to Gregor begging Ares to recite the verse back.

27 - A Sort of Homecoming by U2 - Perhaps Prophecy of Bane will have less U2 songs. Good Lord. Anyways, I chose this song for “Oh don’t sorrow, no, don’t weep / For tonight, at last, I am coming home / I am coming home” and the whole “you’re scarred for life but at least you’ve made it home” vibe of this song as Gregor, his dad and Boots finally make it back to Grace.

[bidoofenergy]

R and Z for the ask game !!

hi cabbage!!

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

ooohmygod where do i even start okay okay

authors in no particular order: Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb series) is hilarious first of all, and also made me really start considering narration/character perspective. Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Gregor the Overlander) imprinted on my tiny 11 year old brain and is probably the reason i like to write in present tense. other authors i read as a kid: Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted), Jeanne Birdsall (The Penderwicks), Annie Wedekind (A Horse of Her Own (reread this recently and realized i write scenerie a lot like her lol)). Casey McQuiston (Red White & Royal Blue) has definitely been a more recent influence.

for fic: @astronomeridian writes smut that sounds like real genuine people having sex and is always on my mind when im trying to write smut. @some-sort-of-siren 's college!au is a definite influence on LDDF, i just love how it writes dialogue, every conversation is so vivid and raw and real. also like, not to expose myself a little, but runchrandom/infraredphaeton

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

honestly this is so fandom specific. i wrote a hunger games AU, im not exactly opposed. I think there's beautiful tragic mcyt fics and i eat them up. but like, main character death in rwrb isn't for me. so it's not about characters, more about fandom vibe lol

(fic writer ask meme)

[shitpostingkats]

Story so long I don't want to put it in the notes:

You might know Suzanne Collins as "the lady who wrote Hunger Games". However years before she did, she had another series called 'Gregor the Overlander', about a kid from new york falling down a laundry chute and ending up in this magic otherworld of caves, with like, giant rats, giant bats, fantasy warriors riding giant bats, entire battles and wars fought from atop the backs of said flying bats, the works.

And I looooved those books. I picked up the first one from my english teachers homeroom library, then quickly fell in love and bought the whole boxed set. I read the entire series cover-to-cover, back-to-back, all in one sitting, multiple times. The hardest I have ever cried over a piece of literature was in the final book when the main characters bat companion, Ares, died. (spoilers, I guess)

More importantly, I loved the setting and characters so much, and felt so gutted by the ending of the final book, that after reading all the books over and over, I decided to continue the story in my head. The main character has a little sister, one who's involved in almost every adventure in this magical underworld and is like, four, and grows up playing with giant rats and spiders, and at the end of the series just... returns to the surface world? To live a normal life in new york city?

No no no, Middle School Me decided. Every night, as I was going to bed, I continued to mentally write new additions to my follow up series, where the sister is grown up and trying to reconcile her two-sided childhood, Gregor is downright depressed because they basically spend the entire last book telling him he's going to die and then he doesn't, and the two of them have to team up and go back to the underland for some quest or another (the details never mattered, I was much more interested in seeing these kids address their childhood trauma)

I mentally worked on this story. For almost a year. Never committed it to paper, just. Rotated the concept. In my head. Daily.

Anyways flash forward like a decade later and the realization struck "HOLY SHIT I WAS WRITING FANFIC!!!"

And that's the long and short of how that childhood experience haunts me to this day and has led me to accept, yes, I have always been Like This, it's probably in the cards that I will continue to be Like This, and that humans with literally no concept of blorbos and fanfic, will still make up blorbos and fanfic.

who was your original blorbo? Like the first ever blorbo that you felt Blorbo Induced Emotions for

[nothewraith]

oh thats your comfort book? funny. i have books i tore apart in middle school independent reading assignments

[deanpinterester]

Okay there are actually only 5 of course, so you gotta rank them in order: Underland Chronicles books

NOOO WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS but honestly? I think I like them in the order of their release lol.

5. Gregor the Overlander. Definitely great! But it's also definitely the "easiest" of the books. It has a simple "must rescue dad" story and some fun twists and turns and does touch on some serious stuff like poverty and war and having to mature too early, but in the end it's the least complex out of all of them.

4. The Prophecy of Bane. The ending? Luxa and Aurora going missing? Gregor thinking Boots DIED? BANE BEING A BABY CHILD?? It gets you Thinking, man, and that's only the beginning.

3. Curse of the Warmbloods. It must have been the first story that was like but what if the good guys......are the BAD guys........Also the way it tries to talk about prejudice...the scene where Gregor realizes he and Lapblood are the opposite sides of the same coin...the way Luxa was actually about to let Gregor drown in quicksand because she Could not fathom gnawers being on their side......lots to think about lots to think about

2. The Marks of Secret. This is where things get REAL. Genocide? War? THALIA??? The way the war starts so quietly, so anticlimactically...that was freaking chilling, man. The way you can just Say it and then you're at war. Every time I imagine them having to pull Hazard away from Thalia--that shit HURT. When I first read it, I didn't realize it was gonna leave off on a cliffhanger(ish) and I told my mom I HAD to get the last book from the library that very day.

The Code of Claw. Do I even need to SAY IT. The ending KILLED ME. The way Gregor returns to his world nor happily, not triumphantly, but fucking DEPRESSED. The way he feels like he doesn't belong anymore! The way the conflict is solved in the Underland, but that same thing is happening all over the world and there's nothing he can do about it! ARES!!! This book ALWAYS makes me cry and it handles war and violence so well and I neeeeed more people to read this series AHH

[danisaur-arts]

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES: BOOK REVIEW

Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk

A couple of weeks ago, I was rewatching Catching Fire to have something in the background while I painted my nails. Truth is I was too hooked with the movie to do much painting, and that's how 2013 me took over and I became invested in the world of the Hunger Games again. I reread the trilogy and then got TBoSaS for a Christmas gift.

I knew absolutely nothing about the book. For a while I even thought it was about Haymitch's games. But after opening it I realized it was about president Snow?! I was mind-blown but also excited to get this perspective on how a young boy became a horrid viper president.

The book, with all honesty, starts quite very slow. But so does The Hunger Games and also Gregor the Overlander. Collins likes to have a solid establishment of the protagonist's world before diving into the story. In my opinion, TBoSaS opening is the slowest opening of all her books, but not without justification.

As the story moves on, we are presented to an ambitious Coriolanus Snow. Mind you, ambitious, not evil yet. He meets Lucy Gray Baird, District 12's girl tribute who he had to mentor for the 10th Hunger Games, and us the readers are quick to pick up the spark this Covey girl had on Panem's future president.

Snow's relationship to Lucy Gray Baird developed an entire new persona of him. His usual hateful and ambitious character he usually has when talking to the likes of Sejanus or Dean Highbottom is gone when he's with Lucy Gray. That scared me at the beginning, because it sort of made Snow empathize-able and also low-key made me ship him with Lucy Gray. But then I realized something, and you should keep this in mind when reading this book too; we already know Snow is evil, we genuinely know the book won't have a happy ending and we know there's no lovely future with Lucy Gray Baird. So, that means this book is not about a love story, or the games themselves. It is about how quickly a highschool boy can develop a dictator's ideology and how quickly the media can make something as horrible as the hunger games an entertaining show.

I particularly liked this bit about the hunger games in the book, to see this entirely different perspective of the games, not only on how they used to be organized, but on how they were seen by the people of the Capitol. To think many of them used to even hate them and find them gross is just proof that anything dressed nicely can fool the vanity of the people.

But back to Snow, I want to emphasize on the point that evil is not born, it is made. Snow did not develop his ideas by himself. Dr. Gaul was clearly pulling his strings. Feeding him with her ideology and pushing the little things we all think in the darkest part of our hearts to the surface, Making Snow justify them as necessary. Maybe he had evil in him, but it was Dr. Gaul who shaped it to the man he became. And Snow didn't let her down, because at the end, it is our actions who define us, not our words. And he proved to live by his evil ideas (rip Sejanus, we will always miss you even though you were a drama queen)

And I think Snow developed this mindset ^^ towards the ending. What he had with Lucy Gray Baird had the potential of becoming something lovely, but it was merely something based on a crush. Ladies and lads, do not be fooled by kisses! Snow became gradually possessive about Lucy Gray as the story developed, because he was also settling on his idea about control. But Lucy Gray is someone so spontaneous and free that it seemed impossible to chain her up. He may have loved her the most, but the impossibility of controlling her led him to a choice, to leave her or to destroy his ideology by staying with her. So he grew to hate her, as he hated his incapacity to control the Mockingjays... As he hated Katniss Everdeen

His desire to control everything blinded him. Desperately clinging to his lucky card that Snow lands on top, he forgot one thing:

The show's not over until the Mockingjay sings

Overall, the book has some cool hooking moments, but is quite slow when sometimes it shouldn't be. I definitely think it could've been a little shorter than it is. There are some events in the plot that feel fanfiction-ish, like the "rebel explosion" in the arena before the games, still trying to decipher the need of that one. Most of the characters names are incredibly hard to pronounce and remember. And I feel the ending was a little too rushed. I am not a fan of the way Collins writes epilogues tbh, but she's still a genius queen. The loose ends on Lucy Gray bothered me at first, but as someone pointed out, she is a mystery herself, no wonder her ending is one as well.

I loved to see this new ambiance of an almost defeated capitol and how the games used to be. Loved Tigris' moments which only add more fire to how Snow treated her years later. Lucy Gray is what I aspire to be and I also loved all the backstory Collins gave to all secondary characters.

The plot is well driven and the story, while slow, can be very hooking.

.

Rating: 8/10

[cmchill]

Dude I've been rereading Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins lately and that's targeted at kids like 9-13 or something, but I at 19 am HEAVILY enjoying it! The themes are so... REAL, and it's so impressive how she makes it digestible to a kid. When I read it in middle school I didn't realize how much potential learning was hidden in it. The horrors of war, how prejudice works, building trust with people of different backgrounds, how hatred builds between groups, poverty, how fascism happens, familial trauma, making hard choices when the world is messed up, what happens when kids go to war, holding courage and hope for peace and kindness where you can even when things are bad and you need to fight sometimes. Like... this stuff gets REAL, but so accessible to twelve-year-olds. She (the author) also casually slips in explaining some science stuff too while she's at it! These books are SO good.

god every time this 'is it ok for adults to read children's books' discourse comes up i get so frustrated. at one end you have people fervently arguing that children's books are the superior form of literature and that adult books are 'boring' and then at the other end you have people equally fervently arguing that if you pick up a children's book after age 18 your brain will instantly rot or something

what makes something a book for children is partly the content but also largely accessibility to people who are still learning to read (simpler vocabulary, straightforward prose, etc). in terms of quality of writing children's literature runs the exact same spectrum as adult literature.

some children's books are also considered to be classic works of literature; this is not in spite of being written for children but generally because they were written for children. the target audience is an essential part of the medium.

being able to write a well-structured book with well-crafted prose and compelling themes which can be enjoyed and understood by children is a skill in and of itself. reading a book and breaking down the themes, etc, isn't inherently less of an intellectual exercise when it's a work of children's literature.

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

G U Y S ~m~ f e e l i n g s

big long post WOOOOOOOOOOOO

so uhh i did a lot of daydreaming today during school as one does when they don't care and are running on -12 hours of sleep and one cup of chocolate milk in lucky charms. I did a lot of thining about this whole 'Ripred pretends to be a service animal AU I came up with andddd ngl i'm liking this a lot.

- Cormaci and Ripred are dedicated pen-pals via Gregor and Ripred confides that he's always wanted to see the museums in New York. they talk about how fun it would be and Cormaci rather enjoys hearing from the snarky, witty, and kind of sweet stranger.

-One day gregor hands him Cormaci's note and Ripred sends gregor with his reply after their echolocation lesson. "Dearly detestable, (a customary greeting for the two) I have a large service animal vest and shades if you want to use them. meet me at midnight and we'll make a plan. XOXO- Cormaci"

-Ripred is over the frikken moon you have no idea. they make a plan, he tries on the vest, they meet in the morning to go to the museum.... And Ripred can't. It's just too bright and too loud and too many people so close to him. everyone stares and many try to pet him. Ripred knows he can't attack people or talk, so he just pulls Cormaci back to central park and has a full blown panic attack five blocks before they make it. they make it to an alleyway and he just shakes and gasps for air. sensory overlaods, especially when you've never had one, are no frikken joke.

-He just sulks back in the quiet, normal smelling, tourist free underland that doesn't burn his eyes. a few days go by and Cormaci proposes a picnic in central park. way less crowded, and with his vest people are warned not to pet him anyway. Ripred gives it another go.

-it doesn't suck. it actually goes very very well. he has the time of his life seeing the ducks and the horse carriages and sunbathing. they do this three times a week and gradually he goes to stores with her and they run small errands. after about two months She can take him anywhere and he won't get overwhelmed. of course, Cormaci hardly takes him into places or restaurants because he's not a real service animal. while waiting to cross the street, Gregor warns him to watch his tail. "what you think I'm just gonna fling it out and hit someone??" he flings his tail out for emphasis and hits someone. -rager speed activate- he catches them and apologises profusely. the 5 foot 2 ich overlander cracks up and compliments him on his reflexes. She hangs out with them the rest of the day and pays for their ice cream. He actually gets her number and they part ways. I mean she's weirdly chill but some people are. at least she didn't sue or panic.

-he uses the library computers to watch training videos and look up the criteria for service animals. He, Cormaci, And gregor's family all help expose him to all of the scenarios and help get him ready. He spends a lot of time with Lizzie. with her smelling salts, puzzles, and emergency phone in his pockets, Lizzie goes places with just him. they go to the museums and nerd out together.

They meet with the registration managers, and after the worst day of Ripred's life, (vet checks and behavioral/training testing. letting people grab, pinch, pull, poke, and prod him places he'd rather them not.) He get's officially registered as Lizzie's service animal.

-Ripred is ecstatic to roam the overland as he pleases and be able to help Lizzie. but he soon realizes she's not the only one who needs his help. Ripred builds a trustworthy council for the gnawers with two head leaders to rule in his stead. and helps Luxa build a better council so that she can visit a few days a week. this takes like a month.

Gregor's dad needs to go back to work, but is still very weak. Ripred, the two days a week he lectures, goes with him and carries his papers, medicine, and anything else on his vest and lets Mr. Campbelle lean on him during lectures. it's very interesting to him and excruciating not to chime in. So during breaks they geek out on theories about anything. Ripred helps him overcome his PTSD from his time in the rat lands. Texting his new distant friend Ripred finds out that Ally, the girl he one-hit K.O'd, has horses and actually does equine therapy. she helps Gregor's family for free. Ripred gets kicked by a horse.

Gregor needs help catching up with school, so he does that when they get home. and after the war of time, Gregor just needs him a lot. Ripred spends two or three nights a week with the boy, and they go on a lot of walks. They either walk for hours in silence or Gregor just breaks and gushes like a waterfall. He doesn't want to trouble anyone with everything on his mind but Ripred is safe. he understands. Gregor talks to him and Ripred listens. occasionally offering bits of valuable advice.

three days a week he goes to school with Lizzie, and finds that her teacher is very good at chess. they get along just fine and he talks to her and even helps with her lesson plans, given this is her first year. at first she tries to call Lizzie's emergency contact. but it's him. He lounges around and is the gordon Ramsey of education. He coaches Lizzie through panic attacks and she is never once bullied when he's around. she learns things from him and makes a couple more friends on the chess team. He'll sweep the floor with any one of them. He mostly reads during class but occasionally, during tests, (when Lizzie is most comfortable,) he'll react to the high stress of another student and put his head in their lap. (test anxiety is something else) and because they're elementary school kids, they make a cult for the rat. they call him Mr. Rat and leave offerings like shiny trinkets or snacks. he privately tutors the class for an hour after school because of this (they can leave if they want but he's smart and funny) and they all learn morse code/ ace their tests. going with Lizzie to P.E is his favorite. everyone else hates it. they fear him. He's no longer allowed to play dodgeball.

Grace is home but can barely walk. on good days her lungs will suddenly give out and it's extremely dangerous. with no one else able to run errands, and desperate to get out of the apartment, she begrudgingly and sorrowfully asks for his assistance. she wishes she could cut ties with the underland for good, but her family desperately needs him. the 'service animal' thing was just so he could go to the museum, but now he's a part of their lives. She leans on him in the grocery store and he sniffs out the best products as well as pushes the cart. if she goes down he has her inhaler and knows what to do. and aside from that, he makes great company. he's funny and smart. and she can tell him things she can't tell her family. about her chronic anxiety, her nightmares, her depression, her constant fear for her children and fear they don't love her anymore for trying to protect them and fear she didn't do enough and fear it will all happen again but this time someone won't come back... He understands what it's like to lose everyone. He understands not telling people things. He lets her talk. and only offers what she needs.

He still hangs out with Cormaci and they go on little trips together, but He's very busy taking care of his family. He never anticipated it to go this far or be this much work, sleeping in the underland once or twice a week, eating most meals there. But Ripred had decided to help Lizzie, a little girl that was very much like his own deceased pup. and in that, got closer and closer to Gregor, who was like a son to him long before he knew of Cormaci. In caring for and, in a way, adopting these pups, he'd adopted their parents and become a cornerstone in their daily life.

about Ripred and Ally, yeah they still hang out as often as possible she lives a couple hours out in florida but stays at her friends a couple days a week in NYC. it's kind of strange to him, but he finds it helpful that she would do anything for him. he can call her anytime for anything and she'll drive out or stay up late and talk, or uber eats him a snack. he ends up telling her absolutely everything. she's a good listener. her horse hates him. she gives Gregor free riding lessons and makes the BEST ribs.she's cool about the underland thing and just lets him talk. which he's not used to. within a few months, she knows more about him than Lizzie or Luxa. she sees him ugly and sees him nice and doesn't hate him for either. yeah she has a big crazy personality but if he accepts her, she'll return the favor tenfold. it takes a while but he gets used to having someone love him like a dog. she's kind of a dog. She knows what he's done, good and bad. and she's cool with it. but if he ever ever lies to her. she will never trust him again. he knows she's not lying.

Ripred supervises Gregor and Luxa's first date getting pizza and starbucks and going to a movie. He nips at someone's ankles for attempting to interfere.

Lizzie's panic attacks become more rare. to the point she doesn't need Ripred at school. Gregor's father no longer needs to lean on him, and can carry his own things. Grace returns to work and only needs her inhaler maybe once a week. Gregor is healing to the point he doesn't sneak out of his room and curl up with Ripred at night.

But none of them, not even Grace, want hm to leave. He experiences all of the Holidays with them during their first year together and he loves them all. food. Luxa joins to along with Cormaci of course. on Halloween he and Lizzie go as little red riding hood and the big bad wolf. gregor and luxa dress as bats. Gregor all black and Luxa a stunning gold. Ripred fights airport security. he tells his overlander friend, Ally, all about it. she thinks he's a bad-A.

As he is needed less and less Ripred goes back to the underland and helps Keep the peace. he was doing ok sending messages from the overland, but his presence is certainly needed more than twice a week. especially Luxa. she needs time alone to speak with a father figure, especially with Vikus's health fading. He helps relieve the pressure and helps her relax. She becomes like a daughter to him, Aurora as well. RIpred comes at a moments notice if any human male shows interest in his baby girl. He even brings Ally down and she honestly would kill to ride a bat. she gets to ride a bat. with everyone constantly dumping their problems on him and them having so many, Ally becomes vital to his mental health. to just have someone to relax with, to talk to to get Denny's at 2:00 AM with.

the years are long and full of hardships, love, and light. Gregor's family becomes more financially sound, they can comfortably afford to feed Ripred now, and go on annual trips. Luxa and Howard go to Hawaii. Vikus passes away two years after the COC, and Gregor's grandmother shortly after. Gregor's family decides to stay in new york. Ripred, Luxa, and Howard go to Virginia for a month with gregor's family in the summer and have the time of their lives. He brings Ally everywhere he can she makes him food, they joke together, sometimes stay at each others places, have a pick up lines war, and she's actually a valuable ally in meetings for writing things down and even contributing. they know everything about eachother. He often thinks to himself that she's every bit as sassy and kind as his mate, and if she were a gnawer, he wouldn't hesitate. but she's human.

and after four more years, at the age of nineteen, Gregor and Luxa are married. though they are no longer bonds, (the council decided you can only have one bond as not to split loyalties) Ripred walks Luxa down the aisle and takes his place beside gregor. where Ares would have stood. Gregor's mother is proud to call Luxa her daughter. Ally brings Luxa a pet cat, as is viking tradition for newlyweds to have one in their home. Ally's weird. but they like her.

Gregor's family half lives down there now and the gnawers and human tensions are almost nonexistent after so many years.

Ripred is godfather to all eight of Gregor and Luxa's children. and though he's starting to ache in the leg he broke in COC, his age starting to climb, it's not too much for him to play with his godpups or wrestle with Gregor. he'd be like mid 50's as human. (another reason he could never be with Ally, She's 25.) He attends Lizzie's wedding in the underland to hazard when she turns twenty. after all that time, he's nearly thirty, and plays a little less rough. he has another decade or two in him and is happy to live it. life has been hell to him... but now he's found heaven. he keeps his tears to himself watching his massive family, not of blood, but of choice, grow in a place that is not torn by war. a place where the walls are made of stone and a place where the sun shines. He doesn't mind people touching or hugging him anymore and you see his real smile a lot more often. but he's still too mean to die. snarky and sassy as ever. but a lot happier. in a bittersweet kind of way. he will never forget his wife or his pups, but he knows she'd be happy for him. and it doesn't hurt to think of them.

He may have been the registered service animal, but they were all helping him right back.

[carriagelamp]

November 2020: A Months of Familiarity

This November ended up being a month of me either rereading old favourites, exploring new books by favourite authors, or a mix of both.

…Be prepared for so much Terry Prachett, I found his audiobooks on Libby last month and since that I’ve been unstoppable.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The first of my Terry Practhett books to mention! I chose to include this one on my list because it’s a beautiful stand alone novel, perfect to read if you’ve never touched on of Pratchett’s works before, and is often overlooked.

The book is about Maurice, an “amazing” cat by his own admission, who has teamed up with a stupid boy and his very own plague of rats. The moneymaking scheme is simple: set the rats loose on a town and after causing a panic let the boy stroll in and offer to play his pipe and lead them away… for a fee. This is working well, until Maurice, the boy, and the rats arrive in the town Bad Blintz. Here the rats are beginning to question the morality of their work, the boy gets entangled with a young, mischievous local girl, and they’re all shocked to find out that the town already has a real rat infestation… or so the rat catchers claim. Things quickly turn sinister and deadly as the group is forced to confront not only the cruelty of humanity, but something even more sinister living in the small, dark, hidden place of the town.

This is a YA book, unlike some of Pratchett’s other novels, so it’s a quick, fun read, while still having all of his dry wit and heavy, complicated thoughts about society, morality, belief, and what it means to be a person. It’s a genuine delight to see Maurice and the rats, recently made sentient by wizards’ rubbish, struggle to come to terms with who they were and who they are now.

Black Pearl Ponies: Red Star & Wildflower

Y’all it ain’t a secret at this point that I enjoy a stupid horse girl book, right? I picked up the first two books of the Black Pearl Ponies books from the library on a whim and they were basically what they promised. Girl lives with family on ranch, father helps train horses, girl goes on pony adventures with ponies. A particular focus is given to horse welfare and care. Very mediocre but a nice thoughtless covid read if you, like me, get a craving for animals books written for seven year olds from time to time. Plus this comes with the added humour of it being written, as far as I can tell, by a British author who thinks all Americans are stetson wearing cowboys which I find unreasonably funny.

Crenshaw

I love Katherine Applegate’s work; I read the Endling series earlier this year and they are overwhelmingly good. Crenshaw was also an enjoyable read, though not my favourite by her. It read a little bit like a book I read last fall, No Fixed Address, which was also a very good read though not my usual genre. Crenshaw is about a boy, Jackson, whose family, though close-knit and loving, is experiencing financial difficulties and struggle with food scarcity, homelessness, and all the instability and stress that results from this. During this tumultuous time, Jackson is surprised by the reappearance of a tall, bipedal, snarky cat — Crenshaw, his old imaginary friend. This is a charming book that blends genuine, real world hardships with whimsy and magical realism.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of WWII

Since it was Rememberance Day this month, I decided to pick up a holocaust novel. This book is about 12-year-old Anton, a young Jewish boy who finds himself fleeing from his Polish farm in the middle of the night with his old grandma when a German raiding party that attacks their village in an effort to make the countryside “judenfrei”. The book is, perhaps, not the most well-fleshed out, but it’s fast-paced and exciting for a child/YA audience that’s being introduced to holocaust literature, without trying to downplay the absolutely horror and brutality of the Nazis. It manages to strike a satisfying balance between fear, tragedy, and hope.

“Everything he had heard was true. He was just a twelve-year-old boy and yet they hunted him. He had broken no laws, done nothing wrong. He was simply born Jewish. How could anyone want to kill him for it?”

Gregor the Overlander

Somehow I never knew that Suzanne Collins wrote anything other than The Hunger Games? I stumbled across this series at a used bookstore and was first taken by the cover and then shocked when I realized I recognized the author’s name. Well The Hunger Games was such a good read, how could I not pick up a book with people riding on a giant fucking bat?

Such a good choice. I’m almost done book two and bought book three today after work. It is exactly the sort of low fantasy that I live for, when a fantasy world lives so close to the real world that you can practically touch it. I also love the fact that while all the wild fantastical elements are happening, you still have the main character taking care of his toddler sister the whole time. It’s at times charming, hilarious, and nerve-wracking!

It’s about Gregor, a normal kid who’s doing his best to help his mom take care of his two younger siblings ever since his father disappeared years ago. Gregor expected months of boredom when he agrees to stay home over the summer instead of going to camp like his sister in order to watch his baby sister, Boots, and their grandma while his mom is at work. He never could have expected that a simple trip to the apartment’s laundry room would lead to both him and Boots tumbling miles beneath the earth into the pitch black Underland, a place filled with giant rats and bugs and people with translucent skin who fly through the massive caverns on huge bats. He also could have never expected that he would get wrapped up in a deadly prophecy that would force him to travel into distant, dark lands into the waiting claws of an overwhelming enemy.

Kings, Queens, and In-Between

A Canadian queer novel that I’ve seen trumpeted everywhere. Libraries, classrooms, bookstore, this book got so much hype (and has such a pleasing cover) that I had to get my hands on it. Now, I’ve got to admit that it’s not really my genre; I don’t love realistic fiction. But that being said, it’s a fun, heart-warming, queer romp through that explores gender, sexuality, love, family, friendship… there’s a lot of lovable, quirky, complicated characters that get thrown together in unexpected ways at a local summer carnival. While there’s tension and misunderstandings and mistakes, this is overall a very optimistic and loving novel, and would be a great read if you want a queer novel that reads like cotton candy.

Love, The Tiger

This book is the graphic novel equivalent of a nature documentary. There’s no text, but you follow a day in the life of a tiger as it moves through the jungle on the quest for food. The art is honestly beyond outstanding, and though it’s a really quick read it is so very worth it. I’ve also read Love, The Lion in this series (also good, though a bit more confusing imho) as well as one of the books from his other series Little Tails which is still very nature and education based, though for a slightly younger audience.

Making Money

More Pratchett! Making Money was the first Discworld book I ever read, and it’s one of my most reread ones — it’s an ultimate comfort read! This is technically the sequel to Going Postal (another book I reread this month), in which conman Moist Von Lipwig is saved from a rightful death at the noose in exchange for agreeing to work for the city. Going Postal sees Moist narrowly dodging death in many varied forms as he tries to get the Anhk-Morpork postal service back on its feet and get the drifts of dead, whispering letters moving again. In Making Money things at the post office have become… too easy. Moist is bored, restless, until he finds himself thrust into a new job: head of the Royal Mint. There he has been given not only charge of the biggest bank in Anhk-Morpork, but also a dog with a price on its head, a lethal family with all the money in the world out for his blood, and the fear that his secret past life may be on the verge of being exposed to everyone, all while he’s desperately trying to make money…

The Moist series is honestly an example of Pratchett at his absolute best imo, and the amount of humour, wit, adventure, and scathing commentary he can build around a bank is outstanding. Cannot recommend enough.

The One And Only Ivan

Another book I’ve been hearing everyone talk about, as well as another Katherine Applegate book. It’s been on my radar for a while, but with the sequel and a movie coming out, it had everything at a fever pitch and I finally picked it up. Fantastic read, I definitely enjoyed it more than Crenshaw. This book was based off the true story of Ivan, a gorilla taken from his home in the jungle and sold to the owner of a mall, where he spent years of his life growing from child to adult silverback in a small, concrete enclosure. In this fictionalized version, everything changes for Ivan and his friends, when a new baby elephant is bought to help revitalize the mall attractions and Ivan makes a promise he doesn’t know how to keep: to protect this baby, and keep her from living the life Ivan and his friends were forced to. This book made me very emotional. Applegate’s picture book that goes along with it is also a great companion read.

Ranma ½

I realized that our library had the 2-in-1 editions of Ranma ½ and honestly that was it for me. This has been a favourite series of mine since I was in middle school and realized that the creator of Inuyasha had written other things. It is unapologetically ridiculous and larger-than-life and you have to love the shameless joy it has at being ludicrous. It does start to feel a little repetitive the further into the series you go, but at the moment, with covid, I find I have a huge tolerance for rereading slightly repetitive things so long as they make me happy. And boy howdy does the vaguely queer undertones, endless pining, and relentless slapstick of Ranma ½  make me happy. This is classic manga y’all and if you’ve never read it you should!

The basic premise, for anyone that doesn’t is that of an bonkers martial arts comedy. It follows Ranma and his father who, while training in China, fell into cursed springs. Each spring has the tragic legend of a person or animal who drowned in it, and if someone falls in they inevitably turn into that creature any time they’re doused in cold water. Ranma had the misfortune of falling into “The Spring of Drowned Girl” and, indeed, turns into a girl anytime he’s hit with cold water. Things continue to spiral out of control when Ranma meets his arranged fiancée, Akane, who is as exasperated by this situation as Ranma. Both would rather be fighting people than worrying about things like romance. And don’t worry, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of some of the goofiest martial arts fights that you can imagine for a bunch of high schoolers.

Through the Woods

A beautiful and creepy Canadian graphic novel. I honestly really don’t even know how to describe it in a way that does it justice. It’s a collection of short horror stories, with beautiful, flowing art style that draws you in and sends chills down your spine. I’ll let the art doing the talk, and honestly beg you to go find a way to read this graphic novel:

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: And Other Stories

The last Terry Pratchett book on my list (though shout out to the others I’ve listened to this month: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Men At Arms, and Snuff) and one that I actually physically, rather than listening to the audiobook. I included this one because unlike the others, this was a Pratchett book I had never read before. It collects a number of Pratchett’s short stories that had been written for children over a number of years. These weren’t necessarily my favourite examples of Pratchett’s writing (I prefer his longer work that can really dive into social issues) but it was such a quick, easy, fun read that you can’t really help but be charmed by it. I liked the stories that took place in “the wild wild west (of Wales)” in particular.

[trekkele]

K, T, U?

K: angst or happy?

Both, honestly. Sometimes i will just want pure fluff but usually i want the angst first. I try to write angst but am never sure its punchy enough, and i think it needs that fluffy payoff to really hit right. But usually i end up writing bad jokes instead.

T: when did you start reading fanfic?

So this is a fun story - i started watching jem and the holograms and was getting really frustrated with how jerrica would string along rio and not tell him that she was both jem and jerrica. (And with how rio would be like. Sort of flirting with jem despite having a girlfriend? But anyways). So i googled “does jerrica ever tell rio that shes jem?” And thought i’d find an episode description or something. I found fanfiction instead. (In case your wondering, apparently she does not.) my favorite part of this is when my sister asked “what are you reading?” And i answered “oh some stuff people wrote because the show doesn’t finish right” and she just very earnestly warned me to be careful with what I read because people can post anything online.

A few weeks/months later I realized people have probably written other stories to fill the gaps in other media, and here we are.

U: when did you start writing fanfic?

When I finished the last book in the “Gregor the Overlander” series and realized the author thought that was ok. (Lmao reason 1 i still haven’t read the Hunger Games. Suzzane Collins already has too much power over me). I was 12? 13?

(I started writing again when i was 17, but only published any when i was ...21? Idk i need to check dates)

[fanfic author asks!]

[oneunexpected]

On Home

Home is an interesting theme to me, as where most of TUC Week’s themes are motifs we see over and over and over again, there isn’t really such a strong focus on “home” as a motif. Despite this, it’s one of the most important concepts in the series.

For the first two books, Gregor’s sole motivation is getting home to New York with his family in one piece. In the first book, while Gregor is impressed by Regalia, he wants nothing more to get out of it, and throughout his journey, he repeatedly refers to the Underland and its inhabitants in rather unfavorable terms. It is clear his sole reason for going on the quest is to bring his father home with him. The last line of the first book serves as evidence to such; Gregor thinks of what his mom needs to hear most, and says, “Hey, Mom. We’re home.” Collins quite literally gets the last word in in a manner that highlights the significance of their homecoming. In the second and third book, his motivation is much the same: he has to see the quests through in order to make sure his family members are safe and they can peacefully return home. Throughout, his bonds with the Underlanders are strengthened and he grows much more appreciative of his surroundings, but still, he wants nothing more than to be back in New York City.

But then, starting late in the third book, something interesting happens: Gregor begins to use the word “home” when he means “Regalia.”

The first time this occurs is when Gregor is in the field of starshade, when he devises a plan on how to transport the plants “for the trip home.” This is not to suggest Gregor at the time thought of Regalia as a second home––indeed, only a few pages later, he expresses desire to move to Virginia––but instead an indication that Gregor regarded Regalia as more important to him than anywhere else in the Underland: the place he’s most familiar with, the place he feels the safest.

Something similar occurs early in the fourth book, right after Hermes delivers Luxa’s crown in the arena. Gregor thinks back to when Luxa left it with the nibblers and recalls that “they had been in the jungle, preparing to return home,” the “they” in question being Gregor, Aurora, Nike, Hazard, and Boots. The context is different in this instance than in Curse of the Warmbloods, however; at this point in Gregor’s narrative, Regalia has become a getaway from his stresses on the surface, a place for him to unwind and be with his mom, and he speaks highly of his time spent there that summer.

“Home” becomes a point of contention between Luxa and Gregor, from when Luxa orders him to go home after they find Cevian’s body (in one of, perhaps, the most petty arguments I’ve ever read, but I digress) to when Gregor explodes in a fit of anger, culminating with him yelling, “What’s it matter? I don’t live here. I’m just visiting… and when we get back to Regalia, I’ll be sent home and we can forget we ever knew each other!”

While the narrative focuses on the nibblers and their lack of a home, their inability to find a place they would not be cast out of, Collins begins to set up the sense of displacement Gregor feels throughout the fifth book. A turning point in the way Gregor views his home in New York versus the Underland comes about halfway through the novel when he explains to his friends that the next time he returns to New York, he will not come back. Gregor’s narrative makes it clear he is upset with the proposition (“It didn’t seem quite real that by tomorrow he might not see the Underlanders again”), and Collins drives this point home when he is riding with Luxa, where he finds himself “not wanting to think about… going home,” and “the idea [of returning to New York”] didn’t make him feel happy.” In this instance, “home” goes beyond its traditional role as an antithesis to his role as the warrior in the Underland. In this new light, his life in New York is also antithetical to his relationship with those he loves below the surface.

It’s not the first time he’s felt dread at the thought of leaving––he feels the same way when he thinks he has to go home without Boots, and then again after Boots is found alive, thinking instead of Luxa, Aurora, Temp and Twitchtip still missing, and he feels a great responsibility to be in the Underland when Ares gets the plague and his mother won’t let him return––but this is the first time we see him feel this way when there’s nothing on the line. Still, Gregor certainly does not feel Regalia has replaced New York by any means. “The Underland was not his home,” he thinks, even as he uneasily explains to his friends he’ll likely never see them again. And yet, the line has begun to blur.

In Code of Claw, the concept of home becomes even more complex and important. In the first few pages, as he reads the prophecy, Gregor recalls Luxa saying “I would not hold it against you if you went home” and decides he would never be able to forgive himself if he took that option (nor would he be able to forgive Luxa, if their roles were reversed). A few chapters later, it’s the thought of home that forces him to confront his mortality in the museum, the impossibility of his return, which in turn makes one of his highest priorities finding a way to get the rest of his family back. While he has resolved to the idea that he will never return to the surface, he wants nothing more than his mother and sisters to do so. That in itself influences a lot of his decisions, specifically in the way he navigates his relationship with Solovet.

In the brief time Gregor is outside of Regalia, the word “home” becomes synonymous with “Regalia” once more in several instances. However, this time, he’s speaking for way less people than a full party of Underlanders, and for the first time, he explicitly refers to it as such in dialogue. While he’s flying home with a gravely ill Luxa, he tells her they’re “almost home.” But as soon as Gregor is back in Regalia, any mention of home is once more in reference to New York City.

After the Bane is defeated, and returning home to the surface is an option, Gregor stops longing for it. Indeed, when Luxa asks if Gregor will be glad to be home, Gregor replies, “No. I can’t even imagine being back.” Gregor believes his life would be too difficult to navigate in the Overland, but also believes no one in the Underland would want him around in peacetime, especially after his outburst in the arena. The events of Marks of Secret and Code of Claw have left him emotionally homeless.

One of the last times the word “home” is mentioned is while Gregor is walking to the Cloisters. It’s a beautiful day out, but he can think only of the Underland, and he wonders if he would prefer to live there instead. He cannot come to a conclusion, only the realization that he “felt like a stranger in what used to be his home.” The last time the word “home” is mentioned in the series is when Gregor is watching the news and hears a report on refugees being driven from their homes, a reflection of both the nibblers’ plight and his own. The series ends two pages later on a more optimistic note, with Gregor reflecting on the possibility of change, peace, and reconciliation and being grateful for having his family around him, but one thing is left clear: Gregor has lost sight of what it means to be home.

TL;DR: Gregor doesn’t really know where he belongs by the series’ end and he has no easy path of figuring that out. Writing this made me very sad. Give this boy a happy ending.

[shelby-bach-books]

Ever Afters Reading List

Dear Addison (of Charlotte, NC),

You mailed me a lovely note, asking me to recommend a fairy tale series like The Ever Afters that you might enjoy. I’ve been thinking about how to answer you for a while now. Then I realized you didn’t include your return address, so I am answering you via the internet.

I have bad news: you are asking the wrong person.

(Don’t worry—good news will come later because that’s how I roll.)

Authors aren’t the best at recognizing what books are similar to our own series, mostly because we’re too close to our own books. (Kind of like how a bunch of people will tell you that you look like so-and-so, and you don’t see how you and so-and-so look similar AT ALL, except maybe that you have the same hair color.)

And to be perfectly honest, in the early days of writing The Ever Afters, I would sometimes read what someone said was a lot like my series, and when I started to read them...it didn’t always feel like a compliment. I didn’t finish some of them, because they annoyed me so much.

I have since returned to some of those books, and I’ve realized that they’re realized that they’re not as annoying as I thought. Actually, they’re well-written and highly entertaining. They just weren’t the book *I* wanted to write, but similar enough where reading them could have tugged me a bit off-track, especially if I enjoyed them enough to emulate them.

So, in that way, me getting annoyed was the defense mechanism of my creativity—keeping my mental compost bin clear of influences that weren’t right for The Ever Afters.

So, that brings us to the good news I mentioned before: you may be asking the wrong person, but you’re asking me at the right time. Now, four years after I finished OEAE, I’m better read, and my opinion is less influenced than it was in say, 2012.

Anyway, that said, my answer is: What other books you like depends on what you liked about my books.

Like the Virgo I am, I have compiled an exhaustive list of recommendations (see below). It’s a mix of books I outright loved and books I came to love later on—and possibly a few books I just think more people should read.

With this list, I hope for two things: first, that you actually see this, and second, that you find some solid summer reading out of this list.

Thanks for writing, Addison!

Shelby

—

Straight Fairy Tale Retellings (i.e. one at a time)

- Robin McKinley’s Beauty and Rose Daughter and Spindle’s End (Chalice is also good, and The Blue Sword—but they’re not retellings)

- Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted and Ever (also loved the Two Princesses of Bamarre, but it’s also not a retelling)

- Diane Zahler’s the Thirteenth Princess among others

- Edith Pattou’s East

- Heather Dixon’s Entwined

- Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl

Mash-Up Retellings (i.e. more than one):

Olden Days ReMix:

- Patricia C. Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons series

- Grace Lin’s Where The Mountain Meets the Moon

- Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

- Neil Gaiman’s Stardust

- Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark and Grimm

Modern-Day Twists (Adult, but I read them first in high school/college):

- Elizabeth Ann Scarborough’s The Godmother’s Apprentice

- Kathryn Wesley’s The 10th Kingdom

- John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things

Romance-heavy, lush and lovely world:

- Marissa Meyer’s the Lunar Chronicles series

- Holly Black’s Tithe and The Darkest Part of the Forest

Well-paced plot of several tangled fairy tales, humor AND mystery:

- Michael Buckley’s The Sisters Grimm

Personal Transformation (ALL THE FEELS):

- Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs

- Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls

- Matthew Kirby’s Icefall

Magical beasties, and also dynamic and believable sibling relationships:

- Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven

- Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi: The Spiderwick Chronicles

Modern-Day DESTINY IS UPON YOU YOUNGLING series, with multiple kids growing up together through friendship and adventures:

- anything by Rick Riordan (but The Lightning Thief is still my fave)

- Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander series

- Shannon Messenger’s Keeper of the Lost Cities series

- Rachel Hawkins’s Hex Hall series

- John Stephan’s The Books of Beginning series

- Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’s The Wildwood Chronicles

Follow Your Dreams, Lena-style:

- Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong and Dragonsinger

Austen Retellings:

- funny and magical and middle grade: Stephanie Burgis’s Kat, Incorrigible (plus the other two)

- Funny and rom-com: Shannon Hale’s Austenland

- Beautifully captured, keenly felt scifi world: Diana Peterfreund’s For the Darkness Shows the Stars

Lady Warriors:

- anything by Tamora Pierce, but especially Protector of the Small and the Trickster series

- Kristen Cashore’s Graceling and Fire and Bitterblue

Plot Twists like whoa:

- Jennifer Nielsen’s The False Prince

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Coming-of-Age Stories, and Where The Heck Are The Adults In This World

Recently, I finally watched all sixty-one episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) - a show that literally every friend I’ve ever had has been surprised to learn I never watched as a kid.

(Returning readers will already know that I never watched most TV shows as a kid. I’m making up for lost time now.)

Overall, I enjoyed ATLA. It’s an emotional adventure with complex morals and strong positive themes like the power of friendship and family. I had a lot of fun finally discovering the contexts for all the memes I’ve become familiar with because of Tumblr (like “Sparky Sparky Boom Man” and “That’s rough, buddy”).

But I also felt uncomfortable while watching, for one specific reason: how young everyone is.

Aang is twelve years old. So is Toph. The other protagonists, and several major antagonists, aren’t much older. It hit me in the middle of the second episode that I was watching kids play at war – a thought that I know wouldn’t have occurred to me if I had been watching as a twelve-year-old myself, but one that stuck with me for the rest of my watch-through. ATLA is a story about kids in a world of absent or incompetent adults, with the fate of the world in their hands. And that kind of weight just plain doesn’t belong on the shoulders of twelve-year-olds.

The show makes some ventures towards confronting the topic of the kids’ age, and how circumstances have forced them into adult roles far too soon.

Aang was taken away from childhood play because of his destiny as the Avatar and the monks’ fear of the impending war.

Sokka and Katara’s mother died when they were little, leaving Katara as the only “mother” Sokka can remember. Their father left to fight the war after that, leaving Sokka as the only “man” of their village.

Zuko’s father treated him not as a preteen son, but as an adult inferior, and physically tortured him in public over a perceived slight.

The show points at these situations as unfortunate, and in Zuko’s case outright states that it was wrong. But then it keeps going, as all stories about child heroes do, and shows that it’s necessary for the kids to save the world. It’s unfortunate that Aang and Zuko and the others were taken out of childhood so soon, but even when they do go to adults for help, they are turned away and told that only they can solve the problems. It is their plot-driven destiny to be adults before their time.

ATLA also gives us a supporting cast of children whose too-adult qualities are portrayed in a completely uncomplicated, even praiseworthy way.

Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Princess Yue, and Jett and his Freedom Fighters all are treated by the narrative as though in being responsible “adult” figures they are as they should be, even though none of them could possibly be older than fifteen.

Toph’s entire character arc revolves around her hatred at being treated like a child by her overbearing parents, and the narrative unquestioningly supports her – the only moment in which it seems her parents might actually support her (the letter from her mother) turns out to be a lie, and leads to Toph achieving her destiny as the world’s first metal-bender. There is no middle ground, and we never actually see or hear from her parents again.

And the villainous Azula, though she displayed a frightening level of competence in every other episode of the show, is finally defeated when she starts behaving in an age-appropriate childlike way. I might be reading too much into this (I am an English major, after all), but the four-episode finale arc left me with the impression that the show was condemning childhood. When push comes to shove, no matter how old you are, you better grow up, or else.

To be fair, this is a coming-of-age story. Naturally it’s pro-adulting. Also, twelve-or-so is the normal sort of age for these stories. That’s when Gregor enters the Underland in Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander, and when Lyra and Will’s daemons settle in Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass

For a twelve-or-so-year-old reader, as I once was for both these books, it feels perfectly natural. As Neil Gaiman said about his book Coraline: 

Reading audience number one is adults. Adults completely love it and they tell me it gave them nightmares. They found it really scary and disturbing, and they're not sure it's a good book for kids, but they loved it. Reading audience number two are kids who read it as an adventure and they love it. They don't get nightmares, and they don't find it scary. I think part of that is that kids don't realize how much trouble Coraline is in -- she is in big trouble -- and adults read it and think, “I know how much trouble you're in.”

A kid reading these coming-of-age stories sees “someone like me saving the world” and goes along with it, not having the external perspective necessary to stress about whether or not the child hero will be able to save the world.

But me? I’m twenty-three. I’m too old to see Aang and company as “someone like me.” I don’t connect with Katara or Toph nearly as much as connect to Uncle Iroh, the closest thing this story has to a constant responsible adult figure. I look at the child heroes and I think, “Where the heck are the adults in this world?”

The adults are gone, as is necessary for the plot. In order for a “kids save the world” story to take place, the adults must be absent or otherwise incompetent, as nearly all the adults in ATLA are. They’re dead, or they’re off fighting another part of the war in a distant land, or they don’t understand their children, or they’re just plain stupid. It puts me in mind of the make-believe games the next-door-neighbor children I babysat in high school would create: in those stories, their parents were always dead.

In her book Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature Animation, 1937-2001, Amy Davis examines the tendency of parents in Disney films and other fairy-tale kinds of stories to be either absent or otherwise unable to protect their children. This lack of adult guidance is what creates the circumstances for those children to go on an adventure. Grown-ups can’t solve the world’s problems, so kids must step up and solve it.

Or rather, the kids must step up and be grown-ups, and solve it.

But take it from a twenty-three-year-old: a twelve-ish-year-old is not a grown-up, no matter what they’ve been through.

When I was sixteen, it suddenly hit me that it’s ridiculous that Lyra and Will’s daemons settle at age thirteen. Settling indicates that their personality is done changing, that they are who they are and they’ve finished growing up. But at sixteen, I could tell that I wasn't the same person that I had been at thirteen. At twenty, I wasn’t the same person that I had been at sixteen. I’m different again now, though less dramatically. I’m still figuring things out, and there are still adulting steps that I haven’t yet taken, but I’m much more a grown-up than I’d ever have called myself at thirteen.

I can see the value in “kids act like grown-ups and save the world” stories. They’re not written for me, who’s beginning to find them troubling. They’re written for kids, who don’t find them troubled, because they don’t see the dangers that the child-heroes face. They see that the child-heroes succeed.

My mother doesn’t like The Lion King because it’s about a child being told his father’s death is all his fault. She told me so when I was little, and my response was that it’s okay, because we know Scar is lying and that Simba will defeat him in the end. I’m closer now to my mother’s perspective than to my younger self’s response in regards to how I watch ATLA.

We do need to tell kids that they can and will grow up to do great things, and the best way to do that is to show them people their age that they can relate to doing great things – even if it makes adults feel uncomfortable. While the adult behavior of the children might be unrealistic, the ideal that it encourages in them, to become people who save the world, is absolutely realistic.

ATLA is not a story intended for me, though it might have been if I’d watched it then. I’m content to recommend it to children Aang’s age, and to derive an entirely different kind of enjoyment from it by over-analyzing, critiquing, and otherwise completely picking it apart. As I said, I am an English major, after all.

By the way, I highly recommend Amy Davis’s book. It was an instrumental piece of my thesis research and a super interesting read.

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