#tbh a relationship i think would be VERY interesting to explore post-finale is actually roman and ewan

[lith-myathar]

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[clovis-enthusiast]

Little thought about The Tyrant’s Tomb. [SPOILERS!!!!]

oKAY, so I’m gonna start off by saying that, as usual, Rick Riordan’s writing style never fails to impress and draw me in to keep reading and not stop until I’ve devoured every last word. I was DESPERATE to read this book because it took me longer to get it than usual, and I was trying to go into it spoiler free (aside from reading the snippets that Uncle Rick posted on his Twitter every now and then.) I pretty much managed to do so, and it made the experience that much more emotional for me. I went into The Burning Maze KNOWING that Jason was going to die, but I had absolutely no idea what I’d be facing in this book.

Camp Jupiter

I’m just gonna flat out say it; I was never really all that interested in Camp Jupiter in the beginning. I didn’t like the majority of the characters (aside from Dakota who is my legal son) and the camp structure (though accurate to the Romans) seemed too strict and harsh to me. The ranking systems confused me, and it all in all just did not appeal to me the way Camp Half-Blood does. However, the more I read, the more attached I grew, and although I still MUCH prefer Camp Half-Blood and would choose it in a heartbeat when choosing between the two camps, it still became an interesting place to read about. I ADORE the idea of New Rome and the sharp contrast of silly demigods like the fifth cohort vs. the strict rules and upbringing of the camp.

When Jason died in The Burning Maze and the next book was set to take place surrounding Camp Jupiter, I grew excited. I REALLY wanted to meet more of the demigods of the Roman camp and explore them more (mostly Dakota but I digress.) Although I knew reading about everyone’s reactions to Jason’s death would be hard, I fought through it and was somewhat surprised by the lack of grieving that was presented. I mean, the ENTIRE first few chapters were ALL about Jason’s coffin and Lester and Meg grieving and trying their best to get it to camp but when it actually got there there really wasn’t that much of an uproar. At first I thought that was strange but looking back at it the Romans are brought up to be strong and not let emotions take over them, and people like Hazel have to show absolute strength. Besides the camp was already in mourning over DOZENS of other campers at the time.

That was another thing that sort of bugged me. I was absolutely ITCHING to meet some new characters and granted I got a few, but the majority of the ‘newer’ characters had already been killed and served only as the undead army.

THAT WAS SO FUCKED UP. It was one thing that I think Rick did a really good job with in upping the deep and darkness of the Riordanverse series. Can you imagine fighting your undead comrades and friends?? Like holy shit, that was emotional. I was super worried I spoiled something for myself on Istagram bc I read a post someone made about Jason trying to get the undead Romans to follow him instead or direct them away from camp, but I should have known it wasn’t true since he was literally burned.

Frank

Speaking of burning, I ACTUALLY thought Rick killed Frank off. Up until this book, I hadn’t really realized how much I loved this man. His character is just so well-written and likable and when he sacrificed the wood, I was like NOOOOOOOOO. I was SO grateful he came back in the end because I was sure Rick would never hear the end of THAT one if he allowed it to really happen. On the bright side, my baby boy can now enjoy his life with a little bit more vigor and less fear now that the stick is gone for good.

New Characters

Lavinia Asimov: Okay, Lavinia is a REALLLLLLLY weird character to me. She reminds me a lot of Lou Ellen to be honest, but for some reason, she doesn’t appeal to me as much as Lou Ellen does. (Maybe it’s just because I tend to prefer minor characters) Her rebelliousness seemed a little too... forced at times?? And her whole thing with the dryads and fauns was kinda weird too, but I guess since she likes Poison Ivy, it makes sense. However, she kinda did grow on me, I suppose, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.

Poison Ivy: I REALLY wished we could have met her even just once. Lavinia would not shut up about her and was CONSTANTLY rebelling against the rules in camp just to see her, so I wanna know just what kind of a character she is. I’m sure she would have been very interesting and sassy to have been Lavinia’s love interest lol

Pranjal: He’s a good boy!!! Not quite sure how to pronounce his name properly, but his appearance is adorable and I LOVE the fact that he’s a son of Aesculapius because he’s one of my favorite gods soooo... I really wish we could have seen more of him!! He’s kinda like Clovis in the way that he has like one important part, gets mentioned like two times afterwards and then never again :^/

Aristophanes: he’s a cat,,, i love him,,, 

Harpocrates: This was SO interesting and out of the blue to me having gone in spoiler free!! He’s earned a new spot up in my favorite gods list because of how interesting and mysterious he is. His concept was great and although i was sad to see him sacrificed, I hope that he and Sibyl are together wherever they are bc that was damn cute and made me so emotional afgkjldg why did Apollo have to be such a dick as a god,,,

New names with little to no info: Carl (Roman demigod,) Reza (Roman demigod,) Reginald (faun,) Felipe (faun,) Harold (faun,) Lotoya (dryad,) Buster (unicorn,) Muffin (unicorn,) Whagadoodle (unicorn,) Shirley (unicorn,) Horatio (unicorn,) One Eye (pegasus,) Small Ears (pegasus,) Boost (pandai,) Ida (Roman demigod,) Caelius (Roman demigod,) Thomas (Roman demigod,) Colum (Roman demigod,) and Terrel (Roman demigod)

Lester/Apollo

MY BOY HAS GROWN!!! He’s so human now, and I’m so proud. He doesn’t even second guess sacrificing himself or humiliating himself to save his friends. I just... I have a lot of feelings over his character development. Rick handles him SO well, and I just,,, I love him,,, i am,,, in love with him,, i would date lester papadopoulos

Meg

She’s grown to be such a doll!! I was SUPER annoyed by her in the first books, but now she’s my daughter. I love that she’s actually expressing emotions other than ‘annoying 12 year old’ now. Like I wanna protect her.

Reyna

She was a pretty good character in this book and her leaving the camp was a HUGE surprise to me. I kinda wish she was still praetor because idk Hazel just doesn’t rlly seem as fit for it as Reyna was, and I like Reyna a lot, but idk i guess it’s coolio. I was also glad Rick cleared up all the romance discourse about her too though the way he did it was kinda weird (she literally was using the word ‘ship’ out loud like wh-- and i don’t remember the venus thing at all so maybe i missed it from a different book? idk it came out of nowhere to me)

Ella and Tyson

I actually like Ella a lot now!! I used to find her quite annoying, and her relationship with Tyson felt forced, but now that I had the time to get used to her and figure out her character a little more, I do like her. She sort of treats Tyson weird, but I think towards the end, I fell for their relationship more. Tyson was literally excellent, show-stopping, breath-taking, amazing,,, like YESSS KING I LOVE YOU AND YOU PEANUT BUTTER-SMELLING SELF (that one scene where he just started dancing and apollo didn’t know if it was for the ritual or just bc he felt like it killed me)

Character Deaths

Dakota: I AM NEVER GOING TO GET OVER THIS ONE FOLKS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO REREAD THE SAME SENTENCE TO MAKE SURE THAT I WASN’T HAVING A NIGHTMARE. I PHYSICALLY CANNOT BELIEVE THAT RICK KILLED HIM OFF. I’M STILL EMOTIONAL OVER IT, AND JUST AJSDHF;AMNJ ‘;  NOOOOOOOOOOO THIS IS THE SECOND SIBLING POLLUX HAS LOST IM GOING TO  S C R E A M  HE WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS AND HE DESERVED BETTER DAMN IT I’M LITERALLY IN SHOCK LITERALLY DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE I’M STILL IN SHOCK FROM CREST’S DEATH IN THE LAST BOOK TBH AND NOW THIS??? NOW I’M SCARED CLOVIS IS GONNA DIE JSDKLFKS the only thing that gives me comfort is that Jason can be with his friend in Elysium now fuckkkk,,, rick why did you do this to me,,, I LITERALLY CANNOT EXPRESS HOW UPSET I AM I WILL  N E V E R  HEAL

Don: Don was sort of a comic relief character in SoN, and it was very sad to see him go. He reminded me a lot of Grover, and his death scene with Lavinia ACTUALLY made me tear up. THIS BOOK MADE ME SO EMOTIONAL GOD DAKOTA AND DON WERE LITERAL BABIES RICK GIVE THEM BACK

Bobby: listen,,, we never even met this kid rlly and i was still super sad when lavinia had to kill him again and hannibal is without him and just ughhh whyyy

Julia’s mother, father, AND foster parents: HOLY SHIT RICK WASN’T THAT KIND OF OVERKILL??? I felt so bad for the poor girl, especially cause she’s like six??? But it’s very sweet that Terminus adopted her. I really liked that.

Jacob: AAHHHAHA this one made me sad too!!!! he was such a minor character, but he reminded me of Damien White and Ethan Nakamura (if he were allowed to actually be a kid,) so I think that’s why I was sort of partial to him. The way he died was SUPER horrid too, so I just,,, im big sad for him (on a good hand, he went down F I G H T I N G)

Mentions of anything relating to Hypnos or his children

Yes, i am keeping track, sue me. Somnus was mentioned one time in this book as one of the gods Apollo briefly considered summoning to his aid, and it is presumed he has some sort of tribute at Camp Jupiter had he not before. You’ll make another appearance someday Clovis, I know it :’^D 

Final Thoughts

I literally CANNOT wait for the next book (which I presume is the last one.) From what it seems, we’re returning to New York, so Camp Half-Blood will be present. I can’t wait to see my babes again, and I’m REALLY hoping more minor characters will be allowed to shine (cough clovis cough) but like i KNOW some will die and just,,, im sad,,, dakota’s death has wrecked me,,, but on the side note, the new book is coming out in my last year of school!!! i’m so excited because this series holds emotional value to me like i’ve literally gone through my high school career with trials of apollo like it was with me the whole time and it’s one of the only things that keeps me going. i just,,, i have no words to express how much this series and all the others mean to me...

thank you so much for keeping me going, uncle rick. i can’t wait to see how this all ends :^) <3 

[ryouverua]

Kirumi Tojo FTE - (Kaede #1)

“It would be a shame to die on an empty, unsatisfied stomach.”

That’s actually a good question. This is a sealed space, after all, and they have to come from somewhere.

Kaede has spent half of this chapter being hungry lmao

Even now, after the big reveal, thinking about how they managed to get perishable food in is pretty interesting. When I’d been speculating originally, most of them involved it being a sealed area with the students/captors relying on them being able to be self-sufficient in some way? There was a lot of greenery, they had machinery, lots of open space to potentially grow things but it also seemed like they had to have been bringing stuff in from outside of the end wall...

But no, it was a show small-scale or truly global is still up to debate but yeah. Assuming this wasn’t a VR world, and considering how we literally managed to figure out that the mastermind was one of the 16 students (that this was a sealed space), they were going to have to get the food in here somehow. That could actually lend well to the idea of it being fine out there, and them having the resources to bring in all sorts of high-quality food for the students? From what I remember, Kirumi was able to create a lot of interesting dishes for them, and even seems to have been able to diversify them based on the likes and dislikes of each students, which seems to imply them having a whole system set up to deliver food on a regular basis, as well as them having the funds to customize as well? Just some food for thought badum tsssh

someone really needs to stop me

again I must emphasize that I did not give her her own gloves, literally the same gloves that gave her away and ultimately sentenced her to death

I forgot that she has the same voice actor as Virgilia whoops lol

Holy shit did that come off as unintentionally brutal to anyone else or is that just me -

people always ask how to romanize my name, ‘tojo’ or ‘toujo’, and I always tell them the same thing - ‘how dare you speak to me’

“Why does someone climb a mountain, Kirumi? Because it’s there.”

Oh god, what a depressing life that must be. I mean, I know it’s her whole talent and basically encompasses her everything, but the idea of only ever expecting people to approach you because they want or need something...

.... I can.... see, maybe, why she would be able to put some cognitive distance between herself and the others. It’s like some weird, bizarre superiority complex, in that by serving everyone she almost has power over them?

Mind you, I don’t know if I’d have reached all these conclusions without the experience of Chapter 2 behind me, but I have to say it’s really neat to read these now after-the-fact.

THAT A GIRL KAEDE

She’s baffled, damn.

Interesting how she still turns it into a ‘request’, though. Hmm... does she really not know how to operate outside of the ‘maid’ paradigm?

One step at a time, Kaede. She really is a ‘fixer’ type of person, huh?

KAEDE FKSDLJG

This is hilarious - is she talking about general demeanor? Colour scheme? Hobbies? Interests? Hairstyles?? You’ve barely talked, do you know that for a fact? I mean, have you not been showing a lot of interest in our other resident monochrome quiet kid, Shuichi?!

She actually took out a notebook???

...............

Why are so many of her FTEs bringing up food.

O-Okay, I mean, I guess we’re in the kitchen... but still.

Well shit now I wonder if anyone had allergies and if that could have been a potential problem or way to kill someone?

How much do you bet there’s been at least one peanut allergy that has been weaponized in the past -

and honestly I know so many people with allergy issues - like, huge ones - like all seeds and nuts, etc, and they’d be so fucked in this setting tbh

Wait, really? Not a single one? Not a hankering for chocolate or a dislike of eel or something? Nothing?!

That is so on-brand for a protagonist that you’re supposed to be able to project onto lmao

alas

no seriously how could you not have any food preferences whatsoever -

.... Buckwheat pillows are a thing???

WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING lmao I’m going full hostile here

The idea of Kaede getting all riled up over the most milquetoast questions is hilarious.

‘Wow Kaede I can’t believe you saw through my devious plan to smother all of my classmates with their favourite pillows -’

SHE LAUGHED

I’M LIVING

Finally a crack in the veneer!

I know right?!

Okay, onto less paranoid answers! Though given how Kaede ended up acting post-timeline announcement, a more paranoid Kaede isn’t exactly out of character... but anyway!

“Because,” flips notebook, “we have a lot to cover here. Air freshener scents, shampoos, the ideal housekeeping time, morning tea or coffee and the preferred brew -”

To be fair, there’s not exactly a hostile way of taking these questions, right?

.... Right?

Kaede, shaking Kirumi vigorously: “WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING -”

She always looks so intense when she’s saying things like this, damn. You will take her service, damn it, and you will enjoy it and benefit from it -

..... And now, onto the last (and kind of dumb but in a cute way) answer!

Thanks for the input, Kaede!

More importantly it’s important that your head is well-supported so you don’t mess up your neck. Honestly, you just underestimate the importance of a well-cared-for neck until it’s all strained and tight. 8′)

What, are you going to design, sew and hand-stuff the pillows themselves? Where are you going to get the things needed for that?

.... How much is in that warehouse exactly?!?!

You said it yourself! Pillows are important!

Ah, she really does take this all very seriously...

Seriously, her talent may be one of the few that seem to be engaged at all times. I mean, everyone else is informed by their talents - their personalities, their attitudes, and maybe their more passive thoughts - but she’s the only one who never seems to have an off-switch. That’s... pretty awful? And all-consuming? I’d say if it works for her it’s okay, but it... really... didn’t, in the end. It led to her making some pretty cold decisions in the end.

it’s okay kirumi you can tell us you like kaede and shuichi the best and kokichi and miu the least

well up until the end of trial 2 for shuichi anyway lmao

1) Maki, Miu and Kokichi would be hell to ask about even basic questions like these

2) I suddenly, desperately want to know what Korekiyo’s answers are to some of these things because I bet they’d be hilarious

3) How many bug- and wilderness- related concessions will she have to make for Gonta to feel comfortable

4) Will she have to talk Kaito down from attempting to go with something similar to Eau d’Axe Bodyspray for his room

kaede is just another client to her feelsbadman

So. Did her caring nature grow with her talent? Her talent must have grown from her own initial inclinations, but it seems like a lot of it is also from her hyper-competency, right? That’s what defines her as an Ultimate.

... Does she solely like ‘taking care of people’? Thinking of, for example, Kaito - who vicariously lives through his ‘sidekicks’ - does she get her pleasure from the job from seeing them succeed? There’s definitely some selfishness wrapped up in here (chapter 2), and I’m kinda... hoping it’ll be explored a bit more. A lot of the most interesting parts of her characters really did come out in the later stages, so I’m wondering if we’re going to see hints of that soon. Maybe Kaede can quiz her back or something! and who the hell knows how Shuichi’s will go tbh

I guess we did a bit? This did feel more like a client-relationship, but I guess it’s something?

‘The mothering type’ I cannot believe -

and so it begins.