And because apparently, I'd rather be stalking your reviews than catching some sleep, I am now here as well!
I have to say, I actually thought Balfour was an improvement compared with Havemercy. But since I never really was a fan of his and his woobie-ness in Havemercy was a bit annoying to me, "improving" wasn't very hard. He... actually had something like an attitude sometimes instead of just meeping meekly while tugging on his gloves. He only did that occasionally in Steelhands!
Considering I very much disliked Dragon Soul (mostly because of Thom and his demotion to being a tool to enhance Rook's badassery), Steelhands definitely turned out better. My main problem with the series: The sequels all take place after the main conflict - the war - is already resolved more or less in the first book - all that's left is the cleaning up of the aftermath.
I'm a bit sad that Laure started out as a nice character and then turned quite Sue-ish, imho. Also, how often can anyone mention the size of a character's breasts? But oh, well. The Laure/Adamo pairing that was hinted at (hinted as in 'wrapped in bricks and thrown in your face') - I really didn't buy it. I guess for me, it was doomed from the point Royston had his little 'One day, you're gonna fall for someone totally unlikely' speech. It was basically a mirror image of the Royston and Hal thing, only with less blushing.
Toverre was probably meant to be funny, but being as useless as he was, I had little patience for him.
I absolutely agree on the male/female character 'dynamics'. With Rook and Thom in Havemercy - back when Thom had at least some kind of backbone - it wasn't quite as bad, but everyone else? Meh. Too much seme/uke sterotypes going on.
I hope I didn't rant too much and I was being more or less comprehensible. No native speaker + sleep deprived mind =/= making sense
I barely noticed Balfour in Havemercy, tbh. But I got how excited people were to see him in his own POV and with steel hands to boot! But for a book about steelhands, I was shocked how little they played into it, excluding you know.. the whining.
What was Thom's problem! He had such sass until the balcony scene and since then he's been a shell of the professor we were introduced to. I mean, I've never hooked up with someone who was secretly related to me, but there's no reason to go all to pieces, kiddo.
I think Laure wasn't necessarily as Sue-ish as Madoka as Laure had various weaknesses and some explanations for her character traiats- nehter of which we got for Madoka. Also, don't knock a big breasted lady haha! But yeah, halfway through I realized if you lines up quotes from Madoka, Josette, Laure and Antionette it would be IMPOSSIBLE to tell who said what. Whereas line up Rook, Caius, Thom and Royston and you have four distinct voices. Jaida-Dani, why is writing ladies so hard? You both happen to BE ones, after all.
"Adamo you just wait. Someday you're gonna be a pedophile just like me and then I'll show you!" dude why would anyone want to be Roystons friend, you're dooming him to LOSING HIS TEACHING JOB.
man, I'm dying to rant to people about these books! It's just like me, Cait and Chira. I posted to get ppl to rant with! Also, don't worry about the language barrier, I never would've guessed if you hadn't said something.
Balfour was whining a lot, now that I think about it. It was mostly his reactions and POV about his former comrades which made me like his POV. I was a bit confused though why he accepted this Frankenstein's dragon so readily.
My theory about Thom and Rook *deepdeepbreath*: This is based on the assumption that the rumours how originally, Rook and Thom were to hook up as well, are true (I think it was even confirmed sometime). It really would make some of the scenes in Havemercy more cohesive (for example, the brother revalation scene: Thom's MAJOR guilt trip is just a tad too extreme. The way he just blurts out his 'Imyourbrother' speech is even more believable if there's something much bigger behind it besides him simply not telling Rook even though he knew it for a while. And with Rook, it's also this 'You knew it all this time I've been bangin' your brains out and didn't care to tell me?' AND the 'WTF For how long have you known it' thing.) And then, it didn't survive the editing process. Considering this, everything that happens afterwards in their character and relationship development automatically deviates from the way it was originally meant to go. That's basically what I felt throughout the whole third book: That some essential piece of basic conflict in their relationship was somehow missing.
The thing with Laure was a bit difficult for me. I really liked her at the beginning. Then after a while, all I was thinking was: "Yes, we get it, she's so~ pretty and awesome and snarky and adorably direct bordering on incredibly rude but hey, other than Toverre no-one seems to have a problem with that". I'm not saying I want any more gender inequality - far from it. But considering how much she complains about things being so unfair for girls, she was actually able to dish out quite a bit without ever getting into trouble for it. My main problem with her was the last ... say fifth of the book - how suddenly, she took the lead and everyone, even the former airmen who didn't even really know her followed everything she said without any major objections... that was a bit sudden. Maybe though, this was all a very subjective impression because Toverre didn't do anything and the difference between the two was so extreme.
Madoka... maybe I never really perceived her as such a big Mary-Sue because I kind of failed to read her POVs as attentively as I could have *cough* All I remember is that I thought she basically was a wannabe femRook. ... Which, come to think of it, would actually be the epitome of a Mary-Sue OTL
I'm not sure why writing girls is so damn hard. A lot of writers - male and female - have incredible problems with that. I am a bit traumatised by badly written female main characters, to be honest. It's kind of sad. With Jaidani, I have the suspicion that they tried very hard but it just didn't work. I guess sometimes, writers think that they can only have a strong female character if she behaves especially stereotypically manly. But maybe that's just something I got wrong.
Royston, as always, was quite the ray of sunshine once again. Such a darling.
Heh, I've been waiting to rant about this book for some time, since the friend I gave it to hasn't read it yet and I didn't know how many spoilers I could throw into the comm already - and then I forgot about it for a while X''D
haha when I realized the dragons were Frankenstien-esq I was super disturbed... until no one cared, haha. I can't blame Balfour though. His dragon's enthusiastic response to seeing him for the first time, bounding around and taking out the esar in a moment. It was like being upset with an over-eager, ugly puppy.
Now, Rook and Thom were def supposed to hook up. It's right in the scene with the ball, when Rook slams him against the balcony, there was a handjob in the original draft. That was what Jaida+Dani shared with one of the artists they got for Havemercy. I'm not sure if it was the editors or the girls' own decision that led to it being cut.. but yeah, after learning about that sometime last year I was like OH FUCK WELL NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE. I mean, I still ship it hardcore, but it explains a lot. I was hoping we'd come back to it in book 3, but it was such.. a miserable book when it came to those two. Nothing is solved. Just go back to fucking, guys. haha I just looked over when Thom tells Rook and you're so right, there is a lot of guilt there. Ah, that shit is delicious there. AS far as I'm concerned, they still hooked up. Makes everything all the more interesting. If only they'd gone back to it in Book 3.
Now that you mention it, Laure really did get to take the reins towards the end. Likely on account of her huge bosoms? haha honestly, who else was gonna lead? Balfour? Getting Luvander and Raphael to do anything I'm sure was like herding cats. I don't know, I'm not a Doctor Who fan, but as long as I kept imagining little Laure as Amy Pond, I got less fussy with her character portrayal.
I'm sure writing ladies can't be easy, but I feel like Jaida+Dani (whether self-exposed or otherwise) are character-writers.. but I'm not all together sure that's true, given their excuses for ladies characters. It's not that we want strong females. We see you can write strong lady characters. How about something in the middle, or the polar opposite? It's great all the ladies in Volstoc are ball-busters, but it's not all that fun to read 7 times over.
I'm not a huge Royston fan! Though now that apparently he crushed on Adamo hardcore in their teen years and Adamo is Personally Invested in taking care of him.. I'm warming up. I just loved the image of Adamo having to pick up the pieces after all of Roystons previous forays into dating younger men who cheat and rob him. Royston says it's not like he NEEDS someone to look after him, but everytime he gets his heart broken Adamo has to show up with ice cream and tissues and The Notebook on DVD.. otherwise houses everywhere blow up. hehe I'm glad we can rant about it to one another. I was out of the country until last week, whereupon arisato emailed me "GUESS WHAT BOOK JUST CAME OUT!! COME HOME RN"
In the end, the only one who was disturbed/angry about the dragons was Luvander. Everyone else was more like 'That's... weird but, whatever.'.
A hand job in that scene makes perfect sense. And since I'm ignoring most everything about Dragon Soul, I'm also still assuming they hooked up - it just never got written. (Thom, in Dragon Soul, seems to have found a substitute for smut in FOOD - I mean, what is it with Thom stuffing his face all the time in that book??).
Hmm, is Amy Pond from the new season? I'm not that much into the Doctor Who Fandom OTL For me, it wasn't so much her leading as the others just... following like that that threw me off, but I guess they had something like 'Adamo trusts her so we can trust her' and they are happy/used to follow orders. Still, it was a bit much for me.
That's the problem - I really think that a lot of writers feel kind of pressured to always write strong female character. Why do they always have to be so insanely cool, strong and sassy and be able to kick all other character's asses? A bit of normalcy would be nice. Someone who just can't cope with every situation like it's no big deal.
I was a little annoyed by Royston's constant 'I'm so OLD and he's so YOUNG' when it's absolutely clear that younger guys - with the exception of Adamo, apparently, are his usual scheme of prey and he doesn't really angst about it any other time. I had fun writing him in fanfic, though. X'D Yes, blowing stuff up. That was something I really liked about Steelhands - Royston showing up at the end and making things go boom top create a diversion for getting his BFF out of jail.
Luvander wouldn't make a hat from such hapdash materials! And yet they reconstruct the DRAGONS from that?? for shame
I feel like Rook would think jerking somebody off is a way to show your dominance. Yeah nothing like.. making somebody sexually satisfied to show them you're the boss... uh right. omg the only way Thom can keep Rook's hands off him is by eating a ton of food. See now you don't want to kiss me anything, not just because I am brother cause also I am chubby? is this working??
Amy Pond is the redhead in the new season. and yeah, I didn't really see much with her and Adamo, I guess I was expecting to to be more overt.. or interesting hehe.
AMEN to all that about lady characters. I mean I know you can write helpless characters for fight scenes.. we all saw Caius and Tov.
I haven't seen anybodys fic yet!! I need all the recs. and yes, I like Royston a lot more after this one hehe.
I was very relieved that the new dragons turned out to be little cracked pint sized versions of the old ones - I would have been very cross if they had actually reconstructed the real deal.
Funny thing is, I never thought Rook would be the type to care about the fact that they're brothers, his problem would be more along the lines of his constant 'Have I mentioned I'm heterosexual today' yapping. Thom is probably thinking "If I'm constantly chewing, he wouldn't think about sticking anything in my mouth, right?" - Silly Thom, food and sex are totally compatible.
Yes, I guess they left it open enough for people to ignore it if they wanted. And it really was uninteresting - I wouldn't have minded too much if it there had been more to it, but the way she went from 'Hey, a teacher who's not a moron' to 'he's a cool guy and I kind of think he's nice' to 'OMG my darling is in prison boohoo' was a bit sudden. The way Adamo went from 'yeah, well, she's my student and she's not as stupid as the rest' to 'hey, let's drink hot chocolate with her' to 'Maybe we'll get to know each other better later on durrhurr' was ... uh. yeah.
Now... I'm going to put an unpopular opinion out here now: I think a lot of (especially female) writers feel obligated to create only strong female characters because they are afraid to get the whole "how DARE you create a weak woman character, you're so sexist" bitching. I've seen it happen. It's creepy. That way, all male characters have the 'right' to be weak and useless and can sniffel and meep and be pathetic, but the ladies can't. It's sad, because weaknesses are so important for a well rounded character. And a woman doesn't need to be be the most bamf fighter to be awesome.
On the useless-in-a-fight male side we have Caius, Tov, Hal, Thom, Balfour, who really only seems to be badass in combination with a big-ass dragon, Mamoru, who may be able to shoot an arrow at his brother's back but that's it and there are probably some more - I just can't think of them. At least Caius can fuck up a person's brain. But really scarcely uses this Talent of his.
I think there are quite a few great stories in the kink meme - I made and index for it, even sorted by pairing (it's linked on the meme) And there have been quite a few wonderful stories some time back - I'll see if I can find them. What do you like to read?
Yeah, for a minute I thought the dragons were back but with new riders and I actually felt bad for the Dragon Corps. I keep forgetting they were all a pack of frat boys who could act like assholes.. but they did like their dragons haha.
I felt like Rook was obviously big about ppl knowing what a stud he is and a ladykiller and all that, but I thought he'd def have a problem with Thom being his brother. As much of a complaining jerk as he was in Book 3, I got the feeling taking care of Thom was a big priority for him as a kid. Liek that he blamed himself for Hilary dying, that seemed apparent when he told Thom about how his brother died. I guess I just saw Thom being moe like we're brothers, so what!! While Rook agonized over how blowing your kid brother makes you a really really shitty older brother. Like he's a failure as a brother again for wanting to fuck his brains out.
I just remember hearing about Laure and Adamo a couple years back and thinking they were gonna be fucking on desks and she was gonna be fiercer than Malahide and it would be hot and cool. Then she shows up and shes the cute and sassy school girl.. but I didn't want anybody rolling on desks and making out there. Well, unless Malahide and Kalim want to come back for their own book.
I think you are 100% right on ladies writing about ladies! It sounds correct to me! I'm not sure what the arguments against that would be. But obviously strong female characters are interesting and all that! but so are weak characters. Everyone had flaws, why should ladies be exempt from that? Equality first, weak dudes, weak ladies, strong dudes, strong ladies, and all that.
I didn't get the impression Caius could do much in an actual brawl- maybe in a closed, controlled environment. I'd have liked to see it more in action! But like you said, they don't use it much. Mamoru was kind a a kick ass character when he shot his brother. I was a little bit like uh where did this come from?? but in a good way haha.
oh my gosh, I looked through the kink meme but I got confused with it being in multiple places or something like that? I'd be too embarrassed to say what I'd like! Though I did meticulusly go through the index by pairings for Caius/Al, hehe.
Definitely - the way they loved their dragons and the fact that the dragons had their own personalities and everything, it would have been so wrong to just remake them.
Actually, looking at Rook like that, you're probably right. I have a bit of a problem with Rook because he actually is the sort of character I normally wouldn't like at all, but somehow...
Oh, yes, if the Laure/Adamo dynamics had been different, I wouldn't have minded at all. She definitely should have been older for this thing to really work. This schoolgirl/teacher thing has already happened with Royston and Hal, another relationship like that seems just.. blah.
I think that's something a lot of people misunderstand - gender equality in books is not just about every lady being able to kick ass.
No, I think he actually explained that it took a lot of concentration to really use his Talent effectively, so in a brawl it wouldn't be of much use. The whole "shooting his brother" thing was Mamoru's best scene by far!
The kink meme situation ... is a bit complicated. There was one right at the beginning, but it kind of died because the fandom was quite small. Then the LJ community got a spotlight and they made a new kink-meme. And after all those LJ crashes earlier this year, something changed in the community setting so all anonymous comments got screened and we didn't reach a mod to change it, so I made a new one again.
Yeah what's Toverre's deal. I kept expecting him to do something.. but honestly, Laure would've gone as far as she did plot-wise without him around. I thought the kid was cute but what we his purpose anyway, considering Laure dumped him pretty meanly at the end of things to go join Dragon High. I mean am I supposed to be shipping Tov with someone here, Jaida+Dani, give me direction.
I know! I kept waiting for him to do anything, but ... in the end, they just had him tag along and he kept complaining and feeling useless and that was it. I kept expecting him to... I don't know, show some signs of a magical Talent or something. But nah. Also, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about his obsessive-compulsive disorder-ish behaviour being something like a comic relief. And I would have loved to ship him with someone, but ... who to pick, the way he kept falling in and out of love with every new male character that appeared? And none of them being memorable/logical enough to really ship him with?
Hn. I think he had about the same function for Laure as Thom had for Rook in Dragon Soul - their constant uselessness seemed to be only there to boost and underline their counterparts' awesomeness.
I guess you could ship Toverre and Raphael. Even while Raph is like struggling with his return back to the city, tired and underfed, it sounded like he was flirting when Toverre and him were walking along the ice! Or maybe I was just giddy with him being alive again!! I was totally surprised by that part. did everyone else see that coming??
I guess I liked Gaeth and Tov's fussing over him too.. Nothing cuter than when a boy spelling "city" as "sitty" made his heart sing haha.
I totally didn't expect Raphael. And I was very very happy. And THE FANSERVICE - I'm not sure how much you've read in the fandom so far, but for some reason, Ivory/Raphael became one of the favorite ships on the comm. And then they threw in this little fanservice scene in Steelhands which was basically a shout-out to the fandom and I thought that was quite cute/amusing. So as much as I'd like to ship Raphael and Toverre (and the flirting was so there) I... kind of can't X'D
Gaeth and Toverre is the pairing I'd go for, in the end. They are incredibly adorable. Even though adorable isn't my usual cup of tea ehehe.
Haha, I haven' followed the fandom with the Dragon Corps at all. Too many people to keep them all straight for me. I did remember Raphael as the one who shrieked MY BOOKS which slipped out my mouth once he reappeared. I'll never get over Luvander and Balfour hugging him jfhdksf Sometimes that's all I want okay. Dude's hugging. (who am I kidding, I def want more)
Haha I was surprised how much I liked Gaeth and Toverre! Mostly because Tov had given up on him for Hal and then sort of begrudgingly accepted his attentions without considering maybe this bumbling farmboy might want to give you more than his mittens! The downside is now both Gaeth AND Laure are away at Dragon school and left Toverre behind for University! You are just asking to make that little weird a villain- how will he make friends??
I am incredibly bad at remembering characters - But Raphael with his books and Ivory with his insanity, albinism and piano playing stuck with me. The whole Raphael-airmen reunion was wonderful. I also loved the scene with Adamo and Raphael awww
I think Toverre should go shopping with Caius, preferably at Luvander's hat shop. The sad thing about Toverre is that he is basically resigned in the thought that he shall always only have a pining-romance-from-afar for anyone - I guess the thought that anyone might like him back just never crossed his mind X'D
I want Caius to come back to his house and want to know why there are so many goddamn DRAGONS flying around! Who told you that you could just use my home for-- ooh Antionette did, did she? That gossipy bitch. Meanwhile it coincides with Toverre's first visit to the Dragon High. He just stands from afar... falling madly in love with Alcibades jfhkds SEE THIS IS THE BOOK 5 I NEED.
also did we seriously let Troius join up the new Dragon Corps?? Balfour, deal with your fake boyfriend.
I have to say, I actually thought Balfour was an improvement compared with Havemercy. But since I never really was a fan of his and his woobie-ness in Havemercy was a bit annoying to me, "improving" wasn't very hard. He... actually had something like an attitude sometimes instead of just meeping meekly while tugging on his gloves. He only did that occasionally in Steelhands!
Considering I very much disliked Dragon Soul (mostly because of Thom and his demotion to being a tool to enhance Rook's badassery), Steelhands definitely turned out better.
My main problem with the series: The sequels all take place after the main conflict - the war - is already resolved more or less in the first book - all that's left is the cleaning up of the aftermath.
I'm a bit sad that Laure started out as a nice character and then turned quite Sue-ish, imho. Also, how often can anyone mention the size of a character's breasts? But oh, well.
The Laure/Adamo pairing that was hinted at (hinted as in 'wrapped in bricks and thrown in your face') - I really didn't buy it. I guess for me, it was doomed from the point Royston had his little 'One day, you're gonna fall for someone totally unlikely' speech. It was basically a mirror image of the Royston and Hal thing, only with less blushing.
Toverre was probably meant to be funny, but being as useless as he was, I had little patience for him.
I absolutely agree on the male/female character 'dynamics'. With Rook and Thom in Havemercy - back when Thom had at least some kind of backbone - it wasn't quite as bad, but everyone else? Meh. Too much seme/uke sterotypes going on.
I hope I didn't rant too much and I was being more or less comprehensible.
No native speaker + sleep deprived mind =/= making sense
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What was Thom's problem! He had such sass until the balcony scene and since then he's been a shell of the professor we were introduced to. I mean, I've never hooked up with someone who was secretly related to me, but there's no reason to go all to pieces, kiddo.
I think Laure wasn't necessarily as Sue-ish as Madoka as Laure had various weaknesses and some explanations for her character traiats- nehter of which we got for Madoka. Also, don't knock a big breasted lady haha! But yeah, halfway through I realized if you lines up quotes from Madoka, Josette, Laure and Antionette it would be IMPOSSIBLE to tell who said what. Whereas line up Rook, Caius, Thom and Royston and you have four distinct voices. Jaida-Dani, why is writing ladies so hard? You both happen to BE ones, after all.
"Adamo you just wait. Someday you're gonna be a pedophile just like me and then I'll show you!" dude why would anyone want to be Roystons friend, you're dooming him to LOSING HIS TEACHING JOB.
man, I'm dying to rant to people about these books! It's just like me, Cait and Chira. I posted to get ppl to rant with! Also, don't worry about the language barrier, I never would've guessed if you hadn't said something.
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My theory about Thom and Rook *deepdeepbreath*: This is based on the assumption that the rumours how originally, Rook and Thom were to hook up as well, are true (I think it was even confirmed sometime). It really would make some of the scenes in Havemercy more cohesive (for example, the brother revalation scene: Thom's MAJOR guilt trip is just a tad too extreme. The way he just blurts out his 'Imyourbrother' speech is even more believable if there's something much bigger behind it besides him simply not telling Rook even though he knew it for a while. And with Rook, it's also this 'You knew it all this time I've been bangin' your brains out and didn't care to tell me?' AND the 'WTF For how long have you known it' thing.) And then, it didn't survive the editing process.
Considering this, everything that happens afterwards in their character and relationship development automatically deviates from the way it was originally meant to go. That's basically what I felt throughout the whole third book: That some essential piece of basic conflict in their relationship was somehow missing.
The thing with Laure was a bit difficult for me. I really liked her at the beginning. Then after a while, all I was thinking was: "Yes, we get it, she's so~ pretty and awesome and snarky and adorably direct bordering on incredibly rude but hey, other than Toverre no-one seems to have a problem with that". I'm not saying I want any more gender inequality - far from it. But considering how much she complains about things being so unfair for girls, she was actually able to dish out quite a bit without ever getting into trouble for it. My main problem with her was the last ... say fifth of the book - how suddenly, she took the lead and everyone, even the former airmen who didn't even really know her followed everything she said without any major objections... that was a bit sudden. Maybe though, this was all a very subjective impression because Toverre didn't do anything and the difference between the two was so extreme.
Madoka... maybe I never really perceived her as such a big Mary-Sue because I kind of failed to read her POVs as attentively as I could have *cough* All I remember is that I thought she basically was a wannabe femRook.
... Which, come to think of it, would actually be the epitome of a Mary-Sue OTL
I'm not sure why writing girls is so damn hard. A lot of writers - male and female - have incredible problems with that. I am a bit traumatised by badly written female main characters, to be honest. It's kind of sad. With Jaidani, I have the suspicion that they tried very hard but it just didn't work. I guess sometimes, writers think that they can only have a strong female character if she behaves especially stereotypically manly. But maybe that's just something I got wrong.
Royston, as always, was quite the ray of sunshine once again. Such a darling.
Heh, I've been waiting to rant about this book for some time, since the friend I gave it to hasn't read it yet and I didn't know how many spoilers I could throw into the comm already - and then I forgot about it for a while X''D
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Now, Rook and Thom were def supposed to hook up. It's right in the scene with the ball, when Rook slams him against the balcony, there was a handjob in the original draft. That was what Jaida+Dani shared with one of the artists they got for Havemercy. I'm not sure if it was the editors or the girls' own decision that led to it being cut.. but yeah, after learning about that sometime last year I was like OH FUCK WELL NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE. I mean, I still ship it hardcore, but it explains a lot. I was hoping we'd come back to it in book 3, but it was such.. a miserable book when it came to those two. Nothing is solved. Just go back to fucking, guys. haha I just looked over when Thom tells Rook and you're so right, there is a lot of guilt there. Ah, that shit is delicious there. AS far as I'm concerned, they still hooked up. Makes everything all the more interesting. If only they'd gone back to it in Book 3.
Now that you mention it, Laure really did get to take the reins towards the end. Likely on account of her huge bosoms? haha honestly, who else was gonna lead? Balfour? Getting Luvander and Raphael to do anything I'm sure was like herding cats. I don't know, I'm not a Doctor Who fan, but as long as I kept imagining little Laure as Amy Pond, I got less fussy with her character portrayal.
I'm sure writing ladies can't be easy, but I feel like Jaida+Dani (whether self-exposed or otherwise) are character-writers.. but I'm not all together sure that's true, given their excuses for ladies characters. It's not that we want strong females. We see you can write strong lady characters. How about something in the middle, or the polar opposite? It's great all the ladies in Volstoc are ball-busters, but it's not all that fun to read 7 times over.
I'm not a huge Royston fan! Though now that apparently he crushed on Adamo hardcore in their teen years and Adamo is Personally Invested in taking care of him.. I'm warming up. I just loved the image of Adamo having to pick up the pieces after all of Roystons previous forays into dating younger men who cheat and rob him. Royston says it's not like he NEEDS someone to look after him, but everytime he gets his heart broken Adamo has to show up with ice cream and tissues and The Notebook on DVD.. otherwise houses everywhere blow up.
hehe I'm glad we can rant about it to one another. I was out of the country until last week, whereupon arisato emailed me "GUESS WHAT BOOK JUST CAME OUT!! COME HOME RN"
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A hand job in that scene makes perfect sense. And since I'm ignoring most everything about Dragon Soul, I'm also still assuming they hooked up - it just never got written. (Thom, in Dragon Soul, seems to have found a substitute for smut in FOOD - I mean, what is it with Thom stuffing his face all the time in that book??).
Hmm, is Amy Pond from the new season? I'm not that much into the Doctor Who Fandom OTL
For me, it wasn't so much her leading as the others just... following like that that threw me off, but I guess they had something like 'Adamo trusts her so we can trust her' and they are happy/used to follow orders. Still, it was a bit much for me.
That's the problem - I really think that a lot of writers feel kind of pressured to always write strong female character. Why do they always have to be so insanely cool, strong and sassy and be able to kick all other character's asses? A bit of normalcy would be nice. Someone who just can't cope with every situation like it's no big deal.
I was a little annoyed by Royston's constant 'I'm so OLD and he's so YOUNG' when it's absolutely clear that younger guys - with the exception of Adamo, apparently, are his usual scheme of prey and he doesn't really angst about it any other time. I had fun writing him in fanfic, though. X'D
Yes, blowing stuff up. That was something I really liked about Steelhands - Royston showing up at the end and making things go boom top create a diversion for getting his BFF out of jail.
XD That's what friends are for, right? haha
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I feel like Rook would think jerking somebody off is a way to show your dominance. Yeah nothing like.. making somebody sexually satisfied to show them you're the boss... uh right. omg the only way Thom can keep Rook's hands off him is by eating a ton of food. See now you don't want to kiss me anything, not just because I am brother cause also I am chubby? is this working??
Amy Pond is the redhead in the new season. and yeah, I didn't really see much with her and Adamo, I guess I was expecting to to be more overt.. or interesting hehe.
AMEN to all that about lady characters. I mean I know you can write helpless characters for fight scenes.. we all saw Caius and Tov.
I haven't seen anybodys fic yet!! I need all the recs. and yes, I like Royston a lot more after this one hehe.
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Funny thing is, I never thought Rook would be the type to care about the fact that they're brothers, his problem would be more along the lines of his constant 'Have I mentioned I'm heterosexual today' yapping. Thom is probably thinking "If I'm constantly chewing, he wouldn't think about sticking anything in my mouth, right?" - Silly Thom, food and sex are totally compatible.
Yes, I guess they left it open enough for people to ignore it if they wanted. And it really was uninteresting - I wouldn't have minded too much if it there had been more to it, but the way she went from 'Hey, a teacher who's not a moron' to 'he's a cool guy and I kind of think he's nice' to 'OMG my darling is in prison boohoo' was a bit sudden. The way Adamo went from 'yeah, well, she's my student and she's not as stupid as the rest' to 'hey, let's drink hot chocolate with her' to 'Maybe we'll get to know each other better later on durrhurr' was ... uh. yeah.
Now... I'm going to put an unpopular opinion out here now: I think a lot of (especially female) writers feel obligated to create only strong female characters because they are afraid to get the whole "how DARE you create a weak woman character, you're so sexist" bitching. I've seen it happen. It's creepy. That way, all male characters have the 'right' to be weak and useless and can sniffel and meep and be pathetic, but the ladies can't. It's sad, because weaknesses are so important for a well rounded character. And a woman doesn't need to be be the most bamf fighter to be awesome.
On the useless-in-a-fight male side we have Caius, Tov, Hal, Thom, Balfour, who really only seems to be badass in combination with a big-ass dragon, Mamoru, who may be able to shoot an arrow at his brother's back but that's it and there are probably some more - I just can't think of them. At least Caius can fuck up a person's brain. But really scarcely uses this Talent of his.
I think there are quite a few great stories in the kink meme - I made and index for it, even sorted by pairing (it's linked on the meme)
And there have been quite a few wonderful stories some time back - I'll see if I can find them. What do you like to read?
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I felt like Rook was obviously big about ppl knowing what a stud he is and a ladykiller and all that, but I thought he'd def have a problem with Thom being his brother. As much of a complaining jerk as he was in Book 3, I got the feeling taking care of Thom was a big priority for him as a kid. Liek that he blamed himself for Hilary dying, that seemed apparent when he told Thom about how his brother died. I guess I just saw Thom being moe like we're brothers, so what!! While Rook agonized over how blowing your kid brother makes you a really really shitty older brother. Like he's a failure as a brother again for wanting to fuck his brains out.
I just remember hearing about Laure and Adamo a couple years back and thinking they were gonna be fucking on desks and she was gonna be fiercer than Malahide and it would be hot and cool. Then she shows up and shes the cute and sassy school girl.. but I didn't want anybody rolling on desks and making out there. Well, unless Malahide and Kalim want to come back for their own book.
I think you are 100% right on ladies writing about ladies! It sounds correct to me! I'm not sure what the arguments against that would be. But obviously strong female characters are interesting and all that! but so are weak characters. Everyone had flaws, why should ladies be exempt from that? Equality first, weak dudes, weak ladies, strong dudes, strong ladies, and all that.
I didn't get the impression Caius could do much in an actual brawl- maybe in a closed, controlled environment. I'd have liked to see it more in action! But like you said, they don't use it much. Mamoru was kind a a kick ass character when he shot his brother. I was a little bit like uh where did this come from?? but in a good way haha.
oh my gosh, I looked through the kink meme but I got confused with it being in multiple places or something like that? I'd be too embarrassed to say what I'd like! Though I did meticulusly go through the index by pairings for Caius/Al, hehe.
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Actually, looking at Rook like that, you're probably right. I have a bit of a problem with Rook because he actually is the sort of character I normally wouldn't like at all, but somehow...
Oh, yes, if the Laure/Adamo dynamics had been different, I wouldn't have minded at all. She definitely should have been older for this thing to really work. This schoolgirl/teacher thing has already happened with Royston and Hal, another relationship like that seems just.. blah.
I think that's something a lot of people misunderstand - gender equality in books is not just about every lady being able to kick ass.
No, I think he actually explained that it took a lot of concentration to really use his Talent effectively, so in a brawl it wouldn't be of much use.
The whole "shooting his brother" thing was Mamoru's best scene by far!
The kink meme situation ... is a bit complicated.
There was one right at the beginning, but it kind of died because the fandom was quite small. Then the LJ community got a spotlight and they made a new kink-meme. And after all those LJ crashes earlier this year, something changed in the community setting so all anonymous comments got screened and we didn't reach a mod to change it, so I made a new one again.
The one that's ... 'active' at the moment is this one:
http://havemercy-kink.livejournal.com/
And this is the index:
http://havemercy-index.livejournal.com/
Have fun XD
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And I would have loved to ship him with someone, but ... who to pick, the way he kept falling in and out of love with every new male character that appeared? And none of them being memorable/logical enough to really ship him with?
Hn. I think he had about the same function for Laure as Thom had for Rook in Dragon Soul - their constant uselessness seemed to be only there to boost and underline their counterparts' awesomeness.
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I guess I liked Gaeth and Tov's fussing over him too.. Nothing cuter than when a boy spelling "city" as "sitty" made his heart sing haha.
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Gaeth and Toverre is the pairing I'd go for, in the end. They are incredibly adorable. Even though adorable isn't my usual cup of tea ehehe.
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Haha I was surprised how much I liked Gaeth and Toverre! Mostly because Tov had given up on him for Hal and then sort of begrudgingly accepted his attentions without considering maybe this bumbling farmboy might want to give you more than his mittens! The downside is now both Gaeth AND Laure are away at Dragon school and left Toverre behind for University! You are just asking to make that little weird a villain- how will he make friends??
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I think Toverre should go shopping with Caius, preferably at Luvander's hat shop. The sad thing about Toverre is that he is basically resigned in the thought that he shall always only have a pining-romance-from-afar for anyone - I guess the thought that anyone might like him back just never crossed his mind X'D
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also did we seriously let Troius join up the new Dragon Corps?? Balfour, deal with your fake boyfriend.
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