Reading roundup
49. Lynn Flewelling, The Oracle's Queen (Tamir Trilogy #3) -- I read the first two books of this a long time ago, before I started my LJ, but I remember really liking the first one -- it was the good kind of creepy. The second one must've been somewhat of a letdown (as middle books of trilogies often are), because I didn't bother tracking down the
( Read more... )
I do really wonder if Gansey is supposed to be funny at all or if all of it is unintentional comedy. I think some of it probably *is* on purpose? But in any case, like the whole dramatic standoff WITH A WASP, from which he has to be rescued by Ronan? (Also, dude, you can afford more than one Epi pen. Keep one somewhere other than your car! Unless this is meant to point to a really poorly thought out deathwish of some kind...) And just the general way he's clearly a huge dork in all respects, down to the chilche needing glasses to see anything, who just happens to look like "an American war hero". And the way he's like a broody hen babysitting the other three boys while fretting about Ronan littering and wanting to institute a no-pets policy and so on. I mean, the book does very poetically talk about how he's an old man in a young body, but I did not realize that would mean he was literally going to be acting like somebody's octogenarian grandma who is stuck babysitting the kids XD
(To a lesser degree than Gansey but still a very significant degree, I'm also finding Ronan hilarious now that he's raising a raven chick. Like, he's this troubled badass with suicidal tendencies and a deep dark secret, but apparently his mythic character arc involves carrying a baby chick in his school backpack and looking up the care of baby ravens on the Internet and feeding it mashed up worms (or whatever) in the middle of the night -- I'm down with that XD)
Reply
they are, of course, terribly overdramatic and pretty much in love with each other - at least on infatuation level. kinda brings back youthful memories uwu
Reply
On another note, poor dead Noah! (I'd figured he was a ghost or a zombie or something from pretty early on, but had totally failed to make the connection to Czerny even when they discovered the Mustang...)
Reply
(my ronan problems intensify...)
Reply
Haha, looks like book 2 will be all about Ronan problems, doesn't it... (I'm now like 5% in)
Reply
Reply
(it is a truth universally acknowledged that i cannot refuse ronan whatever he wants;)
Reply
(Do I take it you're shipping Ronan/Adam, then?)
Oh, yes, I liked Gansey's family, especially Helen, and kind of want to see more of them, because I do wonder how he managed to spring from them in this fashion.
(I'm currently ~15% into book 2, and finding the Gray Man hilarious with his rental car issues and Anglo-Saxon poetry publications scrapbook. Though I am starting to wonder at the academic bad guys trend -- first the Latin teacher, now this guy...)
Reply
I'm into Ronan/Adam by the virtue of it being what Ronan wants, I think! Plus, I find personally all Adam/Blue business being handled kinda inelegantly (and also I don't care). I also have a theory that Gansey was kind of Ronan's first love which sort of stayed platonic for reasons of idk, maybe as A suggested Ronan has a functioning gaydar, or because Gansey's OTP is him/dead Welsh King or whatever :'D I think it shows in these moments when Ronan wants to punch things when Gansey is being less of a timeless airy fairy creature *scratches head* (Also, think that rival character and Ronan are sporting some spectacular UST right there, and it amuses me to no end. Actually, Ronan and his complete lack of interest in girls is entertaining me a lot! "Ronan was not a big fan of lamps" pfft).
I'm on chapter 20 or something, don't know what percentage that makes! Grey Man continues to be an academically-minded (now that you said it, it IS a trend, huh..) and I'm still cooing over Ronan :D Adam is starting to get on my nerves at all times when he is not being observant - I like observant Adam.
Reply
True, true! XD I really like your Ronan and your Adam (is Gansey next? :D)
15% works out to chapter 8, so kind of in the middle of the Adam/Blue angst (which I'm finding annoying also; I liked Adam in the first book, not entirely sure yet what I think of the post-sacrifice Adam).
I definitely agree that Gansey/s OTP is him/Dead Welsh King, and also Gansey is just so weird parental with both Ronan and Adam, I don't think I could ship him with either of them. I mean, possibly he wasn't after Ronan to do his homework and clean his room and wear his seatbelt (or whatever) before Niall died, though from what I've seen of Niall, he does not sound like the sort of father who would worry about any of those things, but there was a mother, too... Anyway, from the interaction I've seen, even the yearning to be each other (with Adam) and the personality struggles are all very parent-child like to me. (Blue seems to be the only person he is not like that with, but Gansey/Blue is unspeakably boring to me for other reasons, not least because I keep being afraid it'll actually happen, with the prophesy and all.)
Is the Ronan rival character the dude with the Russian name, K-something? He'd been mentioned in passing but only just appeared on-page, and there definitely seems to be something interesting going on.
Reply
Gansey is not next, because I honestly have no clue how he looks like (except awful polo shirts and cargo pants and what were those boat shoes called again... i mean, i could just dutifully redraw some US Polo ad, I guess? slap some welsh skeleton in the bg for good measure?:P)
I think so far post-sacrifice Adam is somewhat less interesting because he gets more whiny?.. I don't know! Or maybe it's because he whines about Blue specifically? I find this hetero business for Adam really unnecessary XD But from what I see on tumblr, Adam is a fan-favourite, and people empathize with him a lot?
I agree that there is a lot of parenting on Gansey's part! Combined with his overwhelming investment in dead welsh kings, it makes fulltime gansey ships kinda wonky. And I wasn't even looking at them as such? I was mostly coming from opposite ends of the bargain: Ronan and his fascination/loyal hellhound from hell routine with Gansey, and Adam and his painful fixation on Gansey-ness. So my Ronan-->Gansey as first crush was fairly one-sided in my head. (Gansey/Blue doesn't interest me all that much either, but surprisingly, separately I find both likable characters!)
the dude with the Russian name, K-something?
hahaha - no wait, HAHAH :D :D you can't remember it either! because between me and A, his name already became a running gag when both of us just invents a new K-sky surname to refer to him, like "Wow Kovalsky is hella gay - You don't say, have you gottan to Ronan vs Kostersky race scene?" etc
And yes, that's him! He seems to have no problem seeing Ronan as an outstanding heterosexual that he is ("the biggest lie you ever told", was it?) and calls him out on that with so much gusto I believe he's not indifferent himself :D and also I think Ronan is fond of him in some wild Ronan way, which makes me fond of Kolobrodsky, too :D
Reply
LOL, sounds about right, actually XD Just don't forget the straight Anglo-Saxon nose
I can see how people would empathize with Adam best -- I do think his concerns are the most relatable of the bunch, what with Ronan having his scary mythical dream stuff and terrible secrets, Gansey being obsessed with dead king collection, and Blue coming from a very unusual family and living under a prophesy, while Adam's problems are, at least so far, dealing with shitty parents and being broke and tired, and the girl he likes sending weird signals. So, yeah, I can see why. (But the thing with blue is the least interesting of his problems for me.)
Also, LOL, you didn't tell me Gansey/dead Welsh king was basically canon! I just read the part where Adam's like, "Now you're dating Glendover" and Gansey's like, "Yes, that's true." XD
because between me and A, his name already became a running gag when both of us just invents a new K-sky surname to refer to him
LOL XD Yeah, I can't remember it either. I guess that points to it not actually being a plausible Russian name even though it manages to look like one?
Actually I'm kind of wondering at the profusion of Slavic last names. There's Czerny, which is presumably Czech or something. Our friend Kamensky, of course, and doesn't he have a new sidekick with a Ukrainian name? (which actually did sound authentic)
Reply
Yes, I wanted to keep that "lol true dat" moment for you to discover :D
I think Kalmytsky is not even supposed to be Russian? Maybe he's some other Slavic bunch, because when you get to the racing scene, you'll see Ronan calling him Russian in a way that makes it clear Kolobrodinsky should take offense at that? But yeah, agree, this recurring theme is also peculiar, with Czerny and all.
Reply
No clue, tbh! I only have a vague notion of what boat shoes are, too, but Gansey's violently colored polo shirts continue to amuse me.
Also continuing to amuse me is Mr Gray, who suddenly got more depth and pathos in his conversation with Maura.
(I'm now slightly over 50% in, on chapter 30. You're probably done with book 2 at this point?)
I think Kalmytsky is not even supposed to be Russian?
Yeah, I got to the Ronan/Kurilsky drag racing scene last night and saw the "Fag"/"Russian" exchange, but am not entirely sure what to make of Koretsky's offense at that viz his Slavicness. Actually, his first name is making me wonder, too. Joseph + Russian last name would normally make me think Jewish (or more likely half Jewish on his mother's side with a last name like that), but if he is NOT meant to be Russian then maybe it signals heritage from one of the Catholic Slavic countries? In which case, Polish, maybe, which might even explain the "Kava" lurking in his name? So, like, a Russified Pole? (which would explain the Russian animosity too, probably.) The physical description sounded Balkan to me, though... But the last name doesn't sound Croatian at all, so... (I might be making up the Catholic connection, though; I know Joseph is a common name in Western Catholic countries, because Mary's husband, but I've no idea what the Eastern parts of Catholicism get up to...)
(I'd normally write it off as just authorial cluelessness with names, but a) she seems to be very deliberate about names, actually, and b) I also just got to the part last night where Persephone keeps sadly correcting people that she's Estonian rather than Russian, so that makes me think it's more likely to be deliberate and to mean something?)
Also, mmm, yeah, definitely some UST with Kondratsky at the substance party, and I do find the way they keep giving each other delinquent presents delinquently rather amusing. (Also, Ronan pining preemptively as Gansey is about to leave with Adam is making me maybe the the one-sided crush you mentioned.)
Reply
Gansey's violently colored polo shirts continue to amuse me.
Heh, I'm also pleased it's Blue who gets to make scathing comments about his wardrobe. My favourite wardrobe remarks are still Ronan's (that lampshade comment! still laughing about it forever), and Adam is forever self-conscious about his shirts whatnot, but Blue amuses me with this dignity-vs-polo-shirts train of thought. Thinking of Adam and why I'm mostly spacing out on his "i don't have an italian shirt" problems, I'm actually thinking I might be deaf to his problems because of my uni background. I mean, our uni is literally a place where you can be 100% sure that if someone comes to the lecture in a butt-ugly oversized sweater with Armani written on it, it is authentic Armani, but what it cultivated in me was utter and complete indifference to brand name clothes/accessories. I mean, eventually I ended up liking and wanting some stuff (most notably, gadgets), but overall, what this exposure has taught me, is some sort of fatalistic shrug emoji state, so Adam's обостренное чувство собственной бедности just flies over my head.
Joseph + Russian last name would normally make me think Jewish
Thought so, too! But mostly because of O, I think - I don't know any Josephs here, myself.
I do find the way they keep giving each other delinquent presents delinquently rather amusing
I think it's mega sweet, actually :D :D Like, the personification of that tumblr joke about "I WANT TO PUNCH YOU - ON THE MOUTH - WITH MY MOUTH" :DD idek why but this rivalry cheers me up ginormously.
Reply
yesterday evening was taken up with socializing with poor Russian fan of mine (laughs into the sunset about her existence still)
!! You need to write more about this!
LOL, yes, I got to the lampshade comment some time during this morning's commute, and it suddenly made sense. Also, if you've gotten to the boat trip (I think you must've?) Ronan's utter lack of interest in Orla, and the way Gansey, at least, is apparently aware that eto ne po ego adressu.
Hmm, that's interesting what you say about your uni vs Adam perception. I've always just been oblivious to brand names, but I think I've also never been in an environment where any sort of critical mass of people cared about them, so it was not anything I ever had to confront. (I did think the sliding scale of Adam's wants/needs mental monologue earlier on in this book was very nicely done. Like, the brand name stuff feels symbolic of deeper differences he feels -- his ~lack of privilege~, if you will -- rather than STUFF he wants for its own sake.)
I don't think I know any Russian/2nd gen Josephs who are not Jewish, and I know a couple besides O.
Like, the personification of that tumblr joke about "I WANT TO PUNCH YOU - ON THE MOUTH - WITH MY MOUTH" :DD idek why but this rivalry cheers me up ginormously.
I have not before encountered that Tumblr joke, but OMG it is absolutely perfect for Ronan/Komarsky. :D
Reply
Leave a comment