Reading roundup, including Fallow and Forbidden Parabatai Het

[hamsterwoman]

58. Jonathan Kellerman, The Murderer's Daughter -- a non-Alex Delaware novel, although Delaware does make a brief appearance, and I think I remember Grace mentioned in a recent Delaware book? I mean, all of Kellerman's realistic crime books take place in the same universe, so that's nothing new, but it does drive home how much more I enjoy reading

Comments

[aome]

Sorry you disliked Lady Midnight so much. I had some issues with it, myself, definitely, but overall I still found it entertaining. And I kind of liked that the titles were taken from the poem - neat bit of meta, I thought.

I did like the scene in the car, where Julian is bleeding out and Emma is leaning over him and drawing healing runes.

The thing that bothered me about this scene came after the fact. It's stated repeatedly - after that scene - that what happens to one parabatai affects the other. Emma punches a wall and Julian tells her to stop because it hurts him, too. She nearly drowns and he spits out seawater. But when he's bleeding out in the car, she doesn't feel anything, injury-wise?

The whole connection with parabatai, as romantic and idealized as it seems, seems terribly inconsistent. Jace and Alec never seemed to have the same ties that, say, Will and Jem did. Like - they fought really well together, but didn't seem to otherwise be exceptionally attached to each other. Emma feels the loss of Julian,

Shadowhunters

[hamsterwoman]

I wouldn't even say I disliked Lady Midnight -- more that I was disappointed and frustrated by it, because it could have been much more relevant to my interests but felt just sort of joylessly repetitive to the bunch of books that have gone before. Which, I guess, don't mess with a winning formula is an OK strategy, I suppose, but it's hard for me to respect a series that opts for just that.

I liked the Annabelle Lee chapter titles in the beginning, where it seemed just meta, but found quite a few of them a stretch, and when it turned out the poem was actually connected to the events of the book, that's where this approach lost me entirely.

But when he's bleeding out in the car, she doesn't feel anything, injury-wise?That is a very good point! It might be that the feeling-each-other's-pain thing is a manifestation of the boost in parabatai powers that comes with romantic love, which would explain why Alec and Jace don't have that connection (even when Alec is crushing on Jace, unrequited love doesn't count, per the rules of this

Re: Shadowhunters

[aome]

Emma punches the wall shortly after their parabatai ceremony, so it's years before she's aware of Julian's love or her own feelings. But he tells her to stop because he feels it, too. (It's just that the reference to this event comes after the bleed-out, but the actual event happened long before.)

The thing about Kit being a Herondale is related to one of the short stories Cassie wrote for "Tales from Shadowhunter Academy". I bought the first two, piecemeal, but am waiting for the full collective volume to be published later this fall before reading the rest. (Sort of like the collection of stories about Magnus.) Anyway, one of the first ones is called "The Lost Herondale" about Tobias, which I guess is also referenced in Lady Midnight but not to the same extent. I'm curious to know, though - Johnny Rook clearly knew what he was, and what Kit was, and just wanted nothing to do with them, which is why he hid Kit. (At least, it seemed like it was more than the story he told, of "Shadowhunters will kidnap anyone with the Sight

Re: Shadowhunters

[hamsterwoman]

Emma punches the wall shortly after their parabatai ceremony, so it's years before she's aware of Julian's love or her own feelingsHm, yeah... not sure then

Re: Shadowhunters

[aome]

What I remember about age limits is: a young Shadowhunter raised away from Shadowhunter life (ie parents were exiled or voluntarily left) is that the Clave/Institute has the right to visit every six years to see if the child would like to join them, three times. So: 6, 12, 18 - looks like 18 is the cut-off? But that has to do with known Nephilim children. If Kit had been successfully hidden until he was, say, 20, I'm not sure he would necessarily be barred from becoming a Shadowhunter. It's not like anyone had the chance to ask him before. It's kind of unclear what would happen in a circumstance like that. Clary was just shy of 16, so that's no help.

I had to go look up the age that a kid gets their first Marks, since they made a big deal about Tavvy not having the slightest bit of protection on him, when Malcolm took him. Turns out to be about 10 years old.

Re: Shadowhunters

[hamsterwoman]

So: 6, 12, 18 - looks like 18 is the cut-off? But that has to do with known Nephilim children. If Kit had been successfully hidden until he was, say, 20, I'm not sure he would necessarily be barred from becoming a Shadowhunter. It's not like anyone had the chance to ask him before.

Given how the Clave seems to favor arbitrary rules over policies that make any actual sense on everything else, I'd guess the cut-off is 18 regardless of whether they had been given the choice before or not. Either because something actually happens at when you turn 19 and you can no longer, IDK, take Marks if you haven't been Marked before, or because the rules are the same for everybody because the Law is the Law. That would make sense with Johnny Rook's "anybody under 19 could be kidnapped" warning to Kit -- presumably once Kit turns 19, he doesn't have to hide from Shadowhunters anymore because it would be too late to induct him. (Although then they could still keep an eye on him and force him to give them access to any future children.)

since they

Fallow

[hamsterwoman]

I could see Ma being the letter writer because I could readily believe both that she grieved losing Griffin 'unfairly' (when the other boy got to stay) and would be looking for people to blame and punish, given the attitude Griffin's parents showed towards his relationship with Whyborne. But I was very sad about it, because I'd been hoping that since Pa died before they could reconcile, at least Ma would be someone he could re-establish a relationship with. But I guess only one set of parents is allowed in the guys' life, and now that Heliabel is living happily under the sea and Whyborne and Niles are somewhat reconciled, that mean Griffin's parents had to go... I do think the Ma letter-writing reveal is done very well -- there's enough clues dropped that one CAN figure it out, but it's a gut punch when it's revealed whether one has guessed it as a strong possibility or no, and, unlike a lot of other things foreshadowed in these books, it's not so strongly telegraphed that it starts being silly that the characters can't figure it out

Re: Fallow

[aome]

Yeah, I fangirled Ms Hawk and, in the process, asked how many books she had planned for the series.

Good points about Whyborne's privilege.

Also: you know other people who have read this series?? Until I got you into them, I was the only one I knew who had.

Re: Fallow

[hamsterwoman]

It was funny, actually, when I started reading these with your loaners, it turned out that there were at least two, I think three, other people on my flist who read then, and then another LJ friend reappeared after a long absence, and turned out she'd gotten into them as well XD