Steelhands
Received Steelhands in the mail the day before yesterday and finished reading it yesterday. (Novels are just a perfect getaway). Spoilers under the LJ-cut with some of my babbling on the book.
(Steelhands is the fourth book in this series. Each book has four different narrators. I love alternating POVs... I think my own writing is quite... influenced by this.)
Thought this was a fun book. Loved it for the airmen, their banter, their way of coping with the aftermath, and also how Balfour begins to feel more comfortable with who he is now. The book had me me laughing a lot, especially with Toverre's POVs and Balfour's POVs. Adamo and Laure's POVs didn't interest me as much, but it was great seeing more of Roy and Hal from other people's perspectives (I even thought Roy and Hal were more interesting because of it... I didn't find Roy and Hal as interesting from their own POVs).
Adamo
I read a tiny little section of the first few pages of the book (Adamo's POV) online as an excerpt. Loved it then, still love it now with how Adamo starts off making a big deal out of Thom's letter.
Adamo's interactions with Roy were quite priceless. I wasn't under the impression that Roy's nose was huge or anything from the other books (or if I was, I'd already forgotten), but his nose was mentioned quite a lot in this book, haha. By Adamo, and then by others referring to Roy without knowing who he was. Adamo sure went to Royston a lot.
Owen. XD I'd already seen plenty of people expressing their thoughts on Adamo's first name. It's still quite strange to see Adamo referred by Owen. Had Roy and Adamo talked or referred to each other in the first book much? Wonder why it never came up then. =P Or Balfour's last name either. Vallet. Gosh. What do they need first and last names for anyway? Seems like most people just have one name, or a title. Ah, but then there's Caius Greylace. Guess that one's the most prominent in my mind.
I grew quite fond of how Adamo looked after people and still thought of the Dragon Corps as "his men" and then how he later thought of his students as part of that too. As Royston says (I think it was Royston), Adamo's quite a mother hen. XD; I especially loved his concern for Balfour. XD
Toverre
He's quite something, haha. The way he talks, his priorities, his OCD with cleanliness... At first I was trying to figure out if this was the new female character or the new male character because he didn't fit either of what I gleamed about the two new characters. I thought the new male character was going to be meek for some reason, but Toverre... though physically weak and obsessed with cleaning everything, isn't meek. Though he isn't all that useful either. Even he himself found it hard to enter the conversation sometimes. XD; Still, I enjoyed his POVs.
Also found it fun how other people viewed him. Adamo thinks of him as "cricket", haha, and when they handed out pokers to everyone in Luvander's hat shop and were one short, they of course all agreed to skip Toverre.
Oh gosh, his crush on Hal... I'd say that was stalking. =P But it was actually a nice way of bringing Hal into the story, since otherwise Hal doesn't have as big a connection to the other characters. I also loved seeing Hal, how he has a lot more confidence now, and how he's grown more accustomed to city life.
I wanted to see more scenes between Toverre and Gaeth. :3 They were pretty adorable around each other.
Balfour
<33333333
Boy am I glad that he's one of the POVs. I enjoyed his POV immensely and laughed the most during his POVs and during scenes with him in it. It just made me grin so hard whenever he spoke up for himself or contributed something, and whenever the others commented on how he's a different person now or how he's toughened up.
Luvander's hat shop, gosh. When it was mentioned in the last book, I didn't think we'd actually get to read about it. Didn't think it'd be this prominent either. <33 It's so Balfour to promise to visit and not make his way over right away. I can see why he'd be reluctant to visit. The scene where Adamo, Luvander, and Balfour first gather together in the hat shop is one of my favorite scenes from the book. :D
Songs about Balfour Steelhands sung in lower Charlotte. XDDDD SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS.
Another scene I loved was when Luvander visited Balfour's apartment. I could not stop laughing when Luvander found Balfour's letters to Thom, oh gosh. XD
Also, Balfour writing to Thom. <33333 Though I don't think he actually managed to finish a single letter throughout the entire book.
Balfour asks if he may speak more than once. XD;
One thing that bothered me about Balfour's POV is that he never commented about Troius after Trouis' involvement with this entire business was revealed. I thought Balfour would have had something to say about how his childhood companion turned out not-so-friendly. But I suppose Troius wasn't all that important, haha, and of course Balfour wanted to spend more time thinking about his comrades instead, right? The last scene was much love, and felt quite conclusive.
Laure
Laure's situation (and Balfour's) reminded me of Madoka quite a bit.
Her relationship with Toverre was something I found pretty interesting with how much they care about each other (but not romantically). Even though Toverre sometimes showed jealousy towards Laure (about her looks and such), Laure also showed unease about herself with how Toverre kind of rejected her (her words during her fever were quite telling, I thought). I feel they'll be best of friends forever, and they must have said hurtful things to each other before too. Loved their friendship.
Her relationship with Adamo wasn't all that interesting to me, though seeing Adamo get teased was quite fun. I wondered why she and Toverre never explained to anyone else what their engagement was actually like... Adamo didn't seem to see the engagement as much of an obstacle either, or maybe he's just not at that stage yet... or he just doesn't think Toverre's much of an obstacle... still, I found it strange Adamo didn't comment on it, or anyone else given Adamo's interest in Laure. I'm glad Laure did something about the engagement at the end.
Other stuff, now in list format, haha, or else this post will never end:
- since everyone got sworn to secrecy... man, this means Thom and Rook will never know what happened! They sure missed out on big stuff. Feels especially wrong that Rook wasn't included since the rest of the Dragon Corps was.
- one mention of Caius, none of Al, Madoka, Malahide, Kouje, and Mamoru. Roy and Hal were pretty prominent while Thom and Rook were mentioned quite a lot. I suppose that makes sense since they do play a big part with what went on with the dragons in the first book (and the newer characters don't have connections with the POVs in this book), but I felt the newer narrators kind of faded into the background after their part of the plot was done. Maybe if Antoinette had been one of the POVs, Caius would have been mentioned more?
- the Provost (Dmitri). Antoinette's son. Did we know this before, or is it new info? :O
- with the Esarina as the new leader, seems like there'll be interesting changes for Thremedon. Would be interesting to see how she fares.
- Luvander, gosh. I didn't know his character all that well in Havemercy, but here, oh gosh. He's such a talker. XD; When Adamo mentioned how Luvander and Royston would hit it off and how he didn't want them in the same place, I didn't think Luvander and Royston would actually have scenes together in this book. XD Too bad Adamo wasn't there.
- Luvander and his hat shop. <3333
- Luvander cooking!
- Ghislain finding Rafael! KLJAD;FA Him being quiet despite his size. Last part about him shutting up the elephants upstairs for Balfour (and him being entirely serious) was much love. I almost thought Ghislain would be like Rook, absent for the entire book. Glad he wasn't. XD;
- Rafael, oh gosh. The hug. <333 And Roy commenting that he wasn't Rook. XD;
- Gaeth. I liked his character. Too bad he was absent for most of the book!
- Troius. I didn't think he was all that shady. In fact, I just wrote him off as an unimportant character, and found Adamo's dislike of him when he saw him in Balfour's apartment to be a little jarring. Guess I didn't pick up on the clues well enough. He's an unimpressive adversary. =P
Randomly, some Legend of Sun Knight stuff, not related to the above. CUTE KEYCHAINS (scroll down). I like this artist's chibi style. If I'd known about these earlier, I'd have bought all 12 knights *cough*. I think it's out of stock now though.
Also, new bundle edition for the manhua + novel side story. Sold this weekend in Taiwan. Side story focuses on Blaze! Since Blaze already had a sidestory about him and Sun when they were younger, this focuses on something different. The manhua included wraps up the content from the first novel. Cannot wait until content from the other novels get adapted. :3 There's some exciting stuff in the later novels. XD;
Yu Wo also posted a side story about Storm in her blog that was included with a previous bundle. This was way back in May and was what got me started writing Entries 4, but I still haven't finished writing that chapter, gosh. I think I'll reread the sidestory tomorrow and summarize it. Need to get a better feel for Storm. ^^;;
Lastly, dang, I did not think there was so much merchandise for 1/2 Prince and LSK.
(Steelhands is the fourth book in this series. Each book has four different narrators. I love alternating POVs... I think my own writing is quite... influenced by this.)
Thought this was a fun book. Loved it for the airmen, their banter, their way of coping with the aftermath, and also how Balfour begins to feel more comfortable with who he is now. The book had me me laughing a lot, especially with Toverre's POVs and Balfour's POVs. Adamo and Laure's POVs didn't interest me as much, but it was great seeing more of Roy and Hal from other people's perspectives (I even thought Roy and Hal were more interesting because of it... I didn't find Roy and Hal as interesting from their own POVs).
Adamo
I read a tiny little section of the first few pages of the book (Adamo's POV) online as an excerpt. Loved it then, still love it now with how Adamo starts off making a big deal out of Thom's letter.
Adamo's interactions with Roy were quite priceless. I wasn't under the impression that Roy's nose was huge or anything from the other books (or if I was, I'd already forgotten), but his nose was mentioned quite a lot in this book, haha. By Adamo, and then by others referring to Roy without knowing who he was. Adamo sure went to Royston a lot.
Owen. XD I'd already seen plenty of people expressing their thoughts on Adamo's first name. It's still quite strange to see Adamo referred by Owen. Had Roy and Adamo talked or referred to each other in the first book much? Wonder why it never came up then. =P Or Balfour's last name either. Vallet. Gosh. What do they need first and last names for anyway? Seems like most people just have one name, or a title. Ah, but then there's Caius Greylace. Guess that one's the most prominent in my mind.
I grew quite fond of how Adamo looked after people and still thought of the Dragon Corps as "his men" and then how he later thought of his students as part of that too. As Royston says (I think it was Royston), Adamo's quite a mother hen. XD; I especially loved his concern for Balfour. XD
Toverre
He's quite something, haha. The way he talks, his priorities, his OCD with cleanliness... At first I was trying to figure out if this was the new female character or the new male character because he didn't fit either of what I gleamed about the two new characters. I thought the new male character was going to be meek for some reason, but Toverre... though physically weak and obsessed with cleaning everything, isn't meek. Though he isn't all that useful either. Even he himself found it hard to enter the conversation sometimes. XD; Still, I enjoyed his POVs.
Also found it fun how other people viewed him. Adamo thinks of him as "cricket", haha, and when they handed out pokers to everyone in Luvander's hat shop and were one short, they of course all agreed to skip Toverre.
Oh gosh, his crush on Hal... I'd say that was stalking. =P But it was actually a nice way of bringing Hal into the story, since otherwise Hal doesn't have as big a connection to the other characters. I also loved seeing Hal, how he has a lot more confidence now, and how he's grown more accustomed to city life.
I wanted to see more scenes between Toverre and Gaeth. :3 They were pretty adorable around each other.
Balfour
<33333333
Boy am I glad that he's one of the POVs. I enjoyed his POV immensely and laughed the most during his POVs and during scenes with him in it. It just made me grin so hard whenever he spoke up for himself or contributed something, and whenever the others commented on how he's a different person now or how he's toughened up.
Luvander's hat shop, gosh. When it was mentioned in the last book, I didn't think we'd actually get to read about it. Didn't think it'd be this prominent either. <33 It's so Balfour to promise to visit and not make his way over right away. I can see why he'd be reluctant to visit. The scene where Adamo, Luvander, and Balfour first gather together in the hat shop is one of my favorite scenes from the book. :D
Songs about Balfour Steelhands sung in lower Charlotte. XDDDD SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS.
Another scene I loved was when Luvander visited Balfour's apartment. I could not stop laughing when Luvander found Balfour's letters to Thom, oh gosh. XD
Also, Balfour writing to Thom. <33333 Though I don't think he actually managed to finish a single letter throughout the entire book.
Balfour asks if he may speak more than once. XD;
One thing that bothered me about Balfour's POV is that he never commented about Troius after Trouis' involvement with this entire business was revealed. I thought Balfour would have had something to say about how his childhood companion turned out not-so-friendly. But I suppose Troius wasn't all that important, haha, and of course Balfour wanted to spend more time thinking about his comrades instead, right? The last scene was much love, and felt quite conclusive.
Laure
Laure's situation (and Balfour's) reminded me of Madoka quite a bit.
Her relationship with Toverre was something I found pretty interesting with how much they care about each other (but not romantically). Even though Toverre sometimes showed jealousy towards Laure (about her looks and such), Laure also showed unease about herself with how Toverre kind of rejected her (her words during her fever were quite telling, I thought). I feel they'll be best of friends forever, and they must have said hurtful things to each other before too. Loved their friendship.
Her relationship with Adamo wasn't all that interesting to me, though seeing Adamo get teased was quite fun. I wondered why she and Toverre never explained to anyone else what their engagement was actually like... Adamo didn't seem to see the engagement as much of an obstacle either, or maybe he's just not at that stage yet... or he just doesn't think Toverre's much of an obstacle... still, I found it strange Adamo didn't comment on it, or anyone else given Adamo's interest in Laure. I'm glad Laure did something about the engagement at the end.
Other stuff, now in list format, haha, or else this post will never end:
- since everyone got sworn to secrecy... man, this means Thom and Rook will never know what happened! They sure missed out on big stuff. Feels especially wrong that Rook wasn't included since the rest of the Dragon Corps was.
- one mention of Caius, none of Al, Madoka, Malahide, Kouje, and Mamoru. Roy and Hal were pretty prominent while Thom and Rook were mentioned quite a lot. I suppose that makes sense since they do play a big part with what went on with the dragons in the first book (and the newer characters don't have connections with the POVs in this book), but I felt the newer narrators kind of faded into the background after their part of the plot was done. Maybe if Antoinette had been one of the POVs, Caius would have been mentioned more?
- the Provost (Dmitri). Antoinette's son. Did we know this before, or is it new info? :O
- with the Esarina as the new leader, seems like there'll be interesting changes for Thremedon. Would be interesting to see how she fares.
- Luvander, gosh. I didn't know his character all that well in Havemercy, but here, oh gosh. He's such a talker. XD; When Adamo mentioned how Luvander and Royston would hit it off and how he didn't want them in the same place, I didn't think Luvander and Royston would actually have scenes together in this book. XD Too bad Adamo wasn't there.
- Luvander and his hat shop. <3333
- Luvander cooking!
- Ghislain finding Rafael! KLJAD;FA Him being quiet despite his size. Last part about him shutting up the elephants upstairs for Balfour (and him being entirely serious) was much love. I almost thought Ghislain would be like Rook, absent for the entire book. Glad he wasn't. XD;
- Rafael, oh gosh. The hug. <333 And Roy commenting that he wasn't Rook. XD;
- Gaeth. I liked his character. Too bad he was absent for most of the book!
- Troius. I didn't think he was all that shady. In fact, I just wrote him off as an unimportant character, and found Adamo's dislike of him when he saw him in Balfour's apartment to be a little jarring. Guess I didn't pick up on the clues well enough. He's an unimpressive adversary. =P
Randomly, some Legend of Sun Knight stuff, not related to the above. CUTE KEYCHAINS (scroll down). I like this artist's chibi style. If I'd known about these earlier, I'd have bought all 12 knights *cough*. I think it's out of stock now though.
Also, new bundle edition for the manhua + novel side story. Sold this weekend in Taiwan. Side story focuses on Blaze! Since Blaze already had a sidestory about him and Sun when they were younger, this focuses on something different. The manhua included wraps up the content from the first novel. Cannot wait until content from the other novels get adapted. :3 There's some exciting stuff in the later novels. XD;
Yu Wo also posted a side story about Storm in her blog that was included with a previous bundle. This was way back in May and was what got me started writing Entries 4, but I still haven't finished writing that chapter, gosh. I think I'll reread the sidestory tomorrow and summarize it. Need to get a better feel for Storm. ^^;;
Lastly, dang, I did not think there was so much merchandise for 1/2 Prince and LSK.