Fanart: Scars.
This image got away from me, I may redraw it in the future, but I'm posting it here because there are some aspects that I like. Also some of my thoughts on the book. I...may have rambled on.... (STEELHANDS SPOILERS)
This pose is incredibly similar to a picture of Balfour I drew before. I think that's what bothers me.
This is more along the lines of what I wanted:
Anyway, I know there's already a thread to talk about the new book but I wanted to talk about some specifics (feel free to talk about yours!) because a few things stuck with me. For example, Balfour's age. I can't believe he's only 20! I always figured he was around Thoms age at 22 or 24 or something (unless Thom is also 20, it's kind of difficult to figure out the ages in this series). And the fact that while it was awesome to find out that another airman lived, it somehow didn't surprise me that it was Raphael. I guess (maybe due to fandom's love for Raphael and Ivory) I always figured that if someone else would live, it would be him.
Also, it was kind of weird to see that, other than Rook, all of the living Dragon Corps were the ones most likely to co-exist peacefully together. Does anyone get what I mean? Like, you don't have anyone who causes ruckus like Ace or someone a little too nuts like Ivory. Ghislain's always been quiet, Adamo's Adamo, Balfour is Mr. Manners, and Luvander and Raphael always seemed like the little background characters who just tease the protagonist a lot.
Toverre is such an annoying little OCD twink. Not to say I didn't like him, but he's the kind of character that's fun to read in a book but not necessarily to be actual friends with. I mean I have some friends like him whom I love, but he's like the incredibly over-the-top version. Good job to Jaida and Dani for making such a nutso character likeable. Also, I totally love Gaeth. I love how he just seems smitten over Toverre and Toverre is smitten back without even knowing it. I really want fanfic with crazyOCD!Toverre and smitten!Gaeth.
I can see how Laure can come off as mary-sueish, but her feminist side kind of struck a chord with me. It's made obvious throughout the series that woman have to work twice as hard for half the reward, but Laure seems to really take offense to that (and kind of depressed about it, too) without being really really obvious about it, like it's a subconscious thing, and I like that. Besides, with women having to be the way they are in this world, it's not much of a surprise that all the female narrators are strong. Imagine if she and Toverre switched personalities, how annoying would she be, then? That said, I definitely prefer Malahide and Madoka over her. She's great, but Madoka was so grumpy and funny, and Malahide was so brokenly not-broken.
Also, did anyone else see antagonist!Troius coming a mile away, or was it just me? And is this the end of the series? Jaida and Dani seemed to have wrapped this up in a way that, if they decided to continue with the dragons, would look like they're just dragging it on. I wouldn't mind if it is the end, I had fun reading it. Though if it isn't, I can see how they can still go on with something new. I mean, Thom and Rook still haven't been to Ekklasias (is that the right spelling?) yet, right?
So this book has the same strengths and flaws as the rest of the series (action-packed lacked of action, slow beginning, great world-building, character studies), it seems like a constant, but I liked it a lot. When i was reading this, at 1am, I was only halfway done when my mom yelled at me to sleep. So I stayed up for the next 4.5 hours reading the book in the dark via DS screen light. There's probably more I wanna say, but I've forgotten it now.
This pose is incredibly similar to a picture of Balfour I drew before. I think that's what bothers me.
This is more along the lines of what I wanted:
Anyway, I know there's already a thread to talk about the new book but I wanted to talk about some specifics (feel free to talk about yours!) because a few things stuck with me. For example, Balfour's age. I can't believe he's only 20! I always figured he was around Thoms age at 22 or 24 or something (unless Thom is also 20, it's kind of difficult to figure out the ages in this series). And the fact that while it was awesome to find out that another airman lived, it somehow didn't surprise me that it was Raphael. I guess (maybe due to fandom's love for Raphael and Ivory) I always figured that if someone else would live, it would be him.
Also, it was kind of weird to see that, other than Rook, all of the living Dragon Corps were the ones most likely to co-exist peacefully together. Does anyone get what I mean? Like, you don't have anyone who causes ruckus like Ace or someone a little too nuts like Ivory. Ghislain's always been quiet, Adamo's Adamo, Balfour is Mr. Manners, and Luvander and Raphael always seemed like the little background characters who just tease the protagonist a lot.
Toverre is such an annoying little OCD twink. Not to say I didn't like him, but he's the kind of character that's fun to read in a book but not necessarily to be actual friends with. I mean I have some friends like him whom I love, but he's like the incredibly over-the-top version. Good job to Jaida and Dani for making such a nutso character likeable. Also, I totally love Gaeth. I love how he just seems smitten over Toverre and Toverre is smitten back without even knowing it. I really want fanfic with crazyOCD!Toverre and smitten!Gaeth.
I can see how Laure can come off as mary-sueish, but her feminist side kind of struck a chord with me. It's made obvious throughout the series that woman have to work twice as hard for half the reward, but Laure seems to really take offense to that (and kind of depressed about it, too) without being really really obvious about it, like it's a subconscious thing, and I like that. Besides, with women having to be the way they are in this world, it's not much of a surprise that all the female narrators are strong. Imagine if she and Toverre switched personalities, how annoying would she be, then? That said, I definitely prefer Malahide and Madoka over her. She's great, but Madoka was so grumpy and funny, and Malahide was so brokenly not-broken.
Also, did anyone else see antagonist!Troius coming a mile away, or was it just me? And is this the end of the series? Jaida and Dani seemed to have wrapped this up in a way that, if they decided to continue with the dragons, would look like they're just dragging it on. I wouldn't mind if it is the end, I had fun reading it. Though if it isn't, I can see how they can still go on with something new. I mean, Thom and Rook still haven't been to Ekklasias (is that the right spelling?) yet, right?
So this book has the same strengths and flaws as the rest of the series (action-packed lacked of action, slow beginning, great world-building, character studies), it seems like a constant, but I liked it a lot. When i was reading this, at 1am, I was only halfway done when my mom yelled at me to sleep. So I stayed up for the next 4.5 hours reading the book in the dark via DS screen light. There's probably more I wanna say, but I've forgotten it now.