Shadow of the Templar discussion post
In the interest of not cluttering up my flaily OMG the final Shadow of the Templar book is up!!! post with spoilers, I decided I'd start a new thread to discuss the final book (and anything else related to the series). I know there are a few of you out there who haven't finished yet, but feel free to drop by and join the discussion as soon as you do. ♥
Okay, so let me start with some squee:
1. I love how the author picked up so many plot points from the earlier books and tied up loose ends that I didn't even realize I wanted resolved. Bringing back Rich's zip disk in particular was very powerful, I thought.
2. I LOVE that Team Templar showed up in Milan (even though it was perhaps a bit improbable)! The tone of the book totally changed there. I was enjoying the book up till that point, but I thought it was darker and less funny than the previous ones; adding Simon's team back into the mix brought back the humor, banter and rich characterizations that I loved so much about the first books.
3. How cool was it to meet Ethan? And how amazing was that conversation where he makes Simon admit what Jeremy means to him? Eee!
4. The opera scene was awesome. Loved Annabelle, loved Sandra in her smashing dress, loved Jeremy diving out onto the curtains...LOL.
5. "Yeah," Simon said again, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Yeah, there's more. Tell him I said that I'm so fucking glad he's still alive, even if it took me way too long to tell him so."
*flail*
6. I'm afraid my answer is the same that it's always been: everything that you're willing to give me, and then everything more that I can take.
♥♥♥
Beyond the squee, I was thinking today about what an unthinkable prick Simon is on several occasions in this book. The Annabelle thing first and foremost -- I almost couldn't believe Simon would disregard Jeremy to that extent, except that the author gives him motivation to do so (in the form of the investigation threatening his job). Even so, I still have a hard time forgiving him for that.
And then the other moment that really hit me was this one: He looked back at Jeremy, his face and voice both carefully under control. "If any of them get hurt because of you," he said, measuring the words, "whatever this is between us, it's over." That line felt like a punch to the stomach. I read it as Simon trying to assert some sort of control at a moment when he felt pretty powerless, but it was such a sucky thing to say on so many levels -- once again telling Jeremy that he was less important than Simon's team, and adding to the pressure that Jeremy was already feeling with so many people's lives riding on his plan. *slaps Simon hard*
Now, here's my nagging question. Before the final showdown with Bran and the Not Mafia guys, there are a lot of hints that something isn't quite on the level -- Jeremy and Johnny meeting outside alone and possibly exchanging a glance when the team is going over the plan, Sandra worrying that something doesn't seem right, even Simon thinking something doesn't seem right and that Jeremy is hiding something even from himself. But then I never quite figured out what all of those hints were leading to. Did I miss Johnny doing something unplanned during the actual action scene? Was Jeremy hiding anything, other than perhaps how far he was going to go to make his injuries/death look real? OR were all those hints just Simon's own paranoia, and a signal of his continued failure to completely trust Jeremy?
And finally, a random thought: I was glad to hear Simon acknowledge to Sandra that he and Jeremy were playing safe. I have had quite a few *cough* fantasies about Simon and Jeremy's sex life, and I always sort of worried about whether they were using condoms in canon or not. (The urgency of many of their sex scenes made me wonder.) My final analysis is that Jeremy carries everything in that jacket of his, so surely he has condoms and lube too. :-D
ETA: The author is now taking questions about anything and everything Shadow of the Templar-related here!
Okay, so let me start with some squee:
1. I love how the author picked up so many plot points from the earlier books and tied up loose ends that I didn't even realize I wanted resolved. Bringing back Rich's zip disk in particular was very powerful, I thought.
2. I LOVE that Team Templar showed up in Milan (even though it was perhaps a bit improbable)! The tone of the book totally changed there. I was enjoying the book up till that point, but I thought it was darker and less funny than the previous ones; adding Simon's team back into the mix brought back the humor, banter and rich characterizations that I loved so much about the first books.
3. How cool was it to meet Ethan? And how amazing was that conversation where he makes Simon admit what Jeremy means to him? Eee!
4. The opera scene was awesome. Loved Annabelle, loved Sandra in her smashing dress, loved Jeremy diving out onto the curtains...LOL.
5. "Yeah," Simon said again, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Yeah, there's more. Tell him I said that I'm so fucking glad he's still alive, even if it took me way too long to tell him so."
*flail*
6. I'm afraid my answer is the same that it's always been: everything that you're willing to give me, and then everything more that I can take.
♥♥♥
Beyond the squee, I was thinking today about what an unthinkable prick Simon is on several occasions in this book. The Annabelle thing first and foremost -- I almost couldn't believe Simon would disregard Jeremy to that extent, except that the author gives him motivation to do so (in the form of the investigation threatening his job). Even so, I still have a hard time forgiving him for that.
And then the other moment that really hit me was this one: He looked back at Jeremy, his face and voice both carefully under control. "If any of them get hurt because of you," he said, measuring the words, "whatever this is between us, it's over." That line felt like a punch to the stomach. I read it as Simon trying to assert some sort of control at a moment when he felt pretty powerless, but it was such a sucky thing to say on so many levels -- once again telling Jeremy that he was less important than Simon's team, and adding to the pressure that Jeremy was already feeling with so many people's lives riding on his plan. *slaps Simon hard*
Now, here's my nagging question. Before the final showdown with Bran and the Not Mafia guys, there are a lot of hints that something isn't quite on the level -- Jeremy and Johnny meeting outside alone and possibly exchanging a glance when the team is going over the plan, Sandra worrying that something doesn't seem right, even Simon thinking something doesn't seem right and that Jeremy is hiding something even from himself. But then I never quite figured out what all of those hints were leading to. Did I miss Johnny doing something unplanned during the actual action scene? Was Jeremy hiding anything, other than perhaps how far he was going to go to make his injuries/death look real? OR were all those hints just Simon's own paranoia, and a signal of his continued failure to completely trust Jeremy?
And finally, a random thought: I was glad to hear Simon acknowledge to Sandra that he and Jeremy were playing safe. I have had quite a few *cough* fantasies about Simon and Jeremy's sex life, and I always sort of worried about whether they were using condoms in canon or not. (The urgency of many of their sex scenes made me wonder.) My final analysis is that Jeremy carries everything in that jacket of his, so surely he has condoms and lube too. :-D
ETA: The author is now taking questions about anything and everything Shadow of the Templar-related here!