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Jul. 1st, 2010 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo you guys may remember I did not 100% love The Demon's Lexicon. But I had a strong suspicion I might like The Demon's Covenant more, and it turns out I was right - and I did not even realize to what degree. I really kind of loved The Demon's Covenant! To the extent that I found it very difficult to put down.
This is kind of a sign of the difference that strong narrative voice makes to me, I think. Both of these books are written in very close third person. The first book follows Nick, who is extremely emotionally distant (to put it mildly) and cares about one person in the whole world, who he does not really have any kind of perspective on and who is keeping important secrets from him. So while I enjoyed the experience of reading it, and I think it was a cool risk to take, I found it kind of hard to grow attached to anyone; I felt like I couldn't really get to know them. The second book, on the other hand, follows Mae, who first of all is an awesome, strong-minded, confident and believable teenaged girl with no special powers but a lot of drive regardless - which is awesome, and made me happy - but second of all has a much more relatable and balanced perspective on all the other characters. As a result, by end of The Demon's Covenant, I love everyone (including Nick) about ten times as much as I did at the end of The Demon's Lexicon. I mean, in the way where Alan is on notice and I still do not want to actually be in the same room as Nick ever and I kind of want to kick Merris, but still.
Okay, one thing though - it will come as no surprise to everyone that I LOVED ANNABEL. I loved her with a great and wondrous passion, I loved the arc that she went through with regards to her children, and her stealth badassery, and the fact that in the end she didn't have to be a 'natural' mother or the kind of person who constantly sacrificed herself for her kids to be an awesome mom.
And I was so, so mad when she died. Partly because I kind of knew it was coming, because obviously this is the natural end of a maternal redemption arc, right? But I was so hoping against hope, and so looking forward to the potential to have a mother character in a YA fantasy who is awesome, who has her own life and who is nonetheless actually in the know and involved in the epic battles, because this never happens. And I really wanted it to happen. So badly.
I mean, I get that perhaps it was necessary to kill someone off there. The other obvious option was Seb, and killing off Seb brings with it its own issues. But selfishly, I do not care. I wanted Annabel!
Also I wish that Mae was not in love with Nick, but this is again my own bias speaking. I really did like Nick a lot in this book - his attempts to be human were alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, and I loved his budding super-awkward friendship with Jamie - but I do not find all-black inhuman demon eyes sexy! I am aware this may make me an oddity among the population and it is thus not fair to judge Mae for her terrible taste in men. (Alan would be an equally terrible choice, but I can imagine being in love with Alan, and I can't imagine being in love with Nick, which probably says something about me.) I am still kind of wistful for the awesome platonic friendship that could have been, though.
I did love Jamie being like "NO I do not want a broody romantic stalker who harasses me out of his love for me! I do not want this at all!" Also, I really liked how much I kept being reminded, as I read, how much of a teenager Jamie was. He felt very believably young to me and I liked this a lot.
I am wary of the upcoming Sin-Mae rivalry, because I also liked their awesome friendship, but I trust Sarah Rees Brennan enough to make this cool and interesting. And I am way excited for a book told from Sin's POV.
This is kind of a sign of the difference that strong narrative voice makes to me, I think. Both of these books are written in very close third person. The first book follows Nick, who is extremely emotionally distant (to put it mildly) and cares about one person in the whole world, who he does not really have any kind of perspective on and who is keeping important secrets from him. So while I enjoyed the experience of reading it, and I think it was a cool risk to take, I found it kind of hard to grow attached to anyone; I felt like I couldn't really get to know them. The second book, on the other hand, follows Mae, who first of all is an awesome, strong-minded, confident and believable teenaged girl with no special powers but a lot of drive regardless - which is awesome, and made me happy - but second of all has a much more relatable and balanced perspective on all the other characters. As a result, by end of The Demon's Covenant, I love everyone (including Nick) about ten times as much as I did at the end of The Demon's Lexicon. I mean, in the way where Alan is on notice and I still do not want to actually be in the same room as Nick ever and I kind of want to kick Merris, but still.
Okay, one thing though - it will come as no surprise to everyone that I LOVED ANNABEL. I loved her with a great and wondrous passion, I loved the arc that she went through with regards to her children, and her stealth badassery, and the fact that in the end she didn't have to be a 'natural' mother or the kind of person who constantly sacrificed herself for her kids to be an awesome mom.
And I was so, so mad when she died. Partly because I kind of knew it was coming, because obviously this is the natural end of a maternal redemption arc, right? But I was so hoping against hope, and so looking forward to the potential to have a mother character in a YA fantasy who is awesome, who has her own life and who is nonetheless actually in the know and involved in the epic battles, because this never happens. And I really wanted it to happen. So badly.
I mean, I get that perhaps it was necessary to kill someone off there. The other obvious option was Seb, and killing off Seb brings with it its own issues. But selfishly, I do not care. I wanted Annabel!
Also I wish that Mae was not in love with Nick, but this is again my own bias speaking. I really did like Nick a lot in this book - his attempts to be human were alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, and I loved his budding super-awkward friendship with Jamie - but I do not find all-black inhuman demon eyes sexy! I am aware this may make me an oddity among the population and it is thus not fair to judge Mae for her terrible taste in men. (Alan would be an equally terrible choice, but I can imagine being in love with Alan, and I can't imagine being in love with Nick, which probably says something about me.) I am still kind of wistful for the awesome platonic friendship that could have been, though.
I did love Jamie being like "NO I do not want a broody romantic stalker who harasses me out of his love for me! I do not want this at all!" Also, I really liked how much I kept being reminded, as I read, how much of a teenager Jamie was. He felt very believably young to me and I liked this a lot.
I am wary of the upcoming Sin-Mae rivalry, because I also liked their awesome friendship, but I trust Sarah Rees Brennan enough to make this cool and interesting. And I am way excited for a book told from Sin's POV.
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Date: 2010-07-01 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 04:35 pm (UTC)Crawfords were BEST in this book, I love them so dearly! ALL CRAWFORDS EVER. Except Dad Crawford I guess but he doesn't really count.
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Date: 2010-07-01 04:39 pm (UTC)"Lock up your sons"! And the dancing game! I adored Annabel as well, and her death broke me, even though I was expecting it. Well, that and Jamie leaving. ♥ OH JAMIE, HONEY ;______;
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Date: 2010-07-01 04:47 pm (UTC)Ohhh, the dancing game. The scene in the club (and the awesomely awkward car ride afterwards) may have been my favorite in the book. AND ANNABEL. Trying so hard! Sekrit fencing skillz! I will never ever get over Annabel dying, and I think I will always be a little bit bitter about it. D: D: D:
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Date: 2010-07-01 06:35 pm (UTC)Right?????
(Covenant = WIN. I sort of admit to wanting Sin-Mae to be like 'screw this competition, we can be a team!', though. Uh. I find that somewhat doubtful. BUT IN MY DREAMS IT HAPPENS.)
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Date: 2010-07-01 06:38 pm (UTC)(ME TOO. I hope this is what happens. I suspect it may happen at least towards the middle/end of the book, after some initial bristling? At least, this is my wish.)
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Date: 2010-07-01 09:24 pm (UTC)THIS EXACTLY. ALL OF THIS. My own Covenant post is yet unwritten but it contains a lot of analysis of Alan as the REAL tall-dark-and-dangerous character of the series.
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Date: 2010-07-01 09:34 pm (UTC)Also, yes, absolutely. Alan is dangerous in so many ways (and, I mean, my favorite Ouran character is Kyouya so you know how my feelings on smiling masterminds with glasses, but I digress) but the most dangerous thing about Alan, I think, is the way that he will never believe that anyone except possibly Nick actually loves him. Because it simultaneously makes people want to prove him wrong, even though he'll never believe it, thus making them easier for him to manipulate - I can see very clearly how very easy a trap that would be to fall into - and it means he has no brakes; he is pre-emptively not afraid of losing anyone's trust.