GATHER ‘ROUND CHILDREN AND LET ME TELL YOU A THING OR TWO ABOUT THIS GLORIOUS BOOK.
I HAVE OWNED THIS BOOK FOR A WHILE BUT NOW I’M SHARING IT WITH TUMBLR BECAUSE WE’RE ALL DRAGON-LOVING-FUCKS.
IN THIS BOOK
IN THIS MOTHERFUCKIN MASTER PIECE OF A BOOK
THE GIRL SEEKS OUT THE DRAGON BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO ESCAPE HER BORING LIFE AS A PRINCESS.
I DON’T THINK YOU GUYS HEARD ME.
THE GIRL WANTS TO BE WITH THE DRAGON.
AND THIS AINT EVEN IN A ROMANTIC WAY. SHE JUST RESPECTS THE DRAGON SO FUCKING MUCH.
THERE IS EVEN A PART WHERE SHE REPEATEDLY TELLS A PRINCE TO STOP TRYING TO SAVE HER BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO BE THERE AND THE PRINCE JUST ISN’T GETTING IT BECAUSE HE’S NEVER HEARD OF A PRINCESS WANTING TO BE AMONG DRAGONS BEFORE.
LIKE I CAN’T EVEN RIGHT NOW JUST READ THE DAMN THING.
THIS IS THE MOST READ BOOK I OWN AND I READ A LOT OF BOOKS AND HAVE MANY FAVORITES SO Y’ALL KNOW THIS BOOK MUST BE GOOD.
i have read it a total of 39749823792837493 times.
Every once in a while a post comes around that reminds me of how important these books were to wee me, and I have to reblog it so that other people can find this very important series.
What I absolutely love about this book is how the princess learns all these random things when she’s bored being a princess and then she uses every one of those skills while she works for the dragon. Her skill at making dessert got her the job.
She reads latin – great for organising old texts!
She fences – well, sometimes the princes won’t go away anyway
She cooks – even dragons hold banquets, ya know.
And then. And then. at the end she becomes a queen and all those skills she wasn’t supposed to learn help her be a good queen.
Bonus: the dragon she goes to live with, Kazul, is also female. Through various events in the book, Kazul eventually becomes King of the Dragons (yes, you read that right–in dragon culture, the titles of King and Queen are not tied to gender.
I cannot TELL YOU how much little Stele wanted to run away and become a dragon’s princess.
Jesus christ this was my favorite book like, EVER. The idea of being able to just do what you want?! Loved it. And that was so rare, and I read so much growing up, to boot, but so frequently it was just ‘stuff happens to girl!’ not ‘this is a girl, this is who she is, this is how she lives her life, isn’t it awesome?’
This series, you guys. This SERIES. (This one is the first of four books, and I highly recommend them all, although the fourth one has Cimorene’s son as the protagonist and is written in first person so it’s a little different.)
I accidentally read the second one first since I just found it in the library (the copy I got didn’t have that helpful “Book ___ of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles” thing on it), but then I read this one, then the third and fourth, and to this day it remains one of my favorites series of all time.
It also features one of my favorite witches ever (I was going to say “favorite witch of all time” but then I remembered Discworld), and book three features Cimorene going on an adventure while she’s pregnant – and kicking ass.
My favorite covers (although all of the different iterations are pretty great) will always be the first edition hardcover ones by Trina Schart Hyman, which look like this:
lightwood-minyard: monstersqueen: lightwood-minyard: Ok, I have to talk about riko at the end of TKM because WTF!!! He didn’t deserve that! I know he was an asshole and I wanted to punch him so hard most of the time and I also didn’t care that andrew broke his arm he deserved that after all he… Continue reading Riko Moriyama
sar-gents: coldsaturn: monstersqueen: coldsaturn: monstersqueen: this said i’ve seen quite a few times the idea that neil’s mom would one way or another damage neil’s mark and – i don’t think she would? Not because I don’t think she thinks of neil having a soulmate as a dange and tries to lead him away from… Continue reading
bramblepatch: princekheldar: takinghatslikeaweenie: iammultitudes: parseltonquinq: icanhelpyouthere: cassiafrankincense: prongsxdoe: Ok but someone tell me why Harry didn’t grow up to be the best Defense Against Dark Arts professor Hogwarts has ever known RIGHT??? what is up with this he becomes an auror crap?? Harry would have loved being a teacher and watching his students improve throughout… Continue reading
coldsaturn: addesin: vex-vern: addesin: foxcourts: I’m kinda sad that I haven’t seen any posts about the library scene in The Raven King, so I’m gonna do it myself. Nicky just had this big talk with Neil about love and opening up to people and why Neil can love Exy but it won’t love him back… Continue reading
Andrew put his racquet down in front of Neil like a shield
The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic, chapter 17
This is definitely one of my favorite images, I’m not sure I can emphasize this enough.
Little points about this scene, anyway:
Riko uses a heavy racquet, we’re told this in The Raven King when Neil’s shopping for his one racquet: “Kevin used a heavy with the Ravens, but he’d switched to a light racquet after his injury. Riko still used one.“ (The Raven King, chapter 11)
When Aaron uses Neil’s own heavy racquet on Drake, we get this: “He brought Neil’s racquet up and around in an underhanded swing so hard and fast air whistled through the tight strings.” (TRK ch11) When Riko attacks Neil, this is the description: “Riko’s racquet got close enough that Neil heard wind whistling through the strings,“ (TKM ch17) There’s no way this isn’t a deliberate call back, just in case we weren’t sure Riko was about to kill Neil.
Also, this is one of the first things we learn about Andrew: “Two years ago some men attacked Nicky outside of a nightclub. Andrew was within his rights to defend Nicky, but he’d almost killed the four of them“ (The Foxhole Court, chapter 2)** And throughout the series we do see Andrew resort to violence easily enough, and generally it would be considered excessive. But in this scene, though? Maybe you could argue that he could have disarmed Riko instead of breaking his arm, but given that Riko was about to commit murder despite the crowd, I don’t think that would be enough to stop him. And whether it was or not – Andrew stopped him, and that’s it. No retaliation, no further violence, just this – “Andrew put his racquet down in front of Neil like a shield“. Making it clear he will protect Neil, and that’s all.
(and sure the situations are different in many ways, but most of those only matters if Andrew cares about the consequences, for him or for Neil or for the rest of the Foxes) ((and if you want to be optimistic and look at the situation with kindness (which, let’s be honest, i always want to do), it also comes down to a difference in Andrew in himself, who doesn’t need as much anymore to lose himself to violence when those he considers his are threatened))
Anyway though, none of this matters to my initial point, which is :
Andrew using his racquet to shield Neil
which is an image I’m never going to grow tired of.
**((now i think we should keep in mind that neil knows that second hand, and i’m pretty sure when it comes to a foster kid out of juvie defending his cousin against homophobic assault, facts are not presented with much sympathy. still we see enough of Andrew’s MO to know that it wasn’t far from the truth))(@monsterqueen)
I always get this lovely imagine in my head when I read this scene of Neil like this damsel slumped over on his knees, breathless and completely blown away (sure he’s in his armor but idk my brain just makes it very romance-covery lol), and Andrew taking a knee behind him, one arm out with his racquet net-side-down in front of them, looking like a smol angry knight in all his padded gear.
Like there is so much to be said about this scene, about what it means for Neil and Andrew and how Andrew does get to make good on his promise to have Neil’s back, even if Neil asked him to let the promise go.
But my brain just always thinks this is the most romantic part of the whole series. I geeked out so much the first time I read this scene. Idk why but I love it so much. Just after the sheer ruthlessness of breaking Riko’s arm, he just plants the racquet in front of Neil as a silent warning. It’s so disturbing and beautiful at the same time.(@addesin)
This is great! I like the romance cover imagery so much. I didn’t picture it quite that way before, but it totally is.
As you say, Andrew’s restraint here shows his character growth. Andrew is considering the consequences, which also means to a certain extent he is considering his future. And he wasn’t doing that before.
Another thing I like that I believe someone else has mentioned before in a different post is how Andrew hits Neil with the racquet at the beginning and then protects him with one at the end.
So I kinda skipped 1×04 (because mobs scare me a lot) and 1×06 (because i don’t feel the need for bellamy flahsbacks right now), and am now at 1×09 [Unity Day] And oh god how pissed am I at the Diana Sidney storyline. We NEVER get any real insights into her thoughts and motivations. There’s… Continue reading
Monsters' Queen 