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book review! finally
I really should have made this post while the book was still fresh in my mind, but here we go!
Fahye's thoughts on The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan
1) SHIPPING COMES FIRST
Some words on Seb, to begin with: no, I didn't call any of the twists related to him. For ages I had no idea what the hell he was doing in the book, though I appreciated him as a symbol of Mae's independence from normal narrative tropes, and her awareness of the fact that she didn't have to be involved in any damn story, romantic or otherwise, if she didn't want to be. I liked that Jamie shut him down with good reason. For a while I thought he'd die, and that wouldn't have sat quite right with me. But -- I don't know. I didn't quite buy him as a coherent whole.
Now, let's talk about Mae and the Ryves boys! I've thought a bit about this since I finished the book and despite my initial trepidation, I really like where the book took her relationships with the both of them. Why? Lexicon was all about how falling for the tall, dark and dangerous boy is really not a good idea. The great thing is that in Covenant we find out just how dangerous Alan is, and guess what? Falling for the tall, dark and dangerous boy is still not a good idea, even if he geeks out over ancient languages and walks with a limp. The reason Mae can be in love with Nick (who, let's face it, still deserves all three of those adjectives) and this series can still retain its internal logical consistency on this point is because of the person Mae is, and her priorities and values.
Honesty comes through again and again as being massively important to Mae: she hates having to lie to any of the boys in her life, especially her brother, and she is deeply hurt that Jamie is keeping things from her. Alan -- Alan is a liar. Alan lies automatically and perfectly and unapologetically and constantly, and although he is a wonderful person in many ways, he will always be a liar.
The absolute most telling quote in the book, as far as Mae's feelings for Nick are concerned, is the one about compliments coming from someone who is incapable of lying being the best compliments to receive. Mae knows that Nick is deeply flawed, she knows what he is and what he's done and what he could do, but he won't lie to her. To be honest (ha!), I really loved the way their snarky and delightful friendship was going throughout most of the book, and would have been happy for them to just keep it on that level. I don't ship them strongly. But I adore Mae and I want her to have whatever she decides she wants, so if they wish to snark and also make out (and, um, hello, that scene on the roof was SMOKING HOT) then I am DOWN WITH THAT.
I want to now quote something that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bookelfe said because I think it's very smart:
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.
We have never seen Alan's point of view, and we never will. But while the same is true of Jamie, Jamie is -- for the most part -- a transparent character. He keeps his own secrets and his own motivations, sure, but we as readers generally have a fair idea of where he's coming from. However, the Fiendishly Tricky Schemes Of Alan Ryves have provided backbone and driving force for books 1 and 2 and by now we -- and Mae -- know that he can't be trusted.
The only other thing I have to say about shipping is that I wanted Sin and Mae to make out SO MUCH but whatever, that's what the third book is for: SIN/MAE/NICK, AM I RIGHT?
2) LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE EVERYONE
Alan: ALAN. Yeah, I love his character the most. I love the very real unpleasantness that sits alongside his world-defying love for his brother. He's a torturer, but not a sadist; he's a mastermind, but not a megalomaniac. He's stronger than anyone else in the books. He's absolutely human but, unlike Nick, he has a broad and depressingly complex idea of what humanity actually means. When you get right down to it, a lot of my meh-ness regarding Mae/Nick stems from the fact that I identify more with Alan than any other character in these books, so I don't want him to lose things that make him happy. But if there's one thing SRB is good at, it's pointing out that You Can't Always Get What You Want, even when you're officially on the side of good. You know. Relatively.
Nick: He will never be my favourite, but I adore him anyway. The way he always talks about swords and how good-looking he is! His fears and affections and the way they manifest themselves. Learning to be human, gah.
Mae: Our daring narrator! Her self-awareness sometimes felt a bit heavy-handed -- yes, yes, she's subverting such-and-such, maybe she doesn't need to spell it out for us quite so clearly -- but let's face it, I'd much rather have someone like Mae who narrates and considers and owns her story, than someone who lacks her agency and guts. She's admirable but she's not over-the-top about it; her love for the Goblin Market is that of everyone who's dragged into a magical world and doesn't let the danger ruin their initial sense of appreciation and wonder. All through the first book Nick was thinking insulting thoughts about 'tourists', but in this book we can recognise that there's nothing silly about Mae and her ambition.
Jamie: OH JAMIE <3 He is, of course, the vehicle for all the magnificent sarcasm that characterised Sarah's fanfiction, and in the first book there was so much going on that I think he struggled to be more than that vehicle. But if the second book was nothing else, it was the book of Jamie Crawford's awesomeness coming to the fore; he's unapologetic about who he is, and he's got a steely sense of his own worth. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he gets up to in the third book when he's relying on his own initiative.
Sin: Femme fatale extraordinaire! Like everyone else in the book, she's driven by family concerns, and she's that rare beast of a strong, intelligent woman who's comfortable with her sexuality and femininity but isn't defined by them. The first time I heard that she was the POV character for the third book, I was a bit nonplussed, but now I'm really excited to hear her history and get to know her from inside her own head. She's clearly living quite a different story to that of the Ryveses and the Crawfords, and I want to know what it is.
3) FAMILY IS EVERYTHING
God, god, if I can ever write family relationships the way SRB does, I will die happy and go to the heaven reserved for heartbreakingly amazing authors. Daniel's diary was a satisfying illustration of that (though holy shit, I may never recover from baby-Alan and his quiet, fiery-eyed protection of baby-Nick FROM ALAN'S OWN FATHER), but let's talk --
RYVESES: Is that how you pluralise Ryves? Do I care? No. I really can't find words for how much I love Nick and Alan and their ruthless prioritising of each other. It's the same thing that made me like Supernatural in the face of my deep antipathy for the horror genre. Alan's bargains. Nick's bargains. The terrible lengths they'll go to to help each other and prove how much they need each other. Mae's central misunderstanding of what Nick fears most was a deftly handled emotional blow, but the afterburn was glorious.
CRAWFORDS: Jamie and Mae. And their matching shirts. And how well they know each other, and their protectiveness and self-reliance which is no less fierce than that of the Ryves brothers. (If you'll forgive a brief excursion into selfishness: I find it interesting to compare them to my self-reliant siblings who feel abandoned by their parents, and it's certainly true that Agatha and Julian map onto the Crawfords in terms of some of their interpersonal dynamics and their approach to the extrapersonal world. Though Aggie is...very, very different to Mae.) The dancing game made my heart ache terribly, because I've never been that close to my brother, and private jokes are my favourite.
And now for the Addendum of Annabel, who sprang out of nowhere with her fencing abilities and suddenly became one of the best things about the book! Mae reconciling her opinions of her mother with new information (Mavis is a beautiful name) was a really good counterpoint to Nick's discoveries about Daniel's emotional journey. But I agree with Becca that her death left me feeling bitter, because the Crawford family unit was just beginning to expand in interesting ways (fuck yes, fighting mothers!), and now...it can't. And now every single main character including Sin is suffering from Dead Mother Syndrome. Yay.
I SHOULD MAYBE STOP TYPING NOW
This post has been basically character analysis, huh. I did appreciate the plot! With all the magic and the scheming and the nightclubbing and the DANCING and the demons (more demons in the third book, I hope!) and the SURPRISE ZOMBIES hahahahah. I loved the use of London as a setting -- truly, the USE of it, the landmarks and the city-sense, and the fucking swordfight on the fucking Millenium Bridge! But the characters and the dialogue are what I really read this series for.
Bring on book three :)
Fahye's thoughts on The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan
1) SHIPPING COMES FIRST
Some words on Seb, to begin with: no, I didn't call any of the twists related to him. For ages I had no idea what the hell he was doing in the book, though I appreciated him as a symbol of Mae's independence from normal narrative tropes, and her awareness of the fact that she didn't have to be involved in any damn story, romantic or otherwise, if she didn't want to be. I liked that Jamie shut him down with good reason. For a while I thought he'd die, and that wouldn't have sat quite right with me. But -- I don't know. I didn't quite buy him as a coherent whole.
Now, let's talk about Mae and the Ryves boys! I've thought a bit about this since I finished the book and despite my initial trepidation, I really like where the book took her relationships with the both of them. Why? Lexicon was all about how falling for the tall, dark and dangerous boy is really not a good idea. The great thing is that in Covenant we find out just how dangerous Alan is, and guess what? Falling for the tall, dark and dangerous boy is still not a good idea, even if he geeks out over ancient languages and walks with a limp. The reason Mae can be in love with Nick (who, let's face it, still deserves all three of those adjectives) and this series can still retain its internal logical consistency on this point is because of the person Mae is, and her priorities and values.
Honesty comes through again and again as being massively important to Mae: she hates having to lie to any of the boys in her life, especially her brother, and she is deeply hurt that Jamie is keeping things from her. Alan -- Alan is a liar. Alan lies automatically and perfectly and unapologetically and constantly, and although he is a wonderful person in many ways, he will always be a liar.
The absolute most telling quote in the book, as far as Mae's feelings for Nick are concerned, is the one about compliments coming from someone who is incapable of lying being the best compliments to receive. Mae knows that Nick is deeply flawed, she knows what he is and what he's done and what he could do, but he won't lie to her. To be honest (ha!), I really loved the way their snarky and delightful friendship was going throughout most of the book, and would have been happy for them to just keep it on that level. I don't ship them strongly. But I adore Mae and I want her to have whatever she decides she wants, so if they wish to snark and also make out (and, um, hello, that scene on the roof was SMOKING HOT) then I am DOWN WITH THAT.
I want to now quote something that
bookelfe said because I think it's very smart: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.
We have never seen Alan's point of view, and we never will. But while the same is true of Jamie, Jamie is -- for the most part -- a transparent character. He keeps his own secrets and his own motivations, sure, but we as readers generally have a fair idea of where he's coming from. However, the Fiendishly Tricky Schemes Of Alan Ryves have provided backbone and driving force for books 1 and 2 and by now we -- and Mae -- know that he can't be trusted.
The only other thing I have to say about shipping is that I wanted Sin and Mae to make out SO MUCH but whatever, that's what the third book is for: SIN/MAE/NICK, AM I RIGHT?
2) LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE EVERYONE
Alan: ALAN. Yeah, I love his character the most. I love the very real unpleasantness that sits alongside his world-defying love for his brother. He's a torturer, but not a sadist; he's a mastermind, but not a megalomaniac. He's stronger than anyone else in the books. He's absolutely human but, unlike Nick, he has a broad and depressingly complex idea of what humanity actually means. When you get right down to it, a lot of my meh-ness regarding Mae/Nick stems from the fact that I identify more with Alan than any other character in these books, so I don't want him to lose things that make him happy. But if there's one thing SRB is good at, it's pointing out that You Can't Always Get What You Want, even when you're officially on the side of good. You know. Relatively.
Nick: He will never be my favourite, but I adore him anyway. The way he always talks about swords and how good-looking he is! His fears and affections and the way they manifest themselves. Learning to be human, gah.
Mae: Our daring narrator! Her self-awareness sometimes felt a bit heavy-handed -- yes, yes, she's subverting such-and-such, maybe she doesn't need to spell it out for us quite so clearly -- but let's face it, I'd much rather have someone like Mae who narrates and considers and owns her story, than someone who lacks her agency and guts. She's admirable but she's not over-the-top about it; her love for the Goblin Market is that of everyone who's dragged into a magical world and doesn't let the danger ruin their initial sense of appreciation and wonder. All through the first book Nick was thinking insulting thoughts about 'tourists', but in this book we can recognise that there's nothing silly about Mae and her ambition.
Jamie: OH JAMIE <3 He is, of course, the vehicle for all the magnificent sarcasm that characterised Sarah's fanfiction, and in the first book there was so much going on that I think he struggled to be more than that vehicle. But if the second book was nothing else, it was the book of Jamie Crawford's awesomeness coming to the fore; he's unapologetic about who he is, and he's got a steely sense of his own worth. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he gets up to in the third book when he's relying on his own initiative.
Sin: Femme fatale extraordinaire! Like everyone else in the book, she's driven by family concerns, and she's that rare beast of a strong, intelligent woman who's comfortable with her sexuality and femininity but isn't defined by them. The first time I heard that she was the POV character for the third book, I was a bit nonplussed, but now I'm really excited to hear her history and get to know her from inside her own head. She's clearly living quite a different story to that of the Ryveses and the Crawfords, and I want to know what it is.
3) FAMILY IS EVERYTHING
God, god, if I can ever write family relationships the way SRB does, I will die happy and go to the heaven reserved for heartbreakingly amazing authors. Daniel's diary was a satisfying illustration of that (though holy shit, I may never recover from baby-Alan and his quiet, fiery-eyed protection of baby-Nick FROM ALAN'S OWN FATHER), but let's talk --
RYVESES: Is that how you pluralise Ryves? Do I care? No. I really can't find words for how much I love Nick and Alan and their ruthless prioritising of each other. It's the same thing that made me like Supernatural in the face of my deep antipathy for the horror genre. Alan's bargains. Nick's bargains. The terrible lengths they'll go to to help each other and prove how much they need each other. Mae's central misunderstanding of what Nick fears most was a deftly handled emotional blow, but the afterburn was glorious.
CRAWFORDS: Jamie and Mae. And their matching shirts. And how well they know each other, and their protectiveness and self-reliance which is no less fierce than that of the Ryves brothers. (If you'll forgive a brief excursion into selfishness: I find it interesting to compare them to my self-reliant siblings who feel abandoned by their parents, and it's certainly true that Agatha and Julian map onto the Crawfords in terms of some of their interpersonal dynamics and their approach to the extrapersonal world. Though Aggie is...very, very different to Mae.) The dancing game made my heart ache terribly, because I've never been that close to my brother, and private jokes are my favourite.
And now for the Addendum of Annabel, who sprang out of nowhere with her fencing abilities and suddenly became one of the best things about the book! Mae reconciling her opinions of her mother with new information (Mavis is a beautiful name) was a really good counterpoint to Nick's discoveries about Daniel's emotional journey. But I agree with Becca that her death left me feeling bitter, because the Crawford family unit was just beginning to expand in interesting ways (fuck yes, fighting mothers!), and now...it can't. And now every single main character including Sin is suffering from Dead Mother Syndrome. Yay.
I SHOULD MAYBE STOP TYPING NOW
This post has been basically character analysis, huh. I did appreciate the plot! With all the magic and the scheming and the nightclubbing and the DANCING and the demons (more demons in the third book, I hope!) and the SURPRISE ZOMBIES hahahahah. I loved the use of London as a setting -- truly, the USE of it, the landmarks and the city-sense, and the fucking swordfight on the fucking Millenium Bridge! But the characters and the dialogue are what I really read this series for.
Bring on book three :)
no subject
Okay now you get a ridiculously lengthy response, even though you know most of this already.
- Seb: I called the magician thing from the first chapter. I totally didn't call the creepy Jamie-stalker thing. I am still so, so glad that Jamie shut him down, although I agree, a little, he does not come out as a clear character the way the rest of them do in this book
- I am still a little sad that Mae figured out that she was in love with Nick, although I am trying not to be because I know this has partly to do with my own biases. I have been trying to figure out my own instinctive DO NOT WANT, and I think partly it is because I feel like Mae will always be at - hmmmm, a kind of emotional disadvantage in a Mae/Nick relationship, is maybe the best way to put it, from everything we have seen, and even though the theme of the books is in a way all about this, the importance of loving fully the things that might not be able to love you back in the same way, that makes me a little uncomfortable somehow in a romantic relationship (especially when it's the girl at the disadvantage in this wahy) in a way that it doesn't for a platonic or sibling relationship. Of course partly it is also because
- Alan is also my favorite too, who is shocked. *wry* I mean, I still think he is ON NOTICE for everything he pulled in this book. I think it is really interesting, by the way, how the book sort of asks you to look at why one might find Alan an appealing character and the traps this might lead one into. So I am looking! But I am drawn to him regardless.
- I don't have anything new or in-depth to say about Sin except that I already love her and expect to love her ten times as much again by the end of the next book. (SIN/MAE ABSOLUTELY FOREVER.)
- I forgot to talk in my review about how much I love the family focus in the books! BUT I DO. SO MUCH. Everyone should know this already, but still. (And, you know, the more I think about it, the sadder I am that Annabel is dead - because there are so many interesting ways the Crawford family would have had to shift around their new dynamics if she had lived, and so many fascinating things you could do with that. Because none of the relationships would have been magically fixed; it would have had to be work. Instead they are left with the shining memory of Annabel in her Moment of Glory, and in a way that's a bit of a cop-out.)
oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
OKAY OKAY I HAVE THOUGHTS *climbs aboard*
I feel like Mae will always be at - hmmmm, a kind of emotional disadvantage in a Mae/Nick relationship
Hmmmmmmm okay see, I am not sure that I think the point of the books is just about loving fully the things that may not be able to love you back; I think that at least fully half the point is that "sometimes these things are incredibly dangerous for you and can kill you!" C.F. Jamie's love for Gerald (BLESS HIS HEART FOREVER :(((( ) and Alan's love for Nick. Also, the whole subtext of Nick causing Alan's family to love him against their will is, to me, that without full agency and accountability from everyone involved, you can't have true reciprocation so the love involved is a lie or incomplete/unfulfilling at best.
I mean I'd argue that the truest relationships are the family relationships in this book, and outside of that (and maybe even within it) each of these characters is still learning how to negotiate what caring for everyone else actually means. Love and caring is in abundance throughout, but I don't quite think that love has reached a fully realized state for anyone yet. (Except, perhaps, Jamie & Mae, whose sibling bond is absolutely the tightest bond of the story, solid through and through.)
So: all that said, the whole point of the Nick/Mae relationship to me is that it is in a state of unrealized tension at this point. He's dangerous and she knows it. She's fully in control of her own actions regarding him, she's got full agency over how the relationship proceeds from here. In fact, it's not even a relationship at this point: she's recognized that she has feelings that can't go anywhere because of his emotional unavailability, and that will have to change before she will be comfortable being in a relationship.
I think what makes Mae subvert the Bad Boy/Willfully Naive Heroine trope so awesomely for me is that she only takes risks when they're in her best interests, which is something that I always see overlooked when people talk about her. She's insanely level-headed and practical. She didn't just ask Nick to mark her because she thought it was hot, she asked Nick to mark her for her ultimate protection. It wasn't really about her being besotted with him in the usual Twilight-ish 'oh you're a demon that's so hot' way--I think honestly there's more of that logic happening with her around Sin :D -- it was about her being in control of what happened to her and when.
I think I might be alone because I've heard people speak really negatively about the act of Mae asking Nick to mark her, but: I think of her getting Nick's mark as her way of stamping a NO ENTRY seal on her body, which to me to me shows not only great trust in Nick and their developing relationship, but full autonomy over her own body and what happens to it. I have a hard time reading that moment romantically, because to me it's all about Mae finding the best way to have full agency over herself, and walking into an uneasy choice with both eyes open.
And I think it's crucial that she knows that having him put his mark on her means she can't indulge romantic feelings for him, and she still does it, because having what power she can in a situation where she feels trapped is more important to her than risking a romantic relationship with somebody who's DANGEROUS and also emotionally unavailable. I know that having him mark her leaves her vulnerable in a whole new way but she's clearly going with the 'better the devil you know' theory, quite literally. :D And the book makes clear that it's not done out of romantic reasons, it's a completely unromantic scene, so I buy it. And I believe that she's not going to allow herself to open up to him any more until Nick shows her that he's growing and developing emotionally, and has the ability to give her what she needs.
I AM SO SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO WRITE THIS MUCH. But I am responding to lots of overall Mae-ish criticism I've seen round about, and these are thoughts I've had in my head about Mae for a while, too, so. :)
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
And, I mean, basically I agree with everything you've said on a scale from 'intellectual agreement' to 'emotionally behind 100%' (especially the very true point about loving things that are EXCEEDINGLY DANGEROUS, my goodness) - I didn't actually have a problem with the Nick marking Mae scene at all; I think that was clearly her choice and her agency, and not at all romantically drawn, which is how exactly how it should be, you are right. I mean, there's problematicness surrounding it, but it's a choice of Mae's, which I respect. As I respect most of her choices, surrounding these relationships in general! And I trust her, as an autonomous and level-headed and self-aware character, to act in ways that will not actually make me tear my hair out in frustration no matter what her feelings for Nick are, and I trust her to retain that autonomy.
But I still found myself getting hit with this very instinctive DO NOT WANT reaction to Mae being in love with Nick, and I've been trying to figure out why all weekend. I mean, I have kind of a DO NOT WANT reaction to anyone being in love with Nick (I had this during the Jamie!misdirection, too! And then I laughed SO HARD when Jamie was like "ahahahahaha uh NO. Um, Nick is nice! In a way. But NOT THAT WAY. @_@") Maybe it is just that I feel Nick needs to actually figure out friendship before I want anyone to be in love with him? Again, this is largely me, and not a reflection on Mae, whom I love, and whom I intellectually realize is totally free to be in love with anyone she wants, even if all my instincts are going "but . . . WHY? COLD INHUMANITY IS NOT SEXY OR HEALTHY, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND."
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
HAHA, see, i totally predicted Jamie/Gerald going into the book so I grokked that from the beginning
gay serial killers foreverand was mostly besotted with Jamie and Nick's growing friendship without getting distracted by . (THAT'S FOR BOOK THREE. :D Nah, I am kidding.) I agree completely about not shipping Nick with anyone; I told SRB before I read the second book that I didn't really ship Nick with anyone at this point because he has so much baggage to work through, and I still think that's the case. He has a ton of sorting out to do before I would believe and support his romantic involvement with anybody. Thankfully I think ALL the characters agree with me. :DI don't know if I think he is coldly inhuman, though--I think he is capable of human emotions, he just doesn't know it yet; and I think he is still, obviously, struggling to learn to understand and adapt to human emotions. AND HE'S GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME. <3
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
Well, I think he's definitely capable of a slightly growing range of emotions - and is starting to become capable of attachment to non-Alan people - but it's still, uh, a very special kind of attachment. It's a learning curve! I appreciate his learning curve but I do not find it to be the sexy kind of learning curve. :D (Also I feel like we get 'cold inhuman eyes' or something along those lines as a descriptor for him a few times, although maybe just from Daniel Ryves, I can't remember. Who is not necessarily the best judge.)
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
*facepalm* that sentence up there should have had an ending ("without getting distracted by SLASH!").
Haha, I think that what we will lose in offscreen Nick/Jamie totally-not-dating interactions we'll have in onscreen Jamie-and-Nick-bickering-over-when-Nick-gets-to-come-rescue-him-from-the-magicians-already interactions, for which I will HAPPILY SETTLE, especially when switching to Sin's POV also means MORE SIN, more gorgeous hot strategic action-ready Sin; MORE DEMON'S MARKET (i think that's basically everyone's favorite setting from these books when they're not BATTLING ON THE MILLENNIUM BRIDGE), and more Sin assessing all of Mae's assets. *bats eyes* I love Sin/Mae so much, I am just like BRING IT ON PLEASE. But I also am not really invested in all of the pairings so much as I'm just like PLEASE ALL BE HAPPY FOREVER AND DO NOT DIE. God if Jamie dies I will mourn for a year. :(
I have so many conflicted feelings about Alan but I don't think that I really am at a point where I can articulate them easily, so mostly I just don't try. I think that I would like to see him in a healthy relationship WITH HIMSELF first and foremost. :( Oh, Alan.
re: Nick's sociopathy, I kind of equate my reading of him to the way I read Yagami Light from Death Note, since they both reminded me a whole lot of sulky, sullen, silent teenage boys I have known over the years--where I think the tendency is to automatically read them as purely sociopathic, something distanced and separate from the viewer, but this is really undermined by the fact that real boys act exactly like this too and often feel exactly like this. Which is not to say that I think they are the same character at all, but rather the way the text invites us to read them initially is similar. Daniel Ryves acts, I think, as a signifier for the labels and the assumptions we place automatically on things and people who aren't like us; I think the series is basically in the process of breaking down all those assumptions about Nick the same way Daniel's own assumptions were broken down. So naturally we all start from the place where we see Nick as cold and inhuman, and I certainly think he himself starts from that place, and I know Sin does! But by the end, I have great hopes that we'll have had our assumptions about him broken down into something more complex and accessible. I mean, we're already on that journey. I'm just excited to see it happen.
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS
A messy and unfinished happy ending is exactly what I hope for! I neither wish nor expect for everything to be wrapped up in a tidy bow. Moves towards emotional healthiness for all, that is all I ask. And nobody more dead (although I know this is unlikely. I still kind of think Seb at least is marked for doom, but I am sort of okay with that if it means everyone else will be spared.)
Re: oh i don't know if we're warning for spoilers but SPOILERS