Something Inside Her Did A Complicated Tug.

[rionaleonhart]

Here is a video of Uncharted characters dancing to Boney M's 'Rasputin'. It is the best video on the entire Internet. Rafe never particularly struck me as a character, but he is dancing his heart out, and I can respect that. I've watched this every time I've needed a bit of cheering up this week.


THE BOOKENING TITLE #13: The Dream Thieves, Maggie Stiefvater (Raven Cycle #2)

Apart from ruining the Gray Man's life, the Gray Man's plan had been going exceptionally well.

I got this for Christmas, and I've been reading it in an odd on-and-off way for several months, so it's difficult to say anything particularly intelligent about it; you can't get a good idea of the pacing or of how well the plot holds together if you read a book very slowly. So, in lieu of anything intelligent, here is the urgent e-mail I sent to th_esaurus while Ronan and Kavinsky were having their dreamathon:

Are Ronan and Kavinsky going to fuck? If they're not, I'm going to stop reading.

They did not, and I was unimpressed. But the book did seem perhaps to hint at some desire on one or both sides, and that's something!

I'm puzzled by my reaction to Ronan and Kavinsky. Individually, I don't care much about either of them. Together, though, they formed one of the most interesting aspects of this book for me. (Ronan's love for Matthew also helped me care a bit about him.)

I enjoyed the Gray Man. To my concern, I sliiiiightly found myself 'shipping him with Blue on their first meeting. Sorry about that.

Speaking of pairings with Blue: Blue and Gansey had some very sweet moments, and I loved the 'complicated tug' line, but I was mildly disappointed by the 'she accepted that she was in love with Gansey and therefore she wasn't in love with Adam' bit. I don't like love triangles with neat 'oh, actually I'm only in love with one of these guys' resolutions; if you have to have a love triangle, I want it to be a horrible mess where Blue is in love with Adam and Gansey simultaneously, and also Ronan, and Noah, and the Gray Man, and Captain Jack Harkness.

That probably isn't technically a triangle.

Stiefvater's writing style is still my favourite part of these books. If this series had been written by a different person, with the same plot, I suspect it would never really have caught my interest. It's such a lovely, warm, poetic style, but I just find ley lines so dull! The Dream Thieves is at least slightly less leyliney than The Raven Boys, but the tradeoff is that it focuses a lot on Ronan, whereas I'm more interested in Blue, Gansey and Adam.

That said, as mentioned, I was fascinated by Ronan's relationship with Kavinsky. Between Kavinsky and the Gray Man, this book has far more compelling antagonistic figures than The Raven Boys, and I think it's stronger for it.

Comments

[soranokumo]

I can't speak to the book thoughts but I can say that that Uncharted 4 video is mesmerizing.

[rionaleonhart]

I've watched it far too many times. Nate's high kick!

[squeemu]

I think this is the book where I really started to care about the characters, particularly Ronan and fucking Kavinsky. Ffff they just. Were fascinating and I would love to read all the fanfic in which their weird things gets more fully explored. (Kavinsky reminded me a little bit of Seifer.)

ALSO YES, THE GRAY MAN IS EXCELLENT. Now I really want to go back and reread the books to see what his first meeting with Blue was like, but alas, all the books are in Charlottetown.

You probably meant that you Blue to be romantically in love with Gansey AND everyone else, but seriously, you can't convince me that she isn't actually in love with basically everyone because let's be honest, she is. As is Gansey. (Especially Gansey. Like, seriously buddy, you know you just want to get in a relationship with all of these people.)

[rionaleonhart]

He is a bit Seiferish, now that you mention it! But Seifer would definitely add you to the list for saying so, because he would loathe Kavinsky.

but seriously, you can't convince me that she isn't actually in love with basically everyone because let's be honest, she is.

I think there was a line where Blue was with the four boys and the book said something like 'In that moment, she was a little in love with all of them' and I went 'yes, this is exactly what I want from this series.' (Gansey is absolutely in love with everyone, and I'm pretty sure everyone is in love with Gansey.)

[thebaconfat]

I loved Ronan's POV here -- his line about hating himself in church and the one about wanting to punch Gansey for being an attainable person made me sit up and go yes, this is EXACTLY my kind of gay.

I was about to agree that there was definitely a sexual undertone to Ronan and Kavinsky's relationship, before remembering that I said that to Squeem after reading the book and she went, "Yes? Like... in that one dream that was very clearly about blowjobs?" And I went back to look at the scene in question and went, oh. OH. So yes, maybe not so much an undertone as just.. a tone.

Plus, Kavinsky using Ronan's phone to send Gansey a dick pic.

it focuses a lot on Ronan, whereas I'm more interested in Blue, Gansey and Adam.

Alas, we can no longer be friends. Farewell.

[rionaleonhart]

"Yes? Like... in that one dream that was very clearly about blowjobs?"

wait what

I remember the bit about him feeling Kavinsky's finger running down his spine. I think I might have sent the IF THEY DON'T BANG I'M GOING TO STOP READING e-mail just before that, and when I hit it I mentally flung up my hands and went OH, COME ON.

I do like Ronan's relationship with Gansey! I forgot to mention that in the entry. Ronan is a weird character where I'm interested in a lot of his relationships but don't care that much about him on his own. The only Raven Boys fan I know in real life isn't big on Ronan, so it's possible her perspective is influencing mine.

[thebaconfat]

It's been a while, so I could be mistaken, but I think we might be talking about the same dream -- Adam/Kavinsky tracing the tattoo and then putting the tattoo in his mouth like a communion wafer and swallowing it, and then Ronan waking up "ashamed and euphoric".

[thebaconfat]

Also, randomly, did you see that if you update FFXV there's a survey? You can vote on one thing you'd like to see in further content.

And now that we are no longer friends, I will say good day to you.

[thebaconfat]

Also, "Ronan wasn't a fan of lamps." is my favourite thing, forever.

I SAID GOOD DAY!