Read The Golden Enclaves
Oct. 1st, 2022 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyPrior to reading it, I was looking up the then-future publication date and came across somebody's review where he said he was "surprised at the twist" and then looked back and found it was foreshadowed after all, and I said "Well, is it this twist that people predicted already or that one?" and it turns out that it is BOTH of them - Orion is a mal in human form AND mawmouths are created in order to make modern enclaves. Well, they're sort of a dreary side effect of the process.
That latter was really foreshadowed both in a plot way (El spends most of book 2 speculating off-and-on about what might have killed of Bangkok, but she very suspiciously never considers the fact that they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth at the same time she killed her first mawmouth) and also in a characterization way (she also spends a lot of time very pointedly noting that enclaves are basically doing the same thing as maleficers, they're just not honest about it, and that the good intention of "keep my family safe" vanishes under the all-consuming desire for more that infests every enclave on earth).
Bonus point, btw, for that one fanfic which managed to accurately predict that Orion's mother did it to him on purpose because Reasons.
And although it's never actually stated, I feel vindicated in my belief that it is canon that El is actually really chock-full of natural charisma. It finally started working for her this book.
Anyway, it all came to a reasonably satisfying conclusion, and since it seems that almost nobody in El's life cares much about monogamy (and the only one we're told does went ahead and killed somebody's mother over it, so, y'know, she's not the hero of the story) then I guess all's well that ends well for those crazy kids.
El still finds things to complain about though, straight up until the very last page, but that's the cranky heroine we know and love.
That latter was really foreshadowed both in a plot way (El spends most of book 2 speculating off-and-on about what might have killed of Bangkok, but she very suspiciously never considers the fact that they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth at the same time she killed her first mawmouth) and also in a characterization way (she also spends a lot of time very pointedly noting that enclaves are basically doing the same thing as maleficers, they're just not honest about it, and that the good intention of "keep my family safe" vanishes under the all-consuming desire for more that infests every enclave on earth).
Bonus point, btw, for that one fanfic which managed to accurately predict that Orion's mother did it to him on purpose because Reasons.
And although it's never actually stated, I feel vindicated in my belief that it is canon that El is actually really chock-full of natural charisma. It finally started working for her this book.
Anyway, it all came to a reasonably satisfying conclusion, and since it seems that almost nobody in El's life cares much about monogamy (and the only one we're told does went ahead and killed somebody's mother over it, so, y'know, she's not the hero of the story) then I guess all's well that ends well for those crazy kids.
El still finds things to complain about though, straight up until the very last page, but that's the cranky heroine we know and love.
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Date: 2022-10-04 12:22 pm (UTC)It occurred to me as I was 2/3 of the way through this book, that El reminds me quite a bit of Murderbot.
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Date: 2022-10-04 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-04 03:37 pm (UTC)Though unless Naomi Novik decides she wants to write a fourth book I doubt we'll get confirmation of my headcanon any time soon.