I read The Incandescent, which has gotten decidedly mixed reviews from all of you

[conuly]

I fall very in the middle - I enjoyed it, probably won't read it again.

But - am I supposed to feel most sympathetic towards the Phoenix demon? I mean, geez, it was really trying to Be a Human correctly! It was working so hard, guys, and even following arbitrary rules like "don't kill children" and "don't harm people without a really good reason" and "hey, diet and exercise are good for the body!"

Comments

[kyrielle]

I can understand the viewpoint character not feeling sympathy toward it, but yeah, I thought it was actually rather sympathetic in some ways.

[conuly]

Our protagonist makes so many stupid decisions in the last third of the book that she lost most of my sympathy. And also her arm. When your barely adult students are acting smarter than you, you’ve fucked up bad.

[kyrielle]

YUP. I didn't love the book and I really really didn't love her. But I do understand why she's not sympathetic. Granted, she earned it, but I do understand why she would be unhappy with it.

I am frankly pleased by it and hope it goes on to have a lovely time as the not-human guardian of the school, which is arguably better off for trading in the protagonist for the demon.... :P

[conuly]

I just hope our Phoenix keeps Learning About Humans. It really was so enthusiastic about that project! It even had its own pet imp!

Humans get to study demons, so fairs fair!

[kyrielle]

YES! And, honestly, if it turns out demons *can* learn to be "people" (not necessarily human people, but something that understands more than hunger and desperation) to this degree...do they not deserve the chance?

[conuly]

Of course, the previous supervolcano demon also had a personality, and that personality was terrible. A good match for Protagonist's wealthy asshole fuckbuddy, actually.

[greenwoodside]

I had the impression the author is pretty happy with the audience coming away as Phoenix fans, from the way she let it hang around as the guardian of the school in the Upside Down/on the Other Side.

I might have liked the protag more than you. She was deeply flawed, but flawed in a way I found very familiar from growing up in class-riven, ex-imperial Britain.

[conuly]

I didn't much dislike her until she fucked up so very, very badly and then, having realized how badly she had fucked up, proceeded to fuck up some more in a way she absolutely would've scolded any of her students for doing.

[crystalpyramid]

Yeah I see what you're saying about the Phoenix. It was consistent and earnest and following its nature. And it didn't sleep with the fucking consultant. I found the main character's willingness to teach the Phoenix everything deeply relatable but the sleeping with the consultant was so obviously a bad idea.

[conuly]

We never got his motive besides “rich asshole” either.

The Phoenix was right, if anybody deserves to be turned into a living battery, it might be him.

[carbonel]

I recently finished reading it, and had sufficiently mixed feelings about it that I wrote a longish review (for me; mine are usually quite brief) on Goodreads.