#there's some lore stuff that seems like worth exploring but ehhhh

[gutsybitsies]

finished TSATS and hmm (slight spoilers below)

i'm gonna meet it where it's at and what it's trying to do, and say it was okay. well, meh to okay.

so my initial expectations were that as long as it's entertaining, then its fine by me. but the pacing and the dream/narration sequences was really off and made the story very draggy right up until nyx enters the picture.

the central conflict was strange and not too fleshed out, because usually the stories intertwine outer conflict (for example eros withholding staff of diocletian bc he just happened to have it and his nature dictates truth of love before giving it away) and internal conflict (nico's inner turmoil over his sexuality and feelings for percy clashing with the quest).

also another example: piper's repeating dreams about a cherokee creation myth linking her two heritages together and her saving the day with that by using the cornucopia to release fresh water in MOA.

but this time the conflict is....uh. meh? first or all, i fucking loved Nyx here. I think she's the coolest, the story became 100% more entertaining when she came in and started bitching at her kids. I understand why she chose to capture Bob the Titan. I don't get why she's obsessed with Nico. There is no satisfactory external conflict giving her a reason why she needs a demigod, nico specifically, to stay in Tartarus. And that makes the internal conflict that nico has feel weak.

i understand where the book was coming from, it wants to show nico accepting the "dark" parts of himself. personally i thought the personified cacaedemons were cool and cute as fuck. but i don't know why will was written the way he was? because narratively it doesnt feel like he was very conducive to helping nico accept the dark part of himself. at least not in a way that makes him sympathetic.

will's actions only serve to confirm nico's fears that hes unwanted and hard to love? his initial reaction to the underworld is that it's creepy, and he hates it. valid reactions! but this is paired with the view that the reason nico doesn't get along with others is that nico is the one who pushes people away, rather than other people being put off by who nico is. well, nico identifies strongly with the underworld, and will is very put off by the underworld, but still we're supposed to think that everything nico said about people's reaction to him is in his head?

i don't get why he's there, written the way he is, if what the book wanted to do was to write a story about nico seeing past his darkness and accepting it + accepting other people and letting them in. i get that they probably wanted to tell a story about two imperfect people getting together, but you can make will imperfect in ways other than confirming his boyfriend's biggest fears about himself.

will does end up apologizing for his reactions and tells nico that he's wrong for sometimes treating nico as something to "fix", but in NICO's pov he's still thinking that he himself is the biggest roadblock to acceptance with other people.

ALSO his last conversation with piper? was strange. i'm assuming that this meant that he and piper became super close right after the Giant war and before she left for school, but this was never hinted at throughout the book and then BOOM? if i was still in middle school and picked up this book having never read any of the other books i'd be very, very confused.

anyway. if you enjoy riordanverse i would still give this a read, because it does contain some cute moments, and i loved nyx and her army of monster children. narratively i think it could've done better, but nothing was a huge surprise.

#tsats #the sun and the stars #spoilers #tstats spoiler #nico di angelo #will solace #there's some lore stuff that seems like worth exploring but ehhhh