#books for lock down

[deviousdayz]

I kind of hate seeing people say that the locked tomb series has no romance because like no there’s not kissing and fucking but it’s about love and almost nothing else

when you love someone so much you die to become a part of them but they love you so much that they ruin themselves to not accept your sacrifice

when two people love each other so much that they willingly lose themselves becoming one another so that they never have to be apart

when the body you’re in belonged to a person who loved someone else so much that you can feel that person’s warmth

When you love someone so much you’re upset at the fact that they didn’t love you enough to consume you so you could be one, but they only couldn’t do it because they loved you too much to lose you.

that series is so chock FULL of love it’s just that a lot of it is. not straightforward

#like yeah there’s other shit going on but come on #the entirety of htn is the way it is because harrow literally lobotomized herself so she wouldn’t have to grieve gideon #bc she loved her so much that she wouldn’t be able to handle it #even down to ortus loving that book character so much that he brought it to life?? like cmon #the locked tomb #tlt #the locked tomb spoilers

[vaguely-concerned]

sometimes I think of all the on-the-surface warm, well-meaning but deeply ineffectual advice and attention john gives harrow through harrow the ninth (make some soup and get some sleep! get a hobby! don't be so hard on yourself! self care harrow! as long as I need take no actual responsibility in this relationship whatsoever I would have loved to be your dad!) set up against the stark truth that with his other hand he has been staging her attempted horrific murder again and again and again like a living nightmare on the logic that it will 'put her down or fix her'. and then I find that I wish there is a hell. a special hell where twitch streamers turned necromantic death emperors go

#the locked tomb #harrowhark nonagesimus #john gaius #harrow the ninth #this is why I don't buy john as misunderstood and initially well-meaning AT ALL #this is a pattern you see with him again and again and again -- right down to his interpersonal relationships #(and indeed it's in the more grounded interpersonal relationships you can most clearly see him as he is I think #the fantasy death empire of a thousand years doesn't register quite as viscerally because it's like. heightened; not quite real #but the emotional violence and manipulation that surrounds him? oh boy that is EXTREMELY real and scarily well-observed) #there's a premeditation to so much of what he does (contracts with planets that only end 'in the event of the emperor's death' anyone? #yeah john we get it you're hilarious and I wish you weren't) #the greatest trick john ever pulled was making anyone think he's just a lil guy. what does he know he's only god #when you first read the book the complete callousness of the other adults is so horrible that john seems like an oasis of care #(though you start to get this uneasy feeling when that care never seems to translate to like... relief or soothing or resolution) #and it makes it feel almost obscene when you find out what's actually going on #it's the mercy & augustine enabler hour but at least they're completely honest in their cruelty there #while john is -- well he sure is being john huh #this is just me being angry with him btw philosophically I don't think this is how the story will or should end #(with john slam dunked right into hell that is) #it's just... harrow is so vulnerable. and what he does to her is so insidious and fucked up #john is very deeply human. unfortunately the capacity to quite simply suck so much is deeply human too

[cutetanuki-chan]

I really need Gideon to know that Jeannemary said hi, please, the whole scene with teens death is so devastating, Gideon needs to know

#thinking about Harrow trying to tell that but she's saying it like 'the fourth cavalier says hello' #and Gideon doesn't know about the whole Harrow's haunted river theater so she doesn't take it as anything genuine #so Harrow continues with #'you absolute moron I'm not trying to talk down to you. Pent helped them trough the river. they're save..more or less' #if you wonder why I have so many posts with quotes recently i just been re reading the first two books #and I'm in shambles #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #gideon the ninth spoilers #harrow the ninth #harrow the ninth spoilers

[s-aint-elmo]

microdosing on the tlt tag has been earth-shattering because it came with the revelation that my experience of being siren song'd into finally reading the series by ianthe tridentarius's abject dysfunction only be dashed against the rocks of her unanticipated tenderness was not universal

#the locked tomb #i was smitten with this woman on sight. are you telling me people had to be begrudgingly endeared to her. my morals folded like hot toffee #before her ghastly scheming vriskagirl visage #she tore chunks from naberius's arm w her teeth and i swooned. i had to put the book down and pace it out. i never wanted her more carnally #i experienced the entirety of the second book as a romance novel. i knew about griddlehark but nobody warned me abt how substantial #harryanthe was and i simply had to take their toxic yuri chicanery on the nose with the force of a planet imploding #my unrelenting lust for ianthe tridentarius had people concerned for my future romantic prospects #mine #sorry gideon i am hashtag team ianthe because it's so much funnier to root for the woman who got the patented cheek-kiss-rejection and stil #went on to pettily squabble w her situationship's ex-situationship while actively besieged by planetary murderghosts

[dalishborne]

keeper's day off :')

#am i fucking bonkers for having started this at 12 am and finished it at 3 am like #so much for this being a “wind down sketch” slkafja #revenelan. #she's locked herself in her aravel with her cats and she's not leaving her book or her bed for nothin #dalish elf #dragon age

[markantonys]

the new info about min's show backstory made me think of something

#it is all down to you now elayne djfkg #she's going to lock them all up in a room and say 'we are not leaving until you each express an emotion' #elayne trakand #rand al'thor #min farshaw #aviendha #wot #wot book spoilers #aviminrandlayne

[camscendants]

I had to listen to this while at work so now you have to hear it too

#this was back in September #I was ushering Barbie and listening to gtn #and it literally lined up exactly like this #I remember I had to sit down and just be like 😧 #in shock #wtf #tlt #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #Gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #Barbie #what was i made for #music #audio book #gtn

[sunshades]

i <3 evil women

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #gtn spoilers #made this in the middle of reading 35 cuz well SOMEONE implied i wouldnt be able to do it afterwards. they were right im done and well #i need to lay down (honorific) #ppl who are caught up with the books say ianthe only killed naberius as an innocent which point taken but also its not abt the count #its about The Vibes........... #shades art

[canismajorly]

okay I don't honestly make original posts about fandom but I'm cordially inviting people to interact with me. about Paul locked tomb series. please interact if you are a paul LOVER and ENJOYER. their name is silly but I really like them and am saddened to see many people in the Paul tags on various sites more just lamenting the end of Camilla and Palamedes existing but like look. Paul is really cool. they're cute and I think they're actually really awesome and I'm GLAD for Camilla and Palamedes's Steven Universe fusion. I want MORE of this character, even at the expense of those two. where are the other Paul enthusiasts at.

#the locked tomb #paul tlt #less important i think theyre hot and i want them. i spent the whole book feeling vaguely attracted to both pal and cam so #the whole book SERIES even #maybe im down bad for their soul merger. leave me alone. #i understand being sad about both of them i kind of was too but all of their suffering in NtN culminating in their perfect lysis. dog #i cried in a good way. im so happy for them. i want to be paul's best friend #(and maybe lover) #tlt spoilers #locked tomb spoilers

[oksanasanna]

Finally getting to the part of NtN with the canon Tridentariicest and losing my mind!!

#tlt #nona the ninth #tridentariicest #brb gotta put the book down and scream and run to ao3!! #the reunion chapter was so good #the locked tomb #coronabeth tridentarius #ianthe tridentarius

[thottybrucewayne]

I don't mind Jason not killing anymore if it was a well-written decision made to show his character growth and him leaving his methods behind on his own terms and less an obvious money-making move to slot him into the batfam proper to maximize profit from the fanon-obsessed girlies.

#thotty speaks #jason todd #dc comics #batman #thotty talks comics #Like if you wanna show Jason grow as a character fine but I don't think writing him as Dick number 2 or older Damian is really helping #I also don't think that he'd be down to work with Bruce or the rest of the batfam for that matter because his issues with Bruce's methods #Still there! Locking these people up isn't doing anything still and relying on the gcpd and the court system isn't doing anything still! #Are you telling me Jason just kinda gave up on his issues with Bruce's method just to keep working with him? #and before y'all bring up Jason siding with Selina in Gotham War A. I don't care and B. that book is ass #thotty rants

[the-plantman-is-queer]

Reading the locked tomb for the first time and holy shit... John Gaius is such a fucking liar, the audacity to say that Saints were named for their cavaliers. The steel balled resolve and dedication to that lie. Like Gideon the saint of duty didn't carry an armed fucking nuke to Australia for him!!! And then! And then!!! To ridicule Mercymorn for wanting to hold her name private from Harrow, when John motherfucking Gaius can't even force himself to recall their names beyond the initials while he's spilling his sorry guts to Harrow!!!! The hypocrisy! I am consumed!!

#The locked tomb #Tasmyn fucking muir I have decoured these books like john devoured the solar system #I read Gideon the Ninth and I said to myself 'wow I'm so lucky that this wasn't from Harrow's perspective otherwise I'd be obsessed' #What's that? Its book two with a steel chair! And he's down for the count! #Alecto the ninth is gonna kill me

[vaguely-concerned]

after some reflection I've reached the conclusion that to my mind nona the ninth did need to be its own book -- not in terms of delivering the plot or character developments, necessarily, but to be a thematic mirror to harrow the ninth in a way I don't think you could have done if this was also trying to do its job as the last book of a trilogy.

harrow the ninth is about the horror of nothing changing -- the grim, unending slog of mental illness, the inexorable method in madness grinding along, grinding you down, moment upon moment; it's about how grief can seem to create its own pockets of eternity. it's about how some things can only be remembered in forgetting.

nona the ninth is about the horror of everything changing all the time forever -- the people you love, until they aren't quite the people you loved any more, the places you love, until it's become somewhere you can never go back to, the world, every day -- you, until you die one way or another, in truth or in no longer recognizing yourself. you go to school for the hour of science and noodle every day, until one day you just don't anymore, and nothing can be done about that. nona is about 'life is too short, and love is too long', but also 'you can't take 'loved' away'. pyrrha, who's tried for ten thousand years to kill her feelings but "Don't worry, kiddie. I'll keep loving you -- my problem is I don't know how to stop." even when it just hurts us, we love. we just can't help ourselves. and at the end alecto remembers herself (itself?), which means forgetting nona.

the strange paradoxical comfort of madness vs. the unbearable loneliness of sanity. harrow is mad, and for all her suffering it keeps her from having to face the most inconceivable, the thing she can't live with: a universe without gideon. cam and pal are so so sane, and they can't bear it. they die to live in a way they can... uh, well, live with, and it's a crazy thing to do but it's the kindest thing they could find for themselves. the world of harrow the ninth is so dead and deadened, and the world of nona is so unbearably alive.

(ironically ntn was a much more difficult read for me than htn, because the way htn works is already so close to how my own mind works (yes, unfortunately, really. no, I'm not okay, but not in a way anyone can do anything about with any immediacy so let's ignore that for now lol). I understand the logic of it intimately, for all it looks confusing if you just see the surface. but the ongoing nature of the restless dread in ntn -- the way you love these people, and through the book they keep drifting away from you so steadily and gradually that you can't even put your finger on exactly when you really lost them as they were at the beginning. at the end, when pyrrha is carrying nona because she can't stand anymore (carrying her in 'the halo of her arms'...... god. yes, that is what a parent feels like for a child huh), I vicariously felt what I suspect is pyrrha's train of thought as well that like... what if you could just hold her close enough, love her hard enough, that she won't have to go, that she could get to live. what if you could just refuse to let go of her, what if you could be strong enough for that. and one person in this universe is that strong-- why would you let someone go -- away from you -- untouchable? John's obsession with being able to touch his loved ones, except he's so profoundly fucked up he doesn't understand any way to do it but to make them into extensions of himself, to consume them and transform them into himself, the very hungry caterpillar style -- he wanted to touch so he made them his hands, and he doesn't understand why it doesn't fulfil him. and thank god pyrrha has the soul and sense to understand why you can't just eat what you love, narrowly, but I still wanted her to be able to still hold nona and protect her from everything including death so fucking bad, and of course she can't. that's the tragedy of it, that's the beauty of it. love doesn't change anything, and we just can't help but love anyway, and it changes everything, and it's all we can do sometimes. fuck I'm going to need a lot of lying face down on the floor for a few hours to process this book huh lmao)

#nona the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #the locked tomb spoilers #nona spoilers #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #tl;dr: nona the ninth fucked me up okay don't look at me lol #harrow the ninth is still my favourite of the series because that book recognized me in a way few other things have #but muir is Doing Some Shit in ntn holy fuck #the locked tomb meta #I'm. I'm going to go have a shower to calm down probably I think haha

[i-am-become-a-name]

Sands of Time gives me a favourite analysis of Five and Tegan from someone who has only met them for this adventure. Like, yes! Look at how they complement each other! Celebrate Tegan's brashness!

#i simply have a lot of emotions about them and today is apparently the day to post them #happy new year by the way. i hope the dragon is kind to us #five #tegan #books #hmmmmmm some unformed thought about tegan bringing out extremes of emotions in others being why she is so frustrating to five. he tries to #keep it all locked down but she pushes and prods even if unintentionally and he can't help but to have emotions around her. #something to think over later when I'm not about to go to sleep perhaps

[yes-i-read-sappho]

Tamsyn Muir sure knows how to write the most confusing books only to get you sobbing in the third act as things come together in the worst way possible. Gotta love the aching moment of understanding.

#I finally finished Nona the Ninth #hooray #I knew a ton of spoilers cuz I have no self control #but Paul? #that still KILLED me #at the go loud I literally had to put the book down I was crying so hard #time to join the masses waiting for Alecto #nona the ninth #tlt series #the locked tomb

[owlsundermybed]

'Bury me next to you in an unmarked grave, Joy. We knew that was the only hope we ever had–that we would live to see it through...and pray for our own cessation. Oh, we'll still hate each other my dear, we have hated each other too long and too passionately to stop...but my bones will rest easy next to your bones.'

#the locked tomb #i know we're all here for the lesbians toxic or otherwise #hey I'M here for the toxic or otherwise lesbians too!! #which was why i was blindsided into caring about two near immortal lovers who hated each other so much and for so long #it ended up looking a lot like love #augustine being offered forgiveness and looking down at mercymorn's bloodied curls and saying no!! #seducing god together to betray him in the most intimate way possible! #BEING betrayed by god who carried out 10000 years of genocide in order to avenge you and refusing to listen when you told him it was enough #all they wanted to do was die together. and they didn't even get that #I need a book about the original lyctors i need god's head on a stick #harrow the ninth spoilers