I was 17 when hired as a farmhand. Right as my final growth spurt was kicking in. I hadn’t reached my adult height yet and was around 5 feet tall. Not to mention, I was skinny. Maybe around 100 pounds at the time. To top it off, I was experienced with cats, dogs, and the exhibit animals at the museum. No background in poultry or livestock. So, now you can semi-imagine the scene about to play out here.
The farmer came out and briefed me on the animals that she was raising and told me that my main task of the day was cleaning out the chicken coop, feeding the poultry, and changing their water. She then unlocked the gate and went back into the house. I entered the property and walked toward the shed for supplies. However, the geese had other plans.
They did not appreciate an unfamiliar person coming into their territory and started marching towards me. I tried ignoring them, but they kept advancing. Soon, I had to back up and they kept coming. Within a minute, I was backed up against the fence with 8 angry, hissing geese surrounding me. Each bird was around half my height and if the entire flock was weighed together, I would easily be outclassed. I remembered how strong geese are and how just one can possibly break your arm.
The farmer heard all of the honking and hissing and came out to see what was going on. She ended up having to rescue me from the geese by walking over, grabbing the leader by the neck, and tossing them aside. The goose was unharmed, but dominance was established. The rest waddled away from me and resumed their goosey business elsewhere. I sheepishly thanked her and continued on my way, finishing my chores without anymore fuss.
That is the story of teenage me having to be saved from a flock of angry geese.
I like how it's basically canon now that Haymitch names his geese after his definitely-not-his-kids-but-at-this-point-they-may-as-well-be so allow me to introduce y'all to the flock.
Katniss: the Katniss goose has no self preservation. She is nippy and a prick and refuses to accept Haymitch as a friend. However if Haymitch is in trouble you bet she'll be honking her ass over there to help.
Peeta: the Peeta goose is about as calm as a goose can get. He's the biggest of the flock, and rather quiet, and he likes to herd the group around to safety.
Johanna: the Johanna goose is just anarchy in bird form. No fucks given. Violence is not the answer, it is the question, and the answer is yes. Protect your ankles and groin this goose will steal your children and laugh at you.
Finnick: the Finnick goose is very agreeable and gets along with the rest of the flock. He is one of those very rare geese that actually likes humans, and demands affection from Haymitch. He also screams when he sees Haymitch and runs over to him immediately for some loving. A very demanding but very sweet goose. Will fight the rest of the birds for Haymitch's attention.
ONE DAY NOT LONG AGO GOD SAID TO ME PETER , IF YOU HAD A SON A DAUGHTER WHAT IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM HEAVEN WOULD YOU TEACH THEM , FLOCKING TOGETHER LIKE BIRDS WILL PROTECT YOU FROM CORRUPT GOVERNMENT PREDATOR BIRDS ! THAT’S RIGHT PETER AND WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU TEACH YOUR SON DAUGHTER , ANTS GOD , ANTS MARCHING TOGETHER PROTESTING AGAINST CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS ! GOD SAID THATS RIGHT PETER , AND WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU TEACH YOUR SON DAUGHTER PETER ? BEES GOD , SWARMING TOGETHER TO PROTECT THEIR HIVE HOME FROM CORRUPT GOVERNMENT SECRET POLICE ! THAT’S RIGHT PETER GOD SAID , WHAT WILL YOUR CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED BY YOUR TEACHING PREACHING PETER ? MY CHILDREN WILL HAVE LEARNED THAT TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG DIVIDED WE ARE WEAK ! THEN GOD SAID WHY DO GEESE FLY IN FORMATION PETER ? THAT’S AN EASY ANSWER GOD , DURING MIGRATION , THE OLDEST WISEST GEESE LEAD THE YOUNGER GEESE TO ANCIENT WETLANDS WHERE THEY CAN STAY WARM FIND FOOD DURING THE WINTER MONTHS WHERE THE BIRDS WERE BORN , AND AS BIRDS FLY IN FORMATION GOD , EACH BIRDS FLAPPING WINGS CREATES LIFT OF WIND INVISIBLE AIR LIKE A DRAFT , THAT ALL THE OTHER GREESE CAN RELY ON LIFTING THEM ALL UP , WHICH MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR THE YOUNGER BIRDS TO FOLLOW THE WISER STRONGER OLDER BIRDS THAT KNOW THE WAY ! THAT’S RIGHT PETER TELL THEM , EVERYONE AROUND THE WORLD WHO ARE ALL YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS , THAT NOBODY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL FLYING MISSIONS FIGHTING CORRUPTION COMMUNISM IS FACISM IS SLAVERY ALONE , JOIN ANTIFA DAUGHTERS SONS OF ANARCHY
When the Anarchy came, things were fearful; however, it quickly devolved into ecstasy. Slaughterhouses were cutting loose all their millions and billions of trapped pigs, chickens, cows, turkeys, lamb, sheep, geese. Homes full of advanced age individuals who had no supports other than The Institution were abandoned and left to fend for themselves and ultimately die. The frail and the unhealthy were abandoned by everyone around them.
We couldn’t afford to be around targets and easy food sources for The Invaders. Our stardust cousins had already decimated their planet with their wonton glut and were coming for us. There was no choice left but to cull the herd, end the religious belief that, “the meek shall inherit the earth,” and praise health, the curation of behaviors that lead to optimal processes, the respect for the fittest in discipline. Because we had to. It was the only way to survive.
Mari was the one who had heard the call from the Animals and the Plants. Mari was the one who brought us the message.
But she was dead. Her sister, Lena was the one to take on her cause. Mari was a godlike figure now and Lena her vessel.
It wasn't hard for anyone to believe. The signs were there. The sightings, the atmosphere, mass hysteria.
And of course, it helped that the Man in charge of getting us to primal health, was the most affable, the most desirable, the most physically fit, the most everything gorgeous and amazing right down to his bulging cock which he used regularly to begin seeding the next gen of demigods to fight the ones who will arrive from the heavens to destroy us, was the person who spoke to the public about the cause.
Yes the losses of those who would have been lost anyway were very sad indeed. But there was no other way out other than to destroy an entire species.
Alex took a deep breath and watched as the panic of those released to defend themselves rushed by him, and couldn’t help himself but think of how amazing the world would be without so much malaise, misery, and mofos.
“Let them eat their last fucking piece of cake,” he muttered.
“Now now brother. I understand your resentment for all of those who suffered for their selfish needs. Do not become a liability yourself with a toxic mind. That too-- is forbidden,” the Leader walked in closer and looked him in the eyes and then grabbed both of his hands and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
“I know what can cheer you up!” she quickly added in, “Let’s have a baby!” she smiled and looked at him directly in the eyes now.
“Yeah?” he said, “I guess it should be ok. I mean, the Egyptians did it with a very high rate of success. I mean, Pharaoh after Pharaoh and so on.”
“Exactly!” she hugged him very tightly and could feel all the love for him rush into her warm her heart that was now pushing up against his chiseled chest, “I will make the appt. tomorrow.”
She picked up a hen that was squawking nearby and as she moved to get off the street and into her car with the fowl, turned to her brother and said, “And after the meeting, we can have some chicken parm at my place. Sound good?”
He flashed his perfectly white and straight teeth into a half moon and nodded.
There’s a fun reference in Lies Sleeping to Sneakers, which happens to be a film I’m fond of. The scene referred to is where Whistler, a blind man, is coaxing Marty to reconstruct his journey in the boot of a car, using audio cues to trace where his kidnappers took him and culminating in a flamingo “cocktail party” by a reservoir which allows them to locate the baddies’ HQ. You should watch the film, it’s pretty great and a lot of fun. I was actually talking about it with my husband the other day, partly because we went past a load of geese at a bird reserve and they sounded like the flamingos, but also because we both reckon it’s a film that has aged well - if you ignore the specifics of the technology side of things. And thematically, it happens to resonate quite strongly with Lies Sleeping, too.
It’s all about power, and who holds it, and what you would do if you could take it: get some lever, some key which gives you access to the reins of power and lets you rewrite the rules. No more secrets, let it all hang loose... You can see how it resonates today in things like Wikileaks, the breakdown of trust between people and their governments and also the populist surge behind Trump and Brexit. People are angry, and they want to burn it all down - the system isn’t working for many, and that anger is exploited in a cynical way by the usual suspects: Farage, Trump, Boris. Entitled types who spin a speech, whip people into a frenzy. They aim to bring down the whole applecart, and ooh - they’ve got a brand new cider press they’ll sell you for the right price. See also: The Big Short etc.
And that’s kinda what Lies Sleeping is about, on one level. It’s about Brexit Britain - the people who insist the country is broken so that they can further break it and re-mould it in a fashion which pleases them, and those who understand that it’s not perfect, it’s often a bit shit, but let’s try and make it better and anyway it’s not a good idea to sink your own liferaft, who are trying to plug the leaks. Peter, Nightingale et al. (law and order, keeping the Queen’s Peace for the benefit of all) are in the latter camp. Chorley is - as we’ve always suspected, I think - a Boris, Bullingdon club figure. While he hides behind the conceit of wanting to make Britain great again, his “romantic” notions of reviving the greats of Arthurian legend to do this turn out to be a lie: he doesn’t really believe it. He just wants power. To make a legend of himself. Lesley does, I think, believe it - she talks in vague but apparently sincere terms about wanting to make the world a better place, in the vein of so many Brexiters. She even echoes the dissatisfaction that many have with London, the idea that the city bleeds the rest of the country dry. Peter denies this, because he’s a staunch Londoner and how dare she (although I’m not sure he really addresses all her grievances). Although in the end, she mostly wants revenge on Punch. She’s hurting and she wants to hurt him.
In Sneakers, Marty’s old friend Cosmo talks the talk about wanting to change the world too, but ends up wanting mostly to turn a profit on anarchy. But their estrangement and the different ways they both feel the other has moved away from their (originally strong) friendship and partnership kind of reflect Peter and Lesley’s arc, too.
Okay, enough about Sneakers. Although you should totally watch it.
I loved the book - it felt really solidly plotted, and there was lots of meaty stuff I’m sure we’ll all be talking about for a while in terms of the Follyverse: the new info on Molly’s background, and her new companion was a particular favourite thing for me. We also get a hint at Guleed levelling up, the Chinatown arrangement (hers and the Folly’s), quite a bit of additional background on the Folly’s history, the pound shop version of the Folly (in the Paternoster Society), *lots* of cool scenes in the proto-London-verse with the old (and new?) Rivers, another Court, this time upstream and oodles of Rivers stuff.
It was really interesting to see how the Folly had expanded by necessity and been brought more firmly into the fold of the Met, operations becoming much more of a team affair. With all those extra Met staff and with the additional help from Doctor Vaughan and Abigail, and more regular Postmartin involvement, Peter and Nightingale (and Guleed, and Carey) get freed up to go and do their action-filled actioning, which I think was part of why there was so much ground covered in this one, and why the pace never felt like it was laggy. The exposition could be farmed out and kind of drip-fed, rather than Peter having to essentially do all the leg-work (which can make pacing difficult in a first-person pov).
I felt that it was a really satisfying story, and that it did a really good job of bringing together lots of threads and characters and themes that have been initiated in the earlier books, and really weaving them together in a meaty and filling way. Like... a Greggs pasty (I’m hungry okay). It was so thorough that it really felt like an end to the story arc that began back in the first book - obviously the Punch/Lesley story bookends things, but it also feels like a definite punctuation in terms of most of the characters’ arcs. I obviously am not hoping it ends here, and don’t think BA has said anything about wrapping up, but it *could* conclude here and it would feel finished, I think.
But there are plenty of unresolved things, too - Peter’s fatherhood (!), what Lesley does/becomes next, and all the possibilities that come from opening the Folly up, with Guleed and Abigail becoming practitioners in their own right. And Peter hints at further recruitment, to aid in his reorganisation efforts and to ensure the SAU can sustain their workload... Nightingale’s retirement plans (!) and new pupils...
I also am keen to see more from the Rivers and explore their weird dual persona/timey wimey stuff, and the High Fae, and what goes on in America (is there a new Yellowstone, now, and what are they like?) and elsewhere in the former colonies... The idea that they’re taking Peter’s lead and developing a network/outreach of their own beyond their watersheds is a fun touch that could be explored further.
So, plenty of exciting possibilities for future installments. Can’t wait!
Other nice touches - the character development for David Carey, the increasingly sympathetic Alexander Seawoll, the way that Peter and Nightingale are developing into more of a partnership as Peter levels up, the character of Nguyễn, Walid and Vaughan’s double act. Guleed and Peter’s banter.
The bonus story from Abigail’s pov was great - I’d be really keen to read more in her ‘voice’.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say when it’s all sunk in, and when I inevitably re-read it, and read everyone else’s reactions and theories on here :)
The only complaint I have relates to the number of typos and errors I kept finding, which made me a little distraught if I’m honest. Partly because I’m a professional proofer/copy-editor and would have probably done it for free once I start seeing this sort of thing it becomes very hard to relax and enjoy the read, and partly because it was *such* a good book that it deserved to be properly shiny and finished off, and why don’t publishers invest in their products you’d think a flagship series like this would warrant it grumble grumble. Sad times. But only a bit.