#i just I'm rereading six of crows and crooked kingdom | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

drieddpetals · 3 months

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(warning: literary analysis ahead) i know i'm not the first person by far to say this, but there are so many similarities between kaz and wylan in six of crows and ESPECIALLY crooked kingdom.

there's obviously the big one of both of them having a re-birth type experience in the harbor, but that's not where the similarity stops. during my ck reread, i noticed that the reason kaz and wylan are in the harbor in the first place is because a father-like figure.

pekka rollins was a father-like figure to both kaz and jordie, and the book says this. the rietveld boys had just lost their father, and one of the big reasons pekka was able to scam jordie and kaz so well is because he provided them with a comforting and parental like space. kaz ofc eventually ends up in the harbor, and it can all be traced back to pekka rollins.

wylan has his rebirth in the harbor due to his father. the connection is more direct with his, but even then there are middle men and other things involved. but again, it can all be traced back to his father.

going off this thought, they both lost a close family member due to a father figure.

another big similarity i found that i feel like i haven't seen anyone talk about his what kaz and wylan are both motivated by: revenge.

wylan does not start off the books being motivated by revenge. he ends up in the barrel and with the crows out of a desperation to both hide from his father and because he genuinely has no where else to go. later on in ck, after wylan finds his mother at saint hilde, the book very clearly states that his motivation changes. at the begining of chapter 31, there's a scene where wylan is staring at himself in the mirror. there are lines that say, "What am I doing here? But he knew the answer. Only he could see his father punished for what he'd done. Only he could see his mother freed." which drives me INSANE!! because it's a DIRECT PARELLEL to things kaz says/feels about jordie!! in the chapter right before that (30) there's a line that says, "He'd found his way to shore, devoted himself to the vengeance he and his brother were owed." (there are other and better lines that reference wylan's "only he could *take revenge*" line, but this is just the closest one that comes to mind)

there are differences between their motives—you could say that kaz's revenge motive is more direct and violent—but there's also the fact that we see both kaz and wylan get their revenge in the book.

both kaz and wylan want revenge for one of their family members, and themselves, from what a father figure in their life has done.

they've also both been kidnapped by jan/held in captivity by him. i know this happens to inej too, but i think it's important that one of the first scenes we see with kaz is him negotiating with jan after being captured by him, and then towards the very end of the series, we (very simplified and on the surface) see the same thing happening to wylan. i know the two jan captivity scenes with kaz and wylan are very different, but i think the basic similarity of these scenes really attest to how far wylan has come and how much he's been assimilated into the crows.

there's also of course the part where wylan's expression is said to be something that looks kaz-like, which i feel also shows how far he's come and how he's truely developed into a crow.

in conclusion, as others have said, they truely are two sides of the same coin. they're so different but so alike, and i absolutely love how leigh bardugo was able to directly juxstapose wylan and kaz when they're so different on the surface.

#i could talk about them forever #if that wasn't already blatantly obvious #literary analysis #yapping fr #six of crows #crooked kingdom #wylan van eck #kaz brekkar #jan van eck (derogatory)#jan van eck #me and all my homies hate jan van eck #six of crows fandom #soc fandom

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wylanslcve · 9 months

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Okay don't mind me I'm in the middle of a Crooked Kingdom reread and feel overwhelmingly inclined to rant about Jesper Fahey because this fandom just doesn't give him the treatment he deserves. I'm specifically going to incoherently ramble about the scene in Crooked Kingdom where he, Colm and Wylan are being shot at because I feel like that scene is representative of Jesper's arc - but, before we dive into that, let me contextualise a few things first. Jesper does things for the thrill of it: he thrives off chaos and spontaneity, hence why he "always felt better when people were shooting at him". It's because the sound of gunfire "called the scattered, irascible, permanently seeking part of his mind into focus like nothing else" - and it also provides a distraction from his pain and trauma, because whenever he'd think about it, "everything in him recoiled. Trying not to die was the best possible distraction". Whenever anything to do with his past or his debt is brought up, "his hands returned to his revolvers" because he found himself "longing for the cool, familiar feel of their pearl handles beneath his thumbs". It steadies him as much as it possibly can when he's not in a dangerous situation, momentarily calling his mind into focus, an attempt at distracting himself from his afflictions.

Based off similar instances, the scene in Crooked Kingdom where he, Wylan and Colm are being shot at should have brought him that same satisfaction that any other shooting would. He "should be buzzing from the excitement of the fight. The thrill was still there, fizzing through his blood, but beside it was a cold, unfamiliar sensation that felt like it was draining the joy from him." What makes this situation so different to the others is that he can't ignore his problems and trauma now: it's staring him right in the face. Colm is right there. The thrill of the fight doesn't feel the same because "all he could think was, Da could have been hurt. He could have died." And we know that Jesper's debt would cost Colm the jurda farm Jesper grew up on, forcing him to acknowledge the reality of his problems: with Colm being right there, Jesper just can't ignore his afflictions because all he could think about is how his father would "suffer for his antics". If you ask me, this is so representative of his character arc as a whole.

This is further emphasised by how he's reflecting on the first time he spun Makker's Wheel right before this ambush, its intention being merely "harmless fun", but it ended up evolving into an addiction that "split [his life] like a log into two distinct and uneven pieces: the time before he’d stepped up to that wheel and every day since". The rush of a high-stakes situation is the equivalent of the "harmless fun" - it's a thrill that Jesper enjoys feeling, but in reality it's doing much more harm because it's preventing him from acknowledging and facing his pain. And he's indeed in so much pain: there's so much anguish inside of him, but he'd do anything to distract himself from it because the reality is just too painful.

This is where the tables come in: later in Crooked Kingdom, when the crew are being ambushed by the Khergud, Jesper "could feel the pull of East Stave" because he didn't have anything else to occupy his mind with. Then, the minute he thinks about facing his father, "the need to be at the tables was overwhelming" because he desperately needs to distract himself from the reality of his circumstances: "since Kaz hadn't obliged him with something to shoot at, Jesper needed a pair of dice and long odds to clear his mind". He can't use the ambush as a distraction, so the tables it is. As Inej tells him, "they feel like medicine. They soothe you, put you right for a time. But they’re poison, Jesper. Every time you play, you take another sip." This isn't the first time poison has been used to represent something that is preventing the Crows from healing - we also see it with Matthias, when he tells Brum in Six of Crows, "the life you live, the hate you feel - it's poison. I can drink it no longer". Just like how the exploitation of Matthias' grief and pain as a means of fueling hatred prevented him from healing because it kept exacerbating the anguish within him (he had to stop drinking the poison to do so), Jesper's addiction - and, by extension, the thrill of a high-stakes situation - prevents him from acknowledging the wound inside him and working towards healing it. It gets to the extent where “he had always thought of himself as lucky… what if he’d been bluffing this whole time?” - he’s gotten so used to suppressing his pain that he, in a way, loses sense of who he is. His façade has distorted his perception of himself. It's not until Colm arrives in the Barrel that Jesper is forced to acknowledge just how deep that wound is and how much it's festering - just like how he couldn't even feel the thrill of a fight properly because of the possibility of his father getting hurt.

That scene is one of many cracks that start to form as Jesper continues to bottle up all of this pain and trauma, until he finally breaks when Wylan proposes that he's such a good shot because being a Fabrikator allows him to direct the metal of the bullets. Jesper protests, asking Wylan why he can't "just let things be easy" - why can't he just let him keep ignoring his problems, when it's so much easier than facing them? But Wylan stands his ground, explaining that "they’re not easy... You keep pretending everything is okay. You move on to the next fight or the next party. What are you afraid is going to happen if you stop?" This is why Matthias calls Jesper “angry and frightened” - he’s afraid of stopping, because he knows stopping means that he’s forced to face the reality that he’s deeply wounded. This is when he finally breaks under the burden of his own pain, under the reality that he can't keep ignoring it anymore - hence why he chooses to put his share of the reward in Colm's name because, as he explains to Kaz, "I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of money just yet". For the first time, he's acknowledging his problems and working towards fixing them, no matter how much time it takes (because trauma and addiction don't just disappear overnight).

n e ways this ended up being significantly longer than anticipated but this is what happens when I start analysing these books: it snowballs out of control and suddenly I can’t shut up.

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dancingdestiel · 3 months

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Rereading Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom and I can hear Freddy Carter's voice when I'm reading Kaz's scenes.

And this almost never happens with me. My inner narrative voice never gets replaced by the actor's when I'm reading something that's been adapted to the screen.

I've seen the Harry Potter movies scores of times. Read the book 7 times and this never happened.

This just made me realise (once again) how perfectly cast the Crows were.

And how Netflix (once again) absolutely fucked up by cancelling the show.

#six of crows #crooked Kingdom #grishaverse #freddy carter

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cultofsappho · 7 months

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9 favourite books

tysm for the tag @daisymae-12 !!!

about a year ago, I was unemployed for a while and binged like, 50 queer romance books back to back. most of these are from that little period of freedom haha

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - wow big shocker. the heavy rwrb blog puts it as her fav? we all gasped. No joke, this book inspires me so much, regularly. Its a comfort reread, a regular in my rotation of audiobook backround noise, and inspired several fics and counting.. #1 best boy right here

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo - my #2 comfort rereads, I'm including Crooked Kingdom bc I ALWAYS pick up book #2 after finishing book #1. Wylan is my special boy and I need his POV chapters. (I also need more fic of him going fucking insane and becoming a tiny, richer, Kaz please and thank you)

Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake - Look im a fantasy/magic/adventure girl, so this was very outside my norm when i bought it but i feel in LOVE. It's so mundane while also being very heartfelt and silly and fun. I absolutely loved it and plan to reread soon. plus........ sapphic sex scenes. what more do you want.

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske - MAGIC. CURSES. SECRECT SOCIETY. LIBRARIES. PERIOD PEICE. (+magic sex???) SOLD. I need the next two books so bad but i'm broke rn. I will probably get #2 as an audio book from the library if I can soon!

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas - not exaggerating, this book reminded my why I love reading. this is the book that kicked off my great reading binge of 2022. which is kinda weird bc I really don't like high school stories, i'm just too old now for them. BUT, magic. ghosts. queer. SOLD. Loved and reread many times and counting!

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas - While we're on Aiden Thomas... I need Sunbearer Trials book 2 like, yesterday. I NEED IT AIDEN. Hunger Games meets Percy Jackson in the best possible combination that took my breath away. I flew (lol) through this book in one evening. (not recommended. savvor this shit. its excellent.)

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun - the fact the author managed to make me enjoy the concept of a reality show is balls to the walls bananas. And the mental halth discussion in this stole the whole show.

Spell Bound by FT Lukens - It's really hard for me to pick between FT's books for a fav. I absolutely loved In Deeper Waters and So This Is Ever After, but Spell Bound hit me so hard. Of course, there's magic. (have you found my theme yet?) but specifically the discussion around lonliness, and Rook's relationship with "his adult" is so sweet and just really hit me somewhere soft.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - I am seriously on the hunt for sapphic books that hit me the way some of the mlm books above have hit me and ols hits that nail on the head. This book made me realize I actually like time travel stories... if it's done in a very specific way haha. also... sapphic sex scenes. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME. I'M HERE FOR THE P-

ty for allowing me to indulge in my ramblings and love for these books <3 no pressure tags below the cut:

@14carrotghoul @myheartalivewrites @lazybug16 @penna-nomen @cosmicalart @sherryvalli @jesuisici33 @cha-melodius

#tag game #i thought this would be harder than it was but this was so fun!!!#it was hard to pick witch of FT's books to use tho #theyre like a package deal to me

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baladric · 1 year

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oh god fucking help me, i'm about to loan my copies of six of crows and crooked kingdom to the friend i have a crush on, and i just caught myself entertaining the urge to do a speed reread to.. annotate.... for them....... oh this is terrible..........

#worst part is when they asked if they should read the books and my answer was #noncommittal aside from 'idk they were formative for Me so i cant vouch for their actual quality'#and they were just like #'i like making stories with you and if this was formative then reading it will help me make better stories with you :)'#i am dead and dying #rip to me

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roguelibrarian · 4 months

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books I read in 2023

Threw together a list of books I read this year plus brief thoughts about them Just Because.

The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne - I was so, so ready to like this book and then like one chapter in suddenly got hit with the reveal that the backstory to it is the racist trope of "big scary Native man kidnaps a pure, virginal white girl to be his wife." So....fuck that shit.

So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow - Heck yes. Excellent book. It's a retelling of Little Women set in the Roanoke Freedmen's Colony. The author leans into how aro-coded Jo is. Also Beth lives.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer - Yeah, I didn't finish this one. I got so bored.

Common Bonds: A Speculative Aromantic Anthology ed. by Claudie Arseneault, C.T. Callahan, B.R. Sanders, and RoAnna Sylver - I mean it's an anthology, so some of the stories just did not work for me, but I am ecstatic over the concept alone and most of it was amazing.

The Companion by Katie Alender - Creepy as shit in the best possible way. My one complaint is that after 200 pages without a hint of romance, suddenly a character showed up who was so obviously meant to be the main character's love interest and that part was exhausting. Otherwise excellent, amazing, chilling as hell, and you know I love me some abuse narratives.

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake - I wanted to like this one so bad and it's not that I didn't like it, but it was just kinda...mostly okay? I felt like I was supposed to be creeped out and scared and tbh I should have been because there's some pretty disturbing shit in this book but all just fell so flat.

Sounds Fake But Okay: An Asexual and Aromantic Perspective on Love, Relationships, Sex, and Pretty Much Everything Else by Sarah Costello and Kayla Kaszyca - Bad. Just bad. Oh my g-d this book was so bad and irritating and just...if you want to learn more about aspec people or think you might be aspec yourself, please read literally anything else. I won't go into detail because I wrote a whole post about it here, but just...bad.

Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Aromantic or Asexual Identity by The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project - So, this was definitely better than Sounds Fake But Okay overall, but there is a thread of deep discomfort with the existence of sex-repulsed and romance-repulsed aspecs that keeps popping up throughout the book. It is pretty clear that at least one of the authors (and probably more than one since there were several and apparently no one raised a strong enough objection to get any of this shit scrapped or rewritten) really Does Not Like sex-repulsed and romance-repulsed people.

The Wicked Remain by Laura Pohl - Second part of a duology, and the first book was definitely better. I low-key suspect that this book might have just been Once Upon A Time fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off. That said, I am always here for queerplatonic relationship rep and stories where the Cinderella character ends up single.

Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce - Series of four books, but I'm putting all of them together here because a) my thoughts are kinda the same and b) this post is already too long. I'm not gonna say much because I have a whole post about this series in my drafts already so I'll just leave it with yeah my nostalgia for these books has worn off quite a bit.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - This was another reread and yeah it still holds up just as good as the first time I read it. Literally this is one of my favorite books.

The Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - Another reread. Excellent. Love a sequel that's just as good as the first one. Also one of my favorite books.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo - Yeah I was on a rereading spree this year. This one is also so damn good.

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo - Last Grishaverse book on the list, I promise. So good. Nina went completely off the rails in this one and I love every second of it. Really everyone went off the rails a little bit but Nina most of all.

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan - I have a post about this one here so I won't say too much in this post but g-d I love how unapologetically Jewish this book is. No stopping to explain things to any goyim who might be reading. No coddling goyishe feelings while portraying antisemitism. This book is for Jews and that's beautiful.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - Yet another reread. Actually, genuinely accurate portrayal of how PTSD triggers work. First sign of healing not being a romantic relationship but being the main character telling a shitty friend to fuck off. Literally the only thing stopping me from wholeheartedly shouting "I love this book so much" is that there's a random use of the r-word because this book is from the 90s and back then it was basically illegal to publish fiction about teenagers without having your characters use that word.

We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation by Eric Garcia - So I've got mixed feelings about it but ultimately I'd say this book is a net positive. Definitely recommend it for nonautistic people and for autistic people whose only exposure to the autistic community is through spaces like tumblr. Just don't have this be the only book you read about autistic people, you know?

#book blogging #book club with rogue #''threw together'' is a phrase which hear means ''i've been working on this post for like a week''

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vennylavey · 1 year

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Sorting out my Thoughts regarding Tolya and Inej

A few days ago, I finished watshing Shadow and Bone Season 2 and

what.

The.

FUCK.

Some background before you quote me on this!

I first fell in love with the crows on Season 1 of S&B. They, along with the sheer insanity of the fandom that I resonated with, encouraged me to buy the duology and read the hecc out of it. Out of all the grishaverse books, I've only ever read the six of crows duology, so I only know show!Tolya from S&B Season 2.

I am an avid Kanej shipper. I love Kaz. I'm in love with Inej. Love them together and as individual characters. (recently started rereading, and since mentally separating the show and the books, i've been really seeing them in a new lights from both angles! and both endear me.) I hold this ship sacred and very close to my heart, and nothing will ever change that.

Some spoilers from here on out!

Like any other fellow fan who followed the series primarily because of kanej, who learned to peck for crumbs in the briefest (longest) of gazes and the subtlest of interactions, I was on the edge of my seat anticipating every smidge of development between my favourite pair.

It wasn't a steady rise in progression, but it was the Kaz and Inej way, and I loved it. Ot's nice that they kept that sense of angsty realism from the books. (Can't say the impact and heaviness of Kaz's trauma and backstory was fully communicated, but Freddy did SO GREAT.) The sort-of push and pull kept me positively on my toes throughout the whole series, so I became laser-focused on their relationship the whole time.

Then came rolling Episode 8.

GLORIOUS 'and how would you have me?' MOMENT. the tension, the looking at each other, the miniscule changes in expression, the way you could see the monologue in the pause between responses - yes, im talking about kaz 'you, inej. you.' brekker (bless u freddy carter) - and the sheer fragility of the moment. it's everything i could have asked for in an adaptation of that scene

AND I WAS ABSOLUTELY FLOORED.

(and devastated. angst symptom, really. but mostly floored.)

Then we got a little moment with Nikolai and Mal, and damn, even after a break-up-but-not-really-a-break-up, INEJ LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL I SKDJFKDJ

She looked hopeful, which makes sense. For her, its a new beginning. Its a half equivalent of the ending she got in crooked kingdom. The best thing about it is that she just doesn't look like she has any regret. (Not that she doesn't care about Kaz, but that she doesn't regret not settling for less than she deserves.) AND INEJ - inej deserves that kind of weightless freedom.

AND THEN AND THEN

THAT SCENE

THAT SCENEEEEEE

TOLYA OFFERED A HAND FOR THE BAG. LIKE, NOT EVEN TO HELP HER UP YET, SPECIFICALLY FOR THE BAG, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY. Inej is a bit estranged by the gesture (She's so used to mannerless crows lol) but gives it, anyway. Tolya offers his other hand. Inej, endeared, but confused, accepts the help, AND YOOO

THE HEAT.

THE HEAT IN TOLYA'S GAZE AS INEJ WALKS FURTHER ONTO THE SHIP.

THE LITTLE SMALL SMIRK AS HE LOOKED AT HER.

THAT. BROKE ME.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

The tension was there. It's so obvious. THEY (production) MADE SURE IT WAS FELT. I'm balling because I got totally played by the pacing.

Most of what I felt throughout the scene mirrored Inej's. Did not consider AT ALL that Tolya was holding any interest for her, so the quiet and the emphasis in the nonverbal cues in the scene really built up the realization, and that expression Tolya had after Inej turns away hit me in the face like it was Kaz's cane.

Looked for images online, showed it to my friends, and REALLY had to ask their opinion if said expression was a look of interest or I'm just overthinking it. IT COULD VERH WELL BE HIM PLAYFULLY TEASING HER BEING UNUSED TO GENTLE FRIENDLINESS, RIGHT? Friends said that look is their exact look when looking at their love interest, and mhm. Admittedly, I was in denial.

Saw a reddit thread about it! I WAS SO GLAD I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW IT. THEY EVEN LISTED SOME OTHER SCENES FROM OTHER EPISODES THAT POINTED TO TOLYA'S INTEREST, and oh, they were so right.

Having rewatched it, it was really obvious. The tension was there when I really looked at them. I EVEN MISSED HOW TOLYA WAS TELLING OVHAL TO TAKE HIM INSTEAD OF INEJ.

I felt like, from that, I really should have seen it coming.

But I understand that it was easy to get distracted by the other narratives! Such as wesper troubles in paradise, hyperfixated on the way tolya meditated(?) to withstand the poison longer, INEJ'S DELUSION????, Jesper's heartwarming and simultaneously heartbreaking dream, KAZ DENYING HOW MUCH INEJ MEANS TO HIM, Ohval's badassery (i did not think she could get any more badass, but she did), and that wonderful fight scene??? Oh, yeah. So much was happening.

After that scene in episodr 8, it was hard not to try following where his gaze led for the rest of the episode, and definitely found it briefly landing on the part of the boat that Inej was a few seconds later revealed to be hanging from.

Did I already love Tolya before the scene that dropped the bomb? Yes. Do I still love Tolya? Yes, I do. Do I love him so much more for it, regardless? Yes, yes, yes.

Tolya alone with his passion for poetry, family, adventhre, and his superstions was loveable enough. But anyone who treats Inej with the respect she so rightfully deserves also gets a great in my book.

BUT DID I IMMEDIATELY FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT REALLY BEING ADVERSE TO THE IDEA OF TOLYA BEING INTERESTED IN INEJ?

Honestly, a little bit.

But Kanej would always be endgame. And I do not see Tolya as a threat to that.

It's a little unnerving how I didn't see these details and made the connrctions in the series as I watched, but Inej and Tolya are plenty alike.

Both are passionately religious, both know their superstitions, both have an occupation or a way of life that somehow go against some principles of their beliefs, and they SUCKED AT FIGHTING OHVAL LMAO but their movements and actions in episode 6 were really in sync. Could probably inflict more damage together with more practice, but it's a nice detail that they didn't accidentally hit each other even once despite fighting side by side for the first time. (Or I may be overthinking it, and it's just all the characters' innate experiences in fighting because there also wasn't any problems when Inej fought alongside Zoya, someone she also met only recently.) Other than the fighting, it should also be noted that when the door closed, they kinda moved at the same time. could be for cinematic effect. but it can also be interpreted as both of them being right hands mans of a sort, inej to kaz, and tolya to nikolai, leading them to develop similar habits.

These similarities give them something to bond over. Gives Inej someone to learn from. And I don't know Tolya's story yet, but these common traits and interest is part of the main reason I like their dynamic. Doesn't need to be romantic. I feel they can be great friends and close allies, and if they get flirty, that would also be amusing.

I would love to see their on screen interactions in general.

Regarding Inej's trauma and Tolya's Aro-ace representation

If you think about it, these two facts kind of make them compatible. Self-explanatory. If you see this as a ship, Inej not wanting to be touched and Tolya's minimal need/no need for touch is the simplest way to go about things, I feel. Wouldn't fault you for taking that route.

But part of the reason why Kanej works so well is that they encourage and motivate each other to heal from their trauma.

And unless Inej comes out as Ace/Aro/Aro-Ace, it's healthy for book!inej to desire to touch another person in spite of her trauma. No matter how slow the progress.

In the show, Inej's trauma is never discussed at all. It even seems non existent. I could handle them not confronting it directly. It's possible they may be saving it for the spinoff. But the show of physical casual physical contact kind of negates that a bit, such as Jesper coming up to hug Inej and spin her around. But to fit in the narrative, I think Tolyacan help with that. More on that in a bit, but first

The headcanon that Tolya is Aro-Ace

This is really the only source I found regarding any book statements about the origins of Tolya being Aro-Ace. And I've read the fact that Tolya is the only one eith no clear partner through the books have been brought up!

And while I first interpreted this quote from the book as something like, he just doesn't particularly think about it or desire it, and is completely fine with taking his time,

I am also very much in love with the Aro-Ace representation. It's rare, and it feels right on Tolya, to be honest.

Like I said, I don't particularly want him and Inej to be a certain way. (TRYING SO HARD NOT TO PROJECT ON INEJ CAUSE IM ATTRACTED TO HIM) But i do want to see some semblance of closeness between them!

So Queer platonic relationships do exist. I think it's a valid path or ending fanfiction-wise for those who want them 'together' together! I think the exposure to it, and how such a relationship would work, still validates the representation. but I'm not Aro-Ace myself, so do correct me if I'm wrong, and my sincerest apologies if I've offended anyone.

Part of why I still find hope for the Aro-Ace HC is because Tolya doesn't seem to be operating on his interest for Inej based on physical attraction or emotional connection. His intetest truly started from the life debt, then gratitude, thst he'd developed concern for her. I also think Tolya could just be a bit reverent of Inej (hence the look in e08), or appreciate her as a person or someone he could resonate with, but that's my own headcanon.

For how whatever is between tolya and inej could be a significant narrative, please refer to this BCOS THEY SAID IT PERFECTLY AND THATS RLLY THE ONLY WAY I CAN ENVISION IT HAPPENING ROMANTICALLY, AND REALLY ITS SO TRUEEE, AND DOES WONDERS FOR THE KANEJ DEVELOPMENT, would make endgame kanej all the more gratifying. its a bit inej-centered tho, and we also need to talk about how its important to tolya

this one explains how it would be narratively significant for tolya, too. tolya's realization of identity happening in the show also kind of matches the kind of subtle changes the adaptation makes to characters (like how in the show, we are shown inej's first kill, but inej has long resorted to murder in the start of soc), so personally, i agree, and think it would fit.

Friendly reminder that I wrote this with consideration to the separation of the show and the book!

Just had to get this out so I can finally focus on my exams!

Remember to keep rewatching season 2 <3 WE NEED THAT SIX OF CROWS SPIN OFF. dont even think abt cancelling, netflix

#inej x tolya #tolnej #kaz x inej #kanej #shadow and bone s2 #shadow and bone #my kanej loving heart is guilty #but in it #there is room for tolya #this is extremely self indulgent #TOLYA SAID WELCOME ABOARD #AND I FELT THAT SO HARD

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piratespencil · 1 year

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1 & 2 for the book asks, please! Yay books!

1. book you’ve reread the most times?

I answered this one earlier but I'll give another answer! I don't reread things a lot but the fact that I've read both Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo more than once shows you how much I love those books... They're long but they're fantastic. Fantasy heist crew doing fantasy heists. Very good.

2. top 5 books of all time?

Top five of all time is too hard so I'm going to cheat and say top 5 I read this year haha... This might get long so I'm going to do a count-down under the cut:

5) In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent - This is a non-fiction book about conlangs and it's super interesting!! The older I get the more I realize that non-fiction books can be fun actually...

4) All Systems Red by Martha Wells - I got really into sci-fi this year and this series, The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, is so good. A security construct (part human part robot) hacks itself so it can just hang out and watch TV all day and then stuff happens. I love Murderbot with my whole heart. Great place to start if you haven't read a lot of sci-fi but want to.

3) Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch - This is another non-fiction book!! This one is about internet language and internet culture and it is so interesting and so well-written, absolutely one of my favourite books of all time.

2) Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - The whole Locked Tomb series by Tamsym Muir is super cool. Weird, trippy gothic horror slash sci-fi with lesbians. But the most recent book in the series, Nona, is absolutely my favourite one so far. Weird gender stuff. Super endearing narrator. Bonkers plot. God is a twitch streamer from New Zealand. Love it.

1) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - More sci-fi!! This book is basically just the episodic adventures of a little long haul ship crew traveling through space but there is something so endearing about the characters and so compelling about how this book is written. As soon as I read it, it scratched an itch I didn't know I had. I'm gonna reread it at some point for sure. (It's the first book in the Wayfarers series, and while the other books in the series are also cool, they deal with different characters and this one is by far my favourite.)

Sorry that was so long!!! I hope you liked this list though, I highly recommend all these books, especially if you enjoy sci-fi and/or non-fiction about linguistics haha.

#thank you for the questions!!!! love having an excuse to gush about the stuff i've been reading #yay books!#reply #ask meme #books #katia-dreamer #kk talks about stuff

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slashthreat · 1 year

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what's your favorite book? if you don't have one, what's the book you read most recently?

this is the most awesome question you could ever ask me thank you so fucking much.

i have a lot of favorite books lololll it's very hard for me to choose just one but one of all-time favorites is six of crows by leigh bardugo which i know is like. i feel like everybody talks about it and says it's their favorite book but it really is just that good lol it's a ya fantasy and i'm very biased when i reread it but i still think it's enjoyable for adult readers bc both my parents like it and i know a lot of people who read it as adults but also still really love it, i first read it when i was like 14 though i was barricade for the crooked kingdom release and it wrecked my shit.

a lot of my favorites are ya because i only stopped regularly reading it over adult books like 2-3 years ago and i haven't read too many that have become my favorites over the books i was reading for like. ten years of my life before that lol but have a shortlist of some of my other favorites:

ya: an ember in the ashes series

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jennystahl · 1 year

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2, 3, 12 & 22 for the book asks <3

Did you reread anything? What?

I'm rereading Game of Thrones right now actually 😏 I miiight reread Christmas Angels by Alice Duncan just for the holiday spirit, but I don't tend to reread books except certain passages I want to revisit

What were your top five books of the year?

In no particular order:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Any books that disappointed you?

A lot 😒 Such is the struggle of a mystery reader because everyone thinks they're Agatha Christie. Bittersweet Brooklyn, while not a mystery, was a book I've been wanting to read for a longgg time and it was one of the grossest breaches of excitement for a book of all time. Murder at the Mena House was also horrible (and written by a cop ew). I was sadly disappointed by Metro 2033 as well.

What’s the longest book you read?

Not counting the reread of GoT or collections: Crooked Kingdom at 560 pages.

#thank youuu i love talking about this heh #asks #gwynbleidd

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iambecomeyourvillain · 2 years

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I have some book recs (with short summaries/descriptions)! even though i have no idea what kind of books you like

Sylo -DJ MacHale (first book in a trilogy) Begins on a peaceful island community that is rocked by a series of mysterious deaths, and quickly becomes a massive conflict that will determine the future of mankind. A group of young people uncover clues they hope will lead to the truth behind the madness for nothing is what it first appears to be.

Defy the Night -Brigid Kemmerer (first book in a series) A kingdom is divided by corruption and a young prince is trying to hold it together as a young girl risks everything to ruin it.

The Hazel Wood -Melissa Albert (first book in a series) Follows the seventeen year old Alice Proserpine as she journeys into the world of her grandmother's fairy tales.

Imposter Syndrome -Kathy Wang A spy mystery sort of novel that focuses on women trying to find successul jobs and also they just so happen to be spies.

Cloud Cuckoo Land -Anthony Doerr There's a handful of main characters that are all trying to figure out the world around them. Througout their stories they discover the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land and it helps them get through life. The main story of Cloud Cuckoo Land is woven throughout the characters' stories. (I read the whole book in like 2 days. Once you get past the begining it's just *chef's kiss*)

The Testing -Joelle Charbonneau (first book in a trilogy (I've only read the first book so the other two might be terrible)) A girl from a small colony in the middle of nowhere has been choosen to be tested by the government and is taken from her home. Her father warns her not to trust anyone and she obviously doesn't listen at first.

Vicious -V.E. Schwab (techically part of a series but works as a standalone) Focused around two college students who learn how to create superhuman abilities and later become archenemies. Victor and Eli begin as college roommates and discover that near-death experiences, under the right conditions, can create superhuman abilities. And then they start on two very different paths.

Six of Crows -Leigh Bardugo (I bet you've never read this before /sar) You can never read it too many times (same with crooked kingdom)

ALSO, you're that cool mutual that I never talk to so hii :)

oh my god oh god oh my GOd thaNK YOU FOR THESE? listen i love you

i'd read anything with found family actually

sure as if i didn't reread six of crows within four months of reading it for the first time aNd started my third read last month because i'm thAT obsessed

also vicious my beloved

#i need victor vale to stab me thank you very much #yesimighthaveissues #anyways #what can i call you??#asks #books #book recs

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