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fandomsecrets2017-06-04 04:03 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2017-06-04 04:03 pm
[ SECRET POST #3805 ]
⌈ Secret Post #3805 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 40 secrets from Secret Submission Post #545.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
First of all, the title was something of a misnomer to me, as there was not at any point a wizard who occupied a dragon's body or vice-versa. In the first two books there was a specific character who fit the book's title (Lucille in the first book and Frank in the second each had a turn in Sebastian's body).
That silly nitpick aside, I thought it was a pretty good ending to an enjoyable trilogy. Not the best I've ever read in the medieval fantasy genre but far from the worst. It seemed to be somewhat self-aware and poke fun at itself and at the genre.
The prose was at times a little choppy and at other times really good. There were funny lines and I liked a lot of the dialogue. However, sometimes when Frank gave some exposition or was doing personal reflection it sounded clunky and weird.
I'm not even a little surprised that they made Frank/Lucille endgame but I enjoyed it even though I didn't ship it particularly hard at the end of the first book. It was done endearingly and focused on their emotional relationship and the bond they had from going through a bunch of shit together.
One character who is super interesting to me and who I wanted to make sure I talked about is Krys. In every way possible except coming right out and saying it Krys was written as a trans guy, though most of the characters still called him "she" because they have no real concept of what that means. I sort of expected at some point for him to say "just call me 'he'" (though obviously he was ok with that because he didn't correct Alfred for doing it on accident and tacitly told Lucille that that was his preference), but I suppose it wouldn't have occurred to him to do that, really. I feel bad for him because unlike the main characters, he never found a resolution for his body issues. :/ And there's no doubt Lothan could have taken care of that for him. (I know he wants a male body becuase he talked about trying to make it happen in book 2 with the Tear.) It's understandable that it wasn't really on Frank's mind, though, I guess. Anyway I'm really intereted in hearing other peoples' thoughts on this.
The ending was good in a sense that it came with a resolution for the main characters, one that I really like and hoped would happen - Lucille being able to be both a human and a dragon, and Frank getting to be human in a male body (that it was his original body was not something that I actually expected). But it left a lot of ends open, in a way that felt intentional. I hope the author leaves this as a trilogy, but I would definitely would read spin-off stories that deal with some of the other characters, namely Brock (who I just really like in general), Forsythe (who apparently went through some kind of agreement with Lysea but then barely showed up after that so I'm not sure what happened with him other than helping save the day at the end), and especially the Handmaids, not just because of Krys but also because it felt a little awkward how we didn't even see Mary and Grace after the first scene of the story. Also I just really like them and would 100% read a story about just them lol. Oh, and we didn't get any follow-up of King Dudley either.
Also, Lucille's dragon form at the end was super badass. :3
Thoughts? Did you enjoy this more or less than the other books in the trilogy? (about the same for me.) Was the body-swapping annoying or endearing? How'd you like Elhared and Sebastian as villains? Any other characters stand out to you? Tell me what you think and feel free to ask any questions you may have!
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
(Anonymous) 2017-06-04 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)I think it provided a nice end point of Frank and Lucille's character arcs, I felt they both learned and grew in a mostly realistic fashion throughout the series (well, as realistic as you can get in a body swapping medieval fantasy book series) so they both ended as more mature and self aware people.
I liked that Swann found a way, more or less, to give Rabbit/Rose a way to communicate despite her muteness. That was always the bit that freaked me out the most about the previous book. I get that it showed the kind of world that lay beyond the usual fantasy tropes, but the idea of someone cutting a child's tongue out was just too much for me.
I even liked that he managed to do something with Sir Forsythe. I think he was the most tragic character in the whole thing. He was cursed for what his father did, compelled to do evil upon evil, but still tried to find a way to subvert that compulsion every where he could even though it did do a real number on his sanity.
It would have been nice for Lothan or Lysea to give Krys the body he wants, but maybe that has to be in his own story and not as a sidekick to Frank and Lucille's story. Plus, does Krys really want the gods in this universe messing him about? I mean, they are kinda dicks even the "good" ones. No good comes of being the subject of the gods favours, that seems to be part of the message of the series. Maybe Krys needs to be the hero of his own story and find his own way of -and I cannot resist this pun, I'm not sorry- becoming a man.
I'd like to read a spin off series, I think there is enough worldbuilding to justify it, but I hope that the author chooses to leave Frank and Lucille as -at most- background characters in it. They'd completed their own arcs, so I'd not really want to read more of them despite how much I loved those two.
Oh and the elves continue to be complete and utter dicks too. I like that. I like my elves to be amoral assholes who operate on different moral codes entirely.
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
I think Rabbit losing her tongue wasn't the only really dark thing that happened, especially if you read through the bits with them in the second book. All of them came from some awful shit - I know some dealt with rape, and at least one with starvation to the point of cannibalism. The books are mostly very light in tone but they didn't shy away from these subjects.
I was a little confused by Sir Forsythe's storyline and how or whether it was resolved, but I might not have been reading it well. I do think Lysea's "punishment" for him was remarkably cruel, which is ironic because she's supposed to be the ~goddess of love~, but I think the book was intentionally demonstrating that her title doesn't make her benevolent - she may not have been as evil as Natlac, but she was, at least, just as self-absorbed as the other gods.
No good comes of being the subject of the gods favours
I would argue that some good came out of Frank's interactions with Lothan, but at the same time some of that was just fixing shit caused by interactions with the other gods, so. (And he and Lucille could very easily have simply died because Lothan didn't bother to tell them about the nature of the body he gave them so I'm not about to call him benevolent, either - though he's certainly interesting.)
I'd like to read a spin off series, I think there is enough worldbuilding to justify it, but I hope that the author chooses to leave Frank and Lucille as -at most- background characters in it. They'd completed their own arcs, so I'd not really want to read more of them despite how much I loved those two.
Agreed 100%! I want to see more of the characters whose arcs weren't tied up at the end of the trilogy, and Frank and Lucille's story has been told. I'd read a book just about the Handmaidens tbh.
The elves having a different moral code was very interesting and doesn't necessarily make them dicks, though some of them definitely were. Timoras almost seemed to be a slave to their bizarre code. The relationship between him and Theora is quite interesting to me, too. I'd read something about them, or including them, as well.
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
(Anonymous) 2017-06-04 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)That was a lot of tongue loss in a single week for someone who was still in single figures, agewise. Its just made tongue loss and extra special horrible thing for me. Its thirty-odd years later from all that and I still sometimes have genuine and actual nightmares where I lose my tongue.
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!
(Anonymous) 2017-06-04 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)In many ways they are a there but for the grace of god goes Frank, his dark reflection that he could have been. Last book Frank faced the man he could have been if he'd been just slightly crueler and uncaring, this book we go down the road of what he could have been if he had not learned responsibility.
Re: Book club - discussion for Dragon Wizard!