Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: sick
  • Music: Vixy and Tony, "Trouble."

ASHES OF HONOR open thread!

To celebrate the release of Ashes of Honor, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book. Judging by the comments I'm seeing, you've had time.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.) I will be DELETING all comments containing spoilers which have been left on other posts. No one gets to spoil people here without a label.

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and try not to bleed on the carpet.
Tags: ashes of honor, geekiness, open thread, toby daye
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  • 202 comments
...go 4 levels up... Expand

ambermoon

September 13 2012, 02:23:46 UTC 4 years ago

Another thing I really liked about that scene is that after Toby starts crying during her speech, when Tybalt reaches out to touch her face he doesn't wipe away her tears, because at that moment he needs reassurance from her like she needs it from him. So many authors (not just male ones, either) would've stumbled at that one - by now it's just what I expect when I pick up a book. It's nuances like this one that keep Toby and Tybalt's relationship on a truly equal footing, and it's so incredibly refreshing.

It reminds me of the scene in Late Eclipses that I use as my plug to get all my feminist friends to read the books: when Toby is in hysterics because she thinks she really is going crazy, Tybalt neither 'makes it all better' nor has the reaction of 'oh god hysterical female!' He appeals to her reason, gets upset and worried without flipping out, and refers to still needing her help in a major way. In other words, he continues to engage with her as an equal. That . . . basically doesn't happen in literature. There are so many potential pitfalls in that scene and Seanan avoided every one of them, and she may be the only author I've read who's attempted a scene like that and navigated it perfectly. I'm still floored every time I think about it - let's all cheer for negative space, when what isn't there is more impressive than what is.

Basically I'm a very critical feminist but also a romantic sap, which is why Toby and Tybalt makes me so. Damn. Happy.

ambermoon

September 13 2012, 02:27:13 UTC 4 years ago Edited:  September 13 2012, 02:30:27 UTC

(Well, that and the fact that I adore both characters and adore how they are together - but I can love it without caveats. And I don't usually get that chance.)