Bookwyrm’s Buttons & Oddities

❌ Ladies and Gentlemen

❌ Gays, gals and nonbinary pals

First of all, totally animated. We don't trust live action. Second, the style changes depending on the main character...

Season 1: total Arcane vibes. Everything is badass and grounded, JUST like Gideon would tell it. Things get a little weird when the season finale begins switching to Harrow's pov and-

Season 2: full traditional animation, hand-drawn, knights of Guinevere style. It dips disconcertingly into nostalgia as Harrow navigates the Mithraeum, and by the finale (and subsequent total breakdown of Harrow's mind) the animation gets JUST as bizarre and trippy as only traditional animation can get.

Cam and Palamedes have gone about this all the wrong way, they're probably only there to meet Dulcie frankly. Cam sticks out like a sore thumb because she's a damn good fighter but has never learned a fencing rule in her life and also they might be up for some light treason while they're flaunting the natural order of their binary gender roles. Then of course the Tridentarii and their pet Babs are there with an even BIGGER secret with HIGHER stakes and honestly they're doing a shit job at covering it up. But no one catches on bc they're too busy gawking Abigail and Magnus who aren't young anymore and can't be bothered to hide their taboo, rules breaking heresy.

Something something you come back wrong only to find out that the person you died for, your only true friend in the entire galaxy who lobotomized herself just for the slim chance it might preserve your soul, is changed beyond recognition by The Thing possessing her body. Does it pain you to see It grinning and laughing and loving in a body that should belong to Her and in ways she never could? To look in her eyes and see none of the hate/love/history/grief you once might've called home? To know that your allies chose to show It more love and care than She ever got?

dress the corpse in pink

Then for a decent portion of the book every time someone dies she thinks he killed them.

Every time he talks to her she’s so paranoid about him trying to manipulate her into giving something away or otherwise screw her over, she never accepts that he’d want to work together for anything other than sinister reasons.

Meanwhile Palamedes is casually telling anyone who will listen that he thinks she’s an incredibly cool genius who is objectively terrifying because she’s so amazing at everything she does but also he’d trust her with her life because she’s honourable like that.