cardanfckinggreenbriar

so apparently people are not liking this book. which icl is a little bit WILD to me because i thought it was brilliant.

but here are my thoughts on why that *might* (emphasis on MIGHT don't come at me if you have some ✨quirky✨ reason for why you didn't like it i literally don't care) be the case.

there will be some spoilers ahead, i will try to limit them, but you guys are pretty unpredictable anyway, just don't say i didn't warn you.

most people reading this duology have come straight from tfota (and if you're not wtf are you doing here, go sit your ass down and read tcp, you demon) and if that's the case, there is a high likelihood you are a reader who idolises jude and cardan and puts them on a pedestal (AS THEY DESERVE ABSOLUTE BEAUTIFUL ICONS.) and you know, although we were warned by holly that this first book would be in suren's perspective, it's not so comfortable to not only be so tantalisingly close to them and not see them (we want our babies back), but to see them, to see this world, to see other characters, too (like oak), through a completely different lens.

i've heard people saying it's flat for that, and i get we're returning to a world, it might feel like holly is just doing some recycling but icl i kinda really love the book for that, and it also seems like a really holly thing to do.

i mean sure, i could have maybe lived without madoc's return, but i also think that it really works.

back to the point tho, for suren, this is a very different world, her relationship with it is different, and the people in it, though familiar to us, are not to her, and i think the main thing to take away from this is to remember that not one of these characters are clear cut heroes or villains. they're people.

jude, to suren, is just a cold, harsh, strategic mortal queen — funnily enough, suren probably didn't get to read tfota, so hasn't experienced jude the way that we have, and the same for other characters that we are familiar with.

i mean think about it, when we read tfota and suren was described as 'creepy' and all that, did we bat an eyelid? no, we accepted it, mainly because we were seeing suren the way that jude and her family were, as a monster girl, whose parents wanted her to marry oak, and we didn't want that. we see it politically, also. when we see this through suren's eyes, all of a sudden, it's heartbreaking, and ofc it is, because she was a child, and she was being manipulated and used, she wasn't saved, she wasn't treated with any sort of love, from anyone.

but jude couldn't give her that love. for so many reasons. but still, that makes her seem like less of a hero (again, not that she was one to begin with.)

and if they're not the heroes anymore, if our way of seeing things suddenly becomes blurrier and less defined, where does that leave them? we feel like everything becomes less stable, because in most books, we're used to the protagonist telling us how we should feel.

so it feels like the possibility of things going south for our favourite characters is all too real, and no one likes that. i hate the idea of jude and cardan not getting their perfect happy ending, whatever that looks like... but i'm not too sure that i want it to look any different to how we expected it: them being in love, high king and queen forever and ever and having lots of children, until they get too old and tired and decide to retire together.

of course, the plot itself also destabilises the chances of this, but i won't go into that in detail here just in case someone with a taste for chaos has decided to read this far (!! i said begone, demon !!)

but here's the thing, like i said, in holly's books, the characters are first and foremost people. jude makes mistakes, does so many horrible things, and tbf in the reading community, we have a bit of a nasty habit of glorifying that, and just saying slay, she's a badass (which she IS, but also guys... murder... bad...?), especially when it's the main character (see the way people still villainize taryn... but that's a whole other discussion.) and what does that mean? it means independence. yes there's mention of fate in the books, but there is independence and true character growth.

now here's the thing. we have a whole other book to come. i doubt that holly is going to leave suren where she is (unless she does which could also be so cool and open up a whole new universe of opportunity for the direction in which elfhame goes and whilst this might be completely evil, i could so get behind that. ANYWAY) why is holly writing suren? what are suren's fears? what is suren's motivation rn? if we examine all of these things, we see that wren is still grappling with all of these things, and that the position she is in right now isn't going to help her or satisfy her.

suren's whole life has been dictated by the greed and megalomania of the people around her. she is suffering because of that exact greed and megalomania. power will not heal her, not like this, at least.

and finally, coming to oak. holly has already played the 'i-don't-want-to-be-king-but-ends-up-being-one-and-a-really-good-one-because-i-didn't-want-to-be-one-in-the-first-place' card with cardan. i don't personally think she's planning on playing it again with oak. i think it's a really clever way of suggesting at it, and reminding us, and showing us what we're used to, but i think oak is being honest. ofc, i also HOPE he is being honest.

there is also the next book's title to think about (the prisoner's throne) but in all honesty, i don't think speculating on that will be worthwhile. holly really could throw anything at us.

i have a couple of other thoughts, about jude and cardan and what might be going on there, but those thoughts don't really sit right with me and aren't really constructive to the happy endings lol so i don't like them and will not be sharing bc i do not have to !! 🥰

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