I finished Mister Impossible and...oof. All of my super spoiler-y, long-ass reactions/thoughts/opinions/theories/questions are under the cut!
Initial Reactions & Thoughts
Let's start with the biggest reveal: RONAN DREAMT BRYDE. THE FUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK. I am Boo Boo the Fool because I did not see that coming.
Also: reading the Bryde stuff was such a chore for me and there was so. much. of. it. I kept thinking, could he just bite it already? When will Hennessy shoot this motherfucker? And I don't know how to reconcile those feelings now knowing that he's an extension of Ronan :(
Second biggest reveal: all of the Moderators are dreams!! My theory is the government agencies have dreamers at their disposal and made them dream up the Moderators, so that if one of them is killed, they can easily be replaced. It's an ethical and moral dilemma that underscores the series - are dreamt people real? - but I doubt the government gives a shit since they think they're saving the world.
Maggie really chose violence by giving us one single Pynch interaction and making it painful af
Ronan's dream phone lock screen picture of him and Adam - so soft!! Someone draw it please
Adam eating the celebrity chef's gourmet waffle in like three bites with no reaction whatsoever, lol. Boy is deranged and I laughed for like five minutes
Adam's theory that dreamers have always existed and monsters and dragons were never myths, they were dreams, and we've never seen them because they've been sleeping for centuries, and that fixing the ley lines will wake them all up FUCKED ME UP. I can't stop thinking about it.
The Adam and Declan interactions were *chef's kiss*. Two bitchy assholes uniting because they both (grudgingly) love emo himbo Ronan Lynch - we love to see it!!
Jordeclan was delicioussssssss. Declan blushing over Jordan's postcard? What a cutie!! The two of them recreating their first date at the museum with the roles reversed, and Jordan whispering in his ear? SEXY. Jordan trying to make her portrait of Declan into her own personal sweetmetal? Precious!! Declan casually saying "when we're married" to her? I hope our girl fucked him on every surface of that art studio, because I would have
No coherent thoughts about Matthew, just pain
Ronan's interactions with the dreamer kids and his hug with Hennessy - fuck me up!! I've always loved his capacity for tenderness
Also: a seemingly single mother raising FIVE dreamer children??? Tell me more, tell me more
Unpopular opinion: Carliana didn't do anything for me in CDTH and I'm sorry to say I feel the same after MI. For me the issue is that one person has already experienced the entire relationship and the other person hasn't. It's a weird power imbalance born from time travel fuckery, and I'm not feeling it. Not hating on the ship at all, it's just not for me.
The Nathan backstory is fascinating to me and it feels intentional that Carmen constantly mentions him in her POV chapters. I already saw someone mention that maybe he dreamed a copy of himself and that's who Carmen killed at the beginning of CDTH, and the real Nathan is behind the scenes orchestrating a lot of what's going on.
I think Jordan is still awake at the end either because Hennessy is the one controlling the ley lines and the rules don't apply to her, or because Jordan is actually a sweetmetal and not a dream. The mechanics of sweetmetals are still confusing to me so don't ask me to explain this theory!!!
Maggie really expanded the world in the last few pages with all of the dreamed things falling asleep. I would love to see in book #3 the news coverage of what happened, how it gets explained and then covered up, and a reveal of how many dreamers there really are (or that there just are a powerful few).
Why I'm not worried about Pynch
Maggie already confirmed on Twitter that Pynch will not break up and she's not interested in writing about that kind of relationship drama anyway. If she goes against her word and/or kills off either Ronan or Adam, she loses her credibility as an author and her career will not recover. I'm not being grandiose; the Raven Cycle fandom essentially pays her bills by buying her books, and that allows her to continue writing the weird ass books she wants to write. She knows this, she ain't stupid, and I ain't worried.
(Side note: Maggie does use classic relationship drama tropes for Pynch, whether she'll admit it or not. In MI alone there's lack of communication, miscommunication, and the good ol' superhero "I'm cutting off the one I love for their own good/to save them from the bad guys". It's the context around those tropes - both characters have complicated magic and trauma, the government wants to kill one of them, the apocalypse is imminent - that make it fulfilling for Maggie to write and interesting for us to read).
Maggie likes to make her characters suffer and we often forget this between each book (myself included - I blame fluffy fanfic). Pynch angst is a given, as it is for any endgame ship.
MI made it very clear that Ronan and Adam still have a lot of growing up to do, and so it's probably healthy for them to be separated right now. Ronan literally manifested his insecurities and fears around his dreaming, family, and relationship with Adam into a cult leader and then became an eco-terrorist, and Adam is an actual con artist, creating fake friendships and swindling Harvard students out of their money with bogus tarot readings. Ronan is damaged, and Adam is fucking insane. They should be on a break!
Some characters are created to die. Take Bryde, for example. He will not survive the series because he is the Mentor and Villain in Ronan's hero journey. He also represents Ronan's inner demons, and Ronan must kill/defeat/destroy them by the end or else the journey was pointless. Ronan Lynch and Adam Parrish, however, were not created to die. They've earned the right to live long lives after all the shit they've been through. (I'm not explaining this as well as it could be explained - English majors, where you at?)
Where the fuck were Mór o Córra and the New Fenian? You're telling me there's an ageless Niall running around and the Lynch brothers, ripe with daddy issues, don't think about him once during the whole book? Sus.
When is the pale-eyed woman (presumably their Aunt) from the Opal short story going to make an appearance? I'm guessing she's connected to Mór and the New Fenian, but I could also see her coming into play with Boudicca.
How does Bryde communicate with the other dreamers, and what exactly did he communicate?
Ronan created the rumors about Bryde at the Fairy Market, according to Bryde. How though? Rumors as dreamt things that people just wake up and *know* is some serious mind fuckery
How did the Moderators get a hold of Fletcher but not Adam? I imagine it wasn't for lack of trying on the Moderators' part, so where'd he disappear to?
Does shutting down the ley lines affect Gansey since he's basically made of Cabeswater and Blue because she's an amplifier? I don't expect Maggie to address it in book #3 since Gansey was barely mentioned in MI, but I'm still curious.
I know Maggie's vague about time, but it seemed to me that the book spans Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, and now we're into January because Adam is back in the dorm. Where then did Adam spend his winter break? Did he stay at Harvard (which wasn't allowed when I was in college)? Did he go back to Henrietta and stay at Fox Way? Or go the Barns alone? Maggie also won't address this in book #3 but it makes me sad to think about and I want an answer, or at least a long ass fanfic about it :(
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