Speaking in Tongues

I wish fandom thought a little more about how age factors into dynamics for Occtis especially. Not in any ‘gotcha’ sense of trying to pass moral judgments, just as something shaping dynamics.

Julien in ep. 31 appeared to put together that Occtis’ reaction to Primus enraged was terror and believing he was next just after Occtis said (among other things) that he was tired of trying to make himself into someone/act in ways that would make Julien not try to kill him. Occtis’ default assumption is that he isn’t safe and people are going to try to kill him. He’s also a decent bit younger than Julien.

Thimble and Occtis both have weird relationships with age, maturity, and experience. Thimble expected to remain in a child state her entire life. The doors to fairy closing made her age but it isn’t natural to her. The experiences associated with aging and physical maturity are not things she had reason to expect. Occtis died young and inexperienced. He still feels emotion but there’s a lag to many things and his body doesn’t do a lot of the things it once did. It doesn’t mean romance for him and Thimble is impossible with the size issue addressed, but if they go there I think those elements are liable to shape how that comes out tbh.

(Disclaimer, I don’t think Thimble/Occtis is inevitable—although pins and needles is a fantastic ship name. I’ve just seen people discussing various possibilities and this is an element I haven’t seen mentioned relative to them. Where shipping is concerned I am mostly in a ‘need more development’ mindset.)

Kattigan has realized that Occtis is the son of the man who killed his family. I think he may have entirely forgotten that Wulfric and Pin are friends, and tbh idk if he knows Primus had Occtis killed at this point with the questions he asked. Idk if he was paying attention before as a character.

I was going to start with bestselling fantasies from within the past couple of years because of how publishing industry operates. Basically, anything you want to do there they will want to know you can talk about something recent and successful. One of the books had nice style but made transparently clear within the first two chapters that there were certain people the reader was meant to find uniformly, irredeemably repulsive and/or stupid. It felt like the author had a personal vendetta that was flattening characters, so I just wound up going :/ and putting it aside. The second book I tried was better and also stylistically nice, but it seemed like the author was someone with extremely conspicuous fandom-specific kinks who projected them onto historical figures. She's allowed to do what she wants ofc, but it broke my immersion. She was also doing a thing where everyone needed to be super familiar and referencing a specific set of currently known artifacts all the time. The references were correct don't get me wrong, but it felt like the author trying to prove she did her research more than authentic depictions of the characters and their environment.

I still have two other recent books, but one I know is going to be brutal af and isn't what I want to start on lol. The other seems like it could be nice but I'm honestly nervous to give it a go after those first two experiences.

So, I finally kicked myself in the ass and removed the 'recent bestsellers' criteria and just gave myself 'I have reasonable certainty this will be good' to go by instead. I can branch into other books when I get more into the swing of things, but starting off I think I need comfort zone. Strong writing + can trust the authors.

So, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle to start. I didn't actually finish it last time I tried due to life distraction, but it was absolutely stunning.

Other books on my reliable list are:

Cain by José Saramago Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer Skellig by David Almond The Seas by Samantha Hunt

I've already read The Seas and Skellig so know I love them. Have heard excerpts and analysis around The Southern Reach trilogy for Vandermeer. I kind of want to check The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, but not as ease-myself-back-in-slowly books. And I got far into Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but it's ENORMOUS and my attention span pooped out last time I tried. So want to hit it too, but same deal--not a starter. I trust Clarke's skill enough to feel at ease going into Piranesi. Cain is technically the biggest wild card but the style made a big impression so I'm willing to try it.