☙ Pillbox and Bones ❧

- Authors started using mental health as a shortcut for depth and complexity instead of actually writing layered characterization.

- People forget that complex characters are subjective, every character can feel complex depending on the reader's perspective, experiences, and psychology, sometimes a character everyone calls simple can feel deeply layered to someone else because of how they interpret motives and behavior.

- Romance books forgot the romance part, half of them are just trauma Olympics with a kissing scene every 200 pages.

- A lot of authors genuinely don't know how to write independence, ambition, intelligence, confidence or emotional maturity without turning the character insufferable or preachy.

- The normalization of female suffering as female empowerment went way too far. A woman surviving endless abuse, humiliation and pain is not automatically feminist writing or strong characterization (yes readers, rebbeca yarros and sjm I'm looking at u 😒)

- We desperately need more male characters written as individuals with dreams, fears, flaws, personalities and identities outside of being obsessed with the FMC.

- Strong characters are not automatically the smartest, most powerful, coldest, sweetest or most traumatized. Strength comes from narrative impact, consistency and how well they move the story and themes.

- As someone who studied psychology for three years, most mental health representation in books feels performative. Mental illness is not a Pinterest aesthetic mixed with one Google search. (Yes Chloe Walsh I'm side eyeing you)

- And if the book markets itself mainly with strong FMC as the selling point… there's a 78% chance I'm running.

- Authors need to stop treating characteristics traits like a personality label. Sarcastic, witty, sweet, grumpy, cold....etc are not full personalities, they're t.r.a.i.t.s. Human beings are contradictory. Someone can be sweet as an angel and sarcastic at the same time. A grumpy man can love pink, flowers, baking or cheesy romance movies. A quiet character can still be chaotic internally. Complexity comes from contradictions, habits, fears, values and reactions not from assigning one aesthetic trait and calling it depth.

- Slow burn only works if something is ACTUALLY burning.

- A lot of feminine FMC hate discourse ignores the fact that some authors genuinely write hyperfemininity in a male gaze way (let's be real almost all FMC newdays are male gaze badass or no)

- People started treating criticism of books like personal attacks instead of normal literary discussion.

- Authors need to stop treating healing like a reward given by romantic love alone.

- More books need platonic intimacy. Not every emotional connection has to become romantic.

- Chemistry is built through observation, understanding, tension and emotional rhythm, not just..... Whatever u guys are saying or reading

- The number of pages does not determine good writing. A well written 300 page slow burn can have more emotional depth, tension and development than an entire dragged out trilogy because what matters is how the plot, pacing and characters are carried, not how long the story is. Booktok turned long series into some kind of proof of quality, acting like ''this eight book enemies to lovers will ruin every other romance'' when half the time it's just repetition, filler, recycled conflict and marketing. More pages do not automatically mean better development and if readers start treating length as the standard for quality instead of actual storytelling, pacing, characterization and emotional impact, then genuinely good writing is doomed.

- An angsty, dramatic, tragic, complex relationship does not automatically have more depth or meaning than a soft, healthy, sweet relationship. Suffering is not the only form of emotional depth and love does not need constant pain, toxicity or emotional destruction to feel impactful. If people start believing that only chaotic relationships are meaningful, then we reduce romance to trauma instead of connection, growth, understanding, trust and emotional intimacy. Sometimes the quietest relationships carry the deepest emotions because real depth comes from the writing, the emotional layering and the characters themselves, not from how much they hurt each other before kissing.

this emphasizes the horror of genocide. millenia of culture and history, individual lives filled with love, pain, and passion, just completely wiped away. there were only two surviving speerlies. one of them was too young when he was taken away, and probably doesn't remember much. the things he did remember was also probably buried under years of abuse and drugs people were plying him with. the other one didn't even know she was from speer until the last few months of her life, and there was really no one around to teach her about their culture. and if there was, life as she knows it was falling apart. learning about her dead people's culture probably didn't even cross her mind.

without saying any of these things and by intentionally leaving readers in the dark about what speer was truly like, rf kuang said so much about the horrors of genocide. by not saying anything, she said everything. she did the "show me, don't tell me" tip for writers and it was brilliant.

-    “Chaghan would have commanded like a demon. He would have achieved utter obedience from his underlings, but only because he would have taken away their free will. Chaghan would have shattered minds.”

-    “The white-haired Seer tilted his head to the sky, exposing long, jagged scars running down the sides of his pale neck. He uttered a harsh, cackling laugh.”

-   “The Seer took his hand. Brought it to his lips and kissed it.”

-   “Altan cursed under his breath. ‘Is he hurt? Where is he?’”

-   “Chaghan leaned forward. ‘If you ever speak about Altan like that again,’ he said pleasantly, ‘I will have you killed.’”

-   “‘Altan is more fragile than you think,’ said Chaghan.”

-   “She stood up and slammed her hands on the table. ‘Look, asshole, I don’t need you to tell me what to do.’

‘And yet, as your lieutenant, that is precisely my job.’ Chaghan glanced lazily up at her, and his expression was so smug that Rin trembled from the effort of not smashing his face into the table. ‘Your duty is to obey. My duty is to see that you stop fucking up. So I would suggest you get your shit together, learn to call the damn fire, and give Altan one less thing to worry about. Am I clear?’”

-   “‘They say he can do things that Speerlies can’t,’ Nezha said as they pressed on. ‘They say he can read the future. Shatter minds.’”

-   “‘But Altan was never allowed to be human,’ Chaghan said, and his voice was uncharacteristically gentle.”

-   “‘There are no shamans more powerful than me,’ said Chaghan.”

-   “‘Fine,’ he said to his lieutenant. ‘You were right.’

Chaghan hadn’t moved during the entire interrogation.

‘I’m rarely wrong,’ said Chaghan.”

-   “Chaghan and Qara may have been linked as anchor twins, but it was Altan whom Chaghan seemed bonded to.”

-   “Chaghan navigated the spirit world like he belonged there, as if he were a god himself. The Cike didn’t hesitate to talk back to Altan, but she had never seen any of them dare to so much as contradict Chaghan. Altan commanded their loyalty, but Chaghan enjoyed their fear.”

-   “Chaghan grasped Altan by the collar with both hands, pulling him down so that they were face-to-face. Altan was half a foot taller than Chaghan, could have snapped him in half with ease, and yet he did not lift a hand in defense.

Rin stared at them in disbelief. Nobody touched Altan like that.”

-   “‘I’m your Seer,’ Chaghan said. ‘I give you counsel, whether you want to hear it or not.’”

-   “‘You asked me why I wouldn’t stop him. Now you understand. You can’t stop an avenger. You can’t reason with a madman. You think I am running, and I admit to you that I am afraid. I am afraid of what he might do in his quest for vengeance. And I am afraid he is right.’”

-   “‘Fuck,’ Ramsa said quietly. ‘Chaghan’s… someone’s going to have to tell Chaghan.’”

-   “Chaghan looked sideways at her. His expression was grim. ‘You are going to paint the world in Altan’s blood, aren’t you?’

‘I’m going to find and kill everyone responsible,’ said Rin. ‘You cannot stop me.’

this first one is something that i completely breezed past in my first reading cause i didn't even know who tf chaghan was yet but on a reread????? GAY (pg. 226):

you're telling me that chaghan and altan just happened to be together when chaghan felt tyr's death? in the middle of the night??? mmhmm yup for sure

now as willing as i am to fully chalk this up to a late night chaltan tryst, i will be fair and admit that i'm not super clear on how exactly chaghan got the tyr info here. it kinda seems like he's doing his monthly meeting with the hexagram goddess (in the dialogue he literally says "there has been a hexagram" and then he interprets 3 things from it), but first off, it seems too coincidental for him to just happen to be doing that at the very moment that tyr dies, and also why tf is he doing it in the middle of the night?? is he just being extra dramatic and making up some "we have to do it at midnight" bullshit to see what he can get away with (a la the infamous kitay horse piss incident) or is there an in universe explanation for that that i've completely forgotten?

OR is it a secret, gayer third option: altan and chaghan were already together when he felt tyr's death, which then prompted him to convene with the goddess and get the hexagram. and we just don't see the full process or really get much of a proper explanation cause we're in altan's pov and it's all mysterious and shit at this point in the book. that's the one i'm going with and i cannot believe that this is their first scene together. the intimacy is already so palpable and we don't even know chaghan's name at this point in the book.

and then of course there's THIS (pg. 227):

absolutely fucking bonkers i'm spinning on my head

is anyone else this gentle with altan ever????? i'm genuinely asking. who else in the cike would even THINK about pulling a move like this? also the added layer of chaghan originally being next in line for commander before altan took him out to the fucking valley for THREE WHOLE DAYS and then THIS is his reaction to altan officially inheriting said title??? we know from a later conversation that chaghan has with rin (pg. 337) that he's very aware of how unprepared altan was to assume leadership over the cike, which just makes this gesture from him even more meaningful and tender. "we are yours to command. i am yours."

this next one just made me giggle and idk if it's just my brain being broken from scouring source material for gay crumbs or if it's actually intentional but (pg. 285):

i mean. i mean. if anyone knows the extent of chaltan, it's most definitely qara, and a lot of these crumbs involve her so i'm taking it as more evidence and no one can stop me

speaking of qara being an icon (pg. 317):

i actually forgot how much she's in this book i am so sorry queen

so unegen also has a strong reaction to ramsa's dialogue, but if i may be incredibly nitpicky about it, i'd argue that qara snorting implies a sense of "yeah right now that's funny", while unegen spitting out his wine implies more pure shock than anything else. i'm sure the cike have some idea about chaghan and altan's relationship going deeper than meets the eye (if it's this obvious from the crumbs we get over the span of a handful of scenes i can only imagine how sick and tired they must be after an entire year of it), but once again, qara is likely the only one who really KNOWS. for obvious reasons.

then we have the iconic dramatic entrance where chaghan is officially introduced, and even before zooming into a specific piece of it to prove my chaltan agenda, just the very existence of this scene is so fucking insane to me. rebecca could've chosen any way to properly introduce us to chaghan, and this is what she decided on. you could argue that it sets up chaghan's dramatic and obnoxiously proud personality, and that him being hurt is so we can see how it affects qara (and also just to up the tension and stakes) BUT how coincidental that on top of achieving all that character and narrative stuff, it also succeeds in showing us a completely different side to altan. one that is specifically brought about by chaghan.

would altan rush out into a sea of federation soldiers to help any other member of the cike? yes. but rebecca chose to show him helping THIS member of the cike. in THIS dramatic of a fashion (and it's literally on a horse like that is so fractured fairytale romance of her actually). and it's also the aftermath that really clues us into something deeper between him and chaghan in particular (pg. 373):