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The way I see it is that romantasy is a genre where the fantasy world is set up as a mechanism for the romance which is the main plot but I don’t like to call books that I enjoy romantasy even when they are because I have a negative opinion of a lot of the romantasy books I see and so I conflate the genre with those opinions. I would classify Divine Rivals as a romantasy because the main plot is the romance and the magical elements are all set up to serve the romance but it’s done well in my opinion and has mote substance than the standard romantasy. I don’t necessarily think all romantasy have a lot of smut but I think a lot of them do so I can see why the genre might be associated with smut.

I’ve decided after reading @tkingfisher’s Hemlock & Silver that what I love about her novels (besides the well developed world building, the compelling plots, characters who feel real and flawed, and romances that make me beam even when they’re subplots) is that I can always feel the passion for whatever thing that originally drew her attention and made her go “Oh this would make a great book!”. Swords, perfumes, paladins, bugs, poisons— her curiosity is so captivating.

one thing about tfota that makes me love it so much is that I want to see more of everything. i want to see what cardan’s days were like in hollow hall, i want to see more of his dynamic with locke, valerian and nicasia. i want to see his interactions with his sisters, however brief or hurtful they might have been. i want to see more of his relationship with nicasia. i want to see eva and madoc’s love story. i want to see eva and justin’s love story. i want to see more of asha and eva’s friendship. i want to see more of vivi and heather. i want to see taryn and jude slowly re-building their relationship and taryn apologizing. i want to see madoc raising his daughters when they were little. i want to see more of van and liliver’s past. i want to see garrets’ past as well. i want to see more of orlagh and nicasia’s relationship. i want to see madoc and oriana realizing they are in love now. i want to see more of liriope. i want jude and cardan to sit down and have a talk about the shit they put one another through. i want MORE please give me more

Yeah the story is mostly political with a strong romance side plot that is ingrained in the politics. Cardans character is really important to me because the parts of him that make him redeemable are always there you just don’t see it from Jude’s perspective until later on (like the comment from balekin about bringing the human girl back this time or the finger prick or how he waited until Jude was out of the water and free and clear of the nixies before leaving). As you’re reading it the first time it’s like oh this guys terrible I hate him but as it progresses and his actual personality is revealed you see that the good parts of him were always there just too subtle to recognize without context.

I’m a Taryn Duarte apologist because they were both in the same position and both did terrible things to gain power, influence, and respect but Jude is praised for it and Taryn is demonized. Like what Taryn did to her was terrible and awful and a betrayal but let’s not forget that Jude consistently used the trust of those around her for her own gain. Also ☝️ Locke being a Gancanagh means there’s a possibility that Taryn had less choice in the matter than it initially seemed. From Taryn’s perspective she was going to make a good match that would have offered protection to her and Jude while maintaining a place for them in faerie. At the end of the day they both could have just cut and run and left faerie forever but they didn’t, Taryn just chose marriage to Jude’s murder.

The Queen of Nothing approaches the question age old question, “would you still love me if I was a worm” with a sincerity you have to admire

It also proposed a new question, “would you love me if you were a worm”.

Imagine you're a 15 year old boy. You probably never knew kindness in your life because your mom died when you were little and your dad is too obsessed with war and murder and world domination to care about you. You live to please him. You'd do anything to make him proud. You *have* done awful, awful things to appease him. Things that keep you up at night. You're mean and a bully and act like you're the boss of everyone because you hurt inside and because you're trying to play the part of the man, the big authoritative man your father can't help but be proud of. There's this one kid who your father is obsessed with for some reason. He makes you work with him. You don't get why this guy is so special but whatever. You fight with him everyday but you still work side by side. You two commit more awful things to appease your father. Your father is kinda ... happy? No one can read him anyway. You spend months and months with the other kid. You two grow kinda close. Maybe he's not that bad after all. You both get a promotion. Your father is so proud of you two, his sons. You're so happy you can't even think straight. Maybe you can all be a family now, yes , you your new brother and your dad. Your father trusts you to lead his army to war and you will, you'll prove yourself to him and he'll love you. You come back from what ended up being a diversion, not the actual war, and your new family is fighting. Your dad tells you to shoot your brother. You would never. Your brother threatens to shoot you. What? Your father shoots you. Why? to "remove you from the equation". You die and in your last seconds you ask to be forgiven. You regret it all so much. You finally see through your father's constant manipulation but it's too late. You die. Your brother goes to war with the rifle your dad had given you , the rifle you were to protect yourself with in battle. You're dead and you don't know that the rifle was unloaded. You're dead and everyone you've ever loved betrayed you. You're Davy fucking Prentiss Jr and you haunt my existence

The more I think about Davy Prentiss Jr the more tragic he becomes. He was cruel his whole life because that is what he was taught and what he believed he needed to be to be seen by his father the one person he wanted to love him. And then some guy shows up who is the opposite of everything his father has told him to be and for some reason he’s doted on by his father. And this guy is just so different from all the men he’s ever known because he was raised with love and so he knows how to love and to be loved and that love isn’t a conditional thing that can be given or taken away. Davy Prentiss Jr. never even stood a chance. He died at the hands of the one person he would have done anything for and died never knowing what it meant to be someone’s son.

I was also thinking about this. I was also wondering if my lovely if slightly evil girl Nicasia also was influenced by his powers. Like she very obviously loved Cardan and wanted to be with him and then got with Locke for seemingly no reason and seemed to deeply regret it after the fact. Learning about his abilities really makes his character that much more evil and cruel because for one there is the obvious issue of consent and for two he was using magic to sabotage and destroy other peoples relationships for fun, and he focused on people he was supposed to care about like his friends and fiancé. Taryn is very much hated by readers but I’ve always felt it wasn’t all that warranted, especially with this new knowledge of lockes abilities and that she might have had no choice but to love him above all others.

As a poet, I also want my viewers to take this rather beautiful allegory into account.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how people actively avoid caterpillars but the plants they’re trying to grow actually need them to survive. Like sure they might hurt the plant a bit as larva but someday they’re going to be a pollinator and if you kill them they never will be.