began reading a bit of immortal longings last night, here are my thoughts (as of now, i'm at the part where anton's at the weapons dealer shop after looking at the tv screen about calla (no. 57) be the leading player).
first of all, i love the imagery chloe uses to describe san-er. it makes the city itself seem alive, as if it's as much of a character as august or calla or anton or galipei. it really plays into how good the worldbuilding is.
speaking of galipei: how did that one person on twitter think he's a horse??? obviously, no hate to that person, this is all in good fun, but in literally his first introduction ON PAGE THREE, they mention him "nudging august's crown back into place with practiced familiarity", talking, and his hands, etc.
i love calla as a character. how she tries to be "good". one thing i find interesting about her is her lack of guilt regarding her massacre. she's so secure in her own inherent idea of "goodness", and in her own actions. it's definitely interesting to see, especially how she'll navigate her deal with august (who just wants power). (i mean, i could be misinterpreting both of their characters haha).
anton is very silly to me, but he's definitely masking that silliness with a rage against the monarchy, with the power he lost, etc. also, why is nobody else trying to save his girlfriend? was her family killed too?
on anton's character: i only know of mark antony from julius caesar, but in jc, antony is first introduced as an unserious partier, but he turns about to be one of the most cunning and calculating characters. feels like we're seeing this rearing to life atp in the story (with him saying "interesting" @ the news report)
i love chami and yilas <333333 ("if you took yilas away from her, chami might spontaneously combust" HOW CUTE IS THAT HAHAHAHHAA. i also love the little looks they share when calla's talking to them. married couple behaviour.)
i like leida too, but i dont know much about her yet
i've seen many criticisms on the "games" aspect of il from popular booktubers and how "it tries to be the hunger games but fails" or whatever, but i think the two situations are completely different.
the hunger games are the main focal point of the story, one of the most egregious examples of the capitol's apathy and cruelty to the districts. the games of il are, in essence, a means to an end. they aren't meant to be the focal point of the story. they're there to show how kasa's ignoring the poverty and suffering in his country by throwing money at the worst victims of it. canonically, the hunger games are a punishment for a rebellion almost 75 years ago. kasa's games are more of a gladiator-style combat to silence the suffering of his citizens.
i mean, this is my interpretation. i could be wrong.
aaaand thats it as of now! ill come back to this when i read more
