#the thin executioner

I'm about to dive into the awesome novel The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan.

I’m afraid that I’ll never be OK again, that I stay this way. I know that I can do it though, I can do anything, but still, the fear of my dark!self remains.

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January 7: If you could do anything professionally, what would it be?

I’d still wanna be a doctor. Maybe beside that a firefighter? That’s not possible though, so I stick with becoming a doc. Becoming a writer would be nice too, though, but just as a hobby, let’s call it a part-time job! 😅

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January 8: Can people change?

Of course, they do! I mean, everyone has the possibility to change, but carrying out that change is not easy, and that’s where some people fail. You can’t really change your basic personality, though. But you can realize that some of it is toxic, and be aware of it. You have to live your darkness too, just you have to be careful not to hurt anyone by doing so, accepting it helps you to grow.

Generally I think people can change if they:

1) realize the problem.

2) make the decision to change.

3) are strong enough to do it.

(This book is one of my favorites, it’s about a really bad guy, changing his biased look on the world. It’s easy to read, and it’s for kids. But give it a try!)

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January 9: What never fails to make you smile?

Inside jokes with my friends, they are old, stupid, sometimes don’t even male sense, but they are the funniest things ever!

Talking to my childhood friends about the war games we had as kids at the countryside.

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January 10: What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

It’s like this book where women are treated like possessions who need to be gorgeous and wearing revealing outfits in order to be assessed by men.

Their gods are all male.

The men are brutal and they conquer other countries and force them into slavery.

Slaves are treated like shit. Basically you have to be a man from a royal family to not be treated like shit.

And we come to our protagonist. Part of a big family, a royal family, whose head of the household is the executioner, the most venerated position in society.

Because you know. Toxic masculinity and all.

He’s insecure though because his brothers are stronger and more athletic than him.

Their father is retiring and they are going to compete to take his place, right?

But he’s too weak and no one really expects him to either compete or win, so he decides to go on this journey where you sacrifice a slave to a war god, and he’ll grant you invincibility.

He finds a slave who wants his family released and the slave agrees that if he will be sacrificed, then he must promise to free his family.

So they go on this journey and a lot of shit happens but the REASON I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Is because first, the character development is phenomenal.

The protagonist is a spoiled privileged little bitch who’s always insulting or being racist or being dismissive of his slave, even when he’s giving great advice.

He’s used to being treated a certain way because of his birthright.

But he gets completely WREKT.

He gets kidnapped by a cannibalistic cult, he is forced to become a grave robber, he gets his ass handed to him by a female warrior from a village that doesn’t give a shit about his gender nonsense, and he gets saved by the slave he’s always bagging on several times.

Best thing is though, that he really learns how fucking dumb it is to think that your birthright makes you smarter or stronger or more of a leader.

He learns that other countries DONT have executions and that other countries have customs different from his own but they don’t threaten his own just because they’re different.

In fact they’re beautiful because they’re different.

There’s an extensive list of gods and religions and practices that are explored and it’s super interesting, super cool, very detailed world.

But my FAVORITE thing is what happens at the end.

Spoilers, guys.

They get to the mountain after a hellish journey.

There’s this asshole cult member who stalks them and there’s a struggle and he accidentally slits the slave’s throat.

And the slave tells the protagonist to be quick and kill him so that he can get invincibility.

But even though he’s already dying.

The protagonist refuses to because he’s his friend, and he won’t sacrifice him, because at this point he’s realized that they are friends and loyalty and compassion have gotten them here, not brutality and violence.

And then the war god…

Is actually a woman.

And it turns out that she only gives the power of invincibility to those who were too kind to kill their slaves.

She spread the rumor of invincibility knowing it would bring assholes everywhere to find it, and if they’re actually assholish enough to do it, then she kills them on the spot.

And I just FUCKING

LOVED IT.

YES.

the whole book shows you how GROSS TOXIC MASCULINITY IS.

it shows you how it hurts people, both male and female, and how it warps a society to praise brutality and anger and violence and mistreatment of everyone except your narrow group of people.

AND.

IT REWARDS THE CHARACTER WHO SPENT THE ENTIRE BOOK GROWING AND LEARNING THAT HIS COUNTRY IS FOR ONE A GENOCIDAL MANIAC.

TWO, EXTREMELY HORRIBLE BECAUSE OF BOTH ITS TREATMENT OF WOMEN AND ITS BRUTAL PUNISHMENT OF CRIMINALS (literally they kill a slave for back talking….and they killed this one guy for tax fraud or something….Donald trump would be in trouble).

THREE, that human lives have value. That your culture or your race don't make your life any less valuable than another's.

I fucking love these things where the moral of the story ends up being that kindness is ultimately the best way to go.

Compassion. Understanding. Being a decent fucking person.

It dismantles the fucking notion that being violent is being strong.

It completely dismantles the idea that you are rewarded for being cold and unfeeling to your fellow man.

The female war god?

LOVE IT.

seriously, all those patriarchal asses never expected that, did they?

And the fact that he was rewarded with what he wanted all along but not because he murdered someone that he came to love as a friend, but because he became COMPASSIONATE?

Fucking A right.

OH and the best part is that he goes back to his village.

He wins the tournament.

And he becomes the executioner.

And then he doesn’t kill.

He refuses to.

His entire society mocks and berates him and they’re infuriated.

And the hot girl that he likes is FURIOUS because she’s SURE that he’s going to pick her as a wife, and she vows to kill him in his sleep.

BUT THEN HE PICKS HIS CHILDHOOD FRIEND, a servant named Bas.

And it’s just so fucking beautiful, the character development, seriously.

He starts off so unlikable and whiny and privileged but then he goes through HELL.

And best part?

HE COMES OUT A BETTER KINDER PERSON.

He wasn’t hardened, he was softened and it got him the happiness he wanted.

And in the end he spits in the faces of everyone he knows and does what’s right and the fact that he chooses his friend over the more gorgeous, socially graceful girl he was panting over in the beginning, is just such a great ending.

Gah.

The Thin Executioner.

I told you everything but…I didn’t cover EVERYTHING, man, and it’s such a great book.

So much detail.