This chapter begins with Adam giving the silent treatment to Juliette.
For her, the memory of his contact is enough for her, so she's just stewing about when it was discovered that she can't touch people.
Her demon-parents gladly send her away at 14, and she's stupidly thinking that it's better for Adam to hate her.
And then all hell breaks loose.
Soldiers break into the room, and point rifles at the two of them. They unnecessarily injure Juliette, who, while not moving, is completely and obviously unarmed.
Choosing to swerve around topical subjects...Adam is being an idiot and yelling when the soldiers told them to be silent.
Juliette forces herself into movement by the empty threat of Adam's death, thinking that they're finally going to kill her. The soldiers are surprised that she isn't crying by now, but she won't move into that phase until we get to Unravel Me.
Exhausted and injured, she still has the energy to metaphor-narrate as she staggers along. We end this chapter with a rather optimistic quote.
"I hope they kill me soon."
Next chapters of both this and The Night Circus will be up tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
The Night Circus- Part Two (Illumination): Chapter Nineteen (Rules of the Game) - Creepy or Adorable? It's a Surprisingly Thin Line to Walk
This chapter begins with Marco deciding to contact Mr. I'm Dead Inside (A. H-).
Grey suit hasn't been showing up to the Circus Dinners, which have become less frequent as the circus grows.
It's been a year since Marco has seen his emotionless teacher, and his residence is a mystery. So what does he do? He writes symbols in the frost on his window, symbols that come together to form an A.
Because, for whatever reason, this is enough for Mr. A. H-, he shows up the next morning to spout some more crypticness at his student.
"'What is it you want?' he asks.
'I would like to know if I am doing well,' Marco says.
His instructor looks at him for a moment, his expression as inscrutable as ever.
'Your work has been sufficient,' he says.
'Is this how the challenge is going to proceed?' Marco asks. 'Each one of us manipulating the circus? How long will it go on?'
'You have been given a venue to work within,' his instructor says. 'You present your skills to the best of your ability and your opponent does the same. You do not interfere with each other's work. It shall continue in this manner until there is a victor. It is not that complex.'"
We aren't done with this block of text, but I have to stop here because this is complete and utter bullshit. There is so much interference between Marco and Celia, and the winner of these competitions isn't decided when one 'proves their superior skill' or something. It ends much worse than that. This is why Hector and Grey Suit are the worst characters: not only do they enter children in a dangerous and permanent game, over and over, just for the sake of entertainment, but they also lie about it.
"'I'm not sure I understand the rules,' Marco says.
'You don't need to understand the rules. You just need to follow them. As I said, your work has been sufficient.'"
He then leaves, telling Marco not to pull that trick again. I can't say I'm sorry he won't be in the story for a while. Hopefully it's a very long while.
And then we come to Celia, who is standing in front of the Carousel, which the useless second-person bits haven't introduced yet, when-
What are you doing here? You abusive, transparent (literally), spherical bastard!! I'm talking about Hector, in case you couldn't tell.
(*takes deep breath) Ah, well. I suppose it was inevitable.
He says he dislikes the Carousel, something Celia asked Mr. Barris to make for her.
He blames his transparency for her recklessness. Oh, how daring! She asked an architect to build something!
The scandal!
Celia still doesn't know that Marco is her opponent/is obsessed with her, and asks if Mr. Barris is her opponent. Hector says no while refusing to say who it is, and goes on to babble about how working with others is bad, that it'll drag her down.
From what? You certainly haven't told her what to do.
He confirms that Celia's opponent is aware of her, and tells her to stop "collaborating".
The rules are brought up again, and it appears that Celia is just as in the dark as Marco.
He denies it just as Grey Suit does, telling her that she knows all the rules she needs to.
He does tell her one thing Mr. A. H- doesn't tell to Marco, however.
"'You push the boundaries of what your skills can do using this circus as a showplace. You prove yourself better and stronger. You do everything to outshine your opponent.'
'And when do you determine which of us is shinier?'
'I do not determine anything.' Hector says."
This is true. Neither he nor Grey Suit can decide that; nor do Celia and Marco. No one does.
He then fully vanishes.
We return to Marco, who is eagerly waiting on Isobel's letters, but not for the reasons she hopes. He is desperate to hear about the circus, because he is not currently traveling with it.
He is disappointed by how little Isobel is writing about Celia. Sorry your girlfriend isn't writing about the girl you're obsessed with; I can't imagine why that would be...
And then in comes his streak of creepy adorableness.
"He wants to know everything about her
How she spends her time when not performing.
How she interacts with her audience.
How she takes her tea."
Oh Isobel, just leave while you still can. What I don't understand is how this goes over her head when she's performing as a fortune-teller.
We leave him making paper birds out of her letters.
Then, we are returned to Celia, who is about to become just as obsessed with Marco as he is her. She just doesn't know who he is.
She comes across a new tent called the Ice Garden, and immediately falls in love.
Trees and roses and fountains and trellises, all made of ice. This skill this requires amazes her, as the garden automatically fixes any changes made. She stays there for hours, without knowing (and she won't for a while) that it is Marco's creation.
We return again to Marco as Le Cirque des Reves arrives near London. Isobel knocks on his door, as he has changed the locks. He doesn't invite her in, but they go for a walk.
This chapter ends with a bracelet she wears, composed of a strand of her hair interwoven with his (don't know how she got it), disappearing from her wrist. I'm fairly certain it was removed by Marco, but I'm not sure.
Shatter Me Chapter Seven will be up shortly and next chapters of both will be out tomorrow.
Grey suit hasn't been showing up to the Circus Dinners, which have become less frequent as the circus grows.
It's been a year since Marco has seen his emotionless teacher, and his residence is a mystery. So what does he do? He writes symbols in the frost on his window, symbols that come together to form an A.
Because, for whatever reason, this is enough for Mr. A. H-, he shows up the next morning to spout some more crypticness at his student.
"'What is it you want?' he asks.
'I would like to know if I am doing well,' Marco says.
His instructor looks at him for a moment, his expression as inscrutable as ever.
'Your work has been sufficient,' he says.
'Is this how the challenge is going to proceed?' Marco asks. 'Each one of us manipulating the circus? How long will it go on?'
'You have been given a venue to work within,' his instructor says. 'You present your skills to the best of your ability and your opponent does the same. You do not interfere with each other's work. It shall continue in this manner until there is a victor. It is not that complex.'"
We aren't done with this block of text, but I have to stop here because this is complete and utter bullshit. There is so much interference between Marco and Celia, and the winner of these competitions isn't decided when one 'proves their superior skill' or something. It ends much worse than that. This is why Hector and Grey Suit are the worst characters: not only do they enter children in a dangerous and permanent game, over and over, just for the sake of entertainment, but they also lie about it.
"'I'm not sure I understand the rules,' Marco says.
'You don't need to understand the rules. You just need to follow them. As I said, your work has been sufficient.'"
He then leaves, telling Marco not to pull that trick again. I can't say I'm sorry he won't be in the story for a while. Hopefully it's a very long while.
And then we come to Celia, who is standing in front of the Carousel, which the useless second-person bits haven't introduced yet, when-
What are you doing here? You abusive, transparent (literally), spherical bastard!! I'm talking about Hector, in case you couldn't tell.
(*takes deep breath) Ah, well. I suppose it was inevitable.
He says he dislikes the Carousel, something Celia asked Mr. Barris to make for her.
He blames his transparency for her recklessness. Oh, how daring! She asked an architect to build something!
The scandal!
Celia still doesn't know that Marco is her opponent/is obsessed with her, and asks if Mr. Barris is her opponent. Hector says no while refusing to say who it is, and goes on to babble about how working with others is bad, that it'll drag her down.
From what? You certainly haven't told her what to do.
He confirms that Celia's opponent is aware of her, and tells her to stop "collaborating".
The rules are brought up again, and it appears that Celia is just as in the dark as Marco.
He denies it just as Grey Suit does, telling her that she knows all the rules she needs to.
He does tell her one thing Mr. A. H- doesn't tell to Marco, however.
"'You push the boundaries of what your skills can do using this circus as a showplace. You prove yourself better and stronger. You do everything to outshine your opponent.'
'And when do you determine which of us is shinier?'
'I do not determine anything.' Hector says."
This is true. Neither he nor Grey Suit can decide that; nor do Celia and Marco. No one does.
He then fully vanishes.
We return to Marco, who is eagerly waiting on Isobel's letters, but not for the reasons she hopes. He is desperate to hear about the circus, because he is not currently traveling with it.
He is disappointed by how little Isobel is writing about Celia. Sorry your girlfriend isn't writing about the girl you're obsessed with; I can't imagine why that would be...
And then in comes his streak of creepy adorableness.
"He wants to know everything about her
How she spends her time when not performing.
How she interacts with her audience.
How she takes her tea."
Oh Isobel, just leave while you still can. What I don't understand is how this goes over her head when she's performing as a fortune-teller.
We leave him making paper birds out of her letters.
Then, we are returned to Celia, who is about to become just as obsessed with Marco as he is her. She just doesn't know who he is.
She comes across a new tent called the Ice Garden, and immediately falls in love.
Trees and roses and fountains and trellises, all made of ice. This skill this requires amazes her, as the garden automatically fixes any changes made. She stays there for hours, without knowing (and she won't for a while) that it is Marco's creation.
We return again to Marco as Le Cirque des Reves arrives near London. Isobel knocks on his door, as he has changed the locks. He doesn't invite her in, but they go for a walk.
This chapter ends with a bracelet she wears, composed of a strand of her hair interwoven with his (don't know how she got it), disappearing from her wrist. I'm fairly certain it was removed by Marco, but I'm not sure.
Shatter Me Chapter Seven will be up shortly and next chapters of both will be out tomorrow.
Shatter Me- Chapter Six- Dammit Hopeless Romantic Me, We Just Have to Get Through This Book
I need to stop doing this.
Again I have missed this self-created deadline. I hate disappointing people, and for those of you who are disappointed in me, know that I'm mentally beating myself up like Mike Tyson in Punch-Out!! (That wasn't meant to be exciting, there are just two exclamations in the title.)
Oh, this is going well. My tangents increase exponentially when the sun goes down.
Aaaaaaannnnyyway, this chapter begins with Juliette glossing over a two-week long time jump by saying Adam's "nice" to her.
She's still babbling metaphors and numbers, still writing, of course, which I have to realize is pretty weird because as the books progress there are some...things...that happen that would take very accurate memory to write down later in such detail.
He asks what she's writing, but this time he's smiling. She doesn't answer, though, and he sits next to her, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders.
(slaps inner hopeless romantic) Get yourself together, woman. It's only the second page.
She's still silently wishing he would, I don't know, smother her or something, and says nothing.
She looks into his eyes and finally, finally, finally remembers him.
He babbles, an unfortunate habit everyone right now is sharing, about The Reestablishment destroying language. This is really starting to sound like 1984.
She starts shaking and then he pulls her into his arms, contact she hasn't had in years.
Well, I'm gone. Let's pack our bags, hopeless romantic me. I tried to avoid it. I know what's behind Juliette's Door Number Two, but it's late and I'm listening to Dylan Marron (aka Carlos on Night Vale) tell Cecil that he loves him and it's a long wait until Other Guy stops being written in as the asshole character. We're moving (temporarily) to Team Adam.
Ok, no more tangents. This isn't geometry.
After he hugs her and she gets over the contact, she moves away.
"'You can't t-touch me.' My breathing is shallow and hard to swallow, my fingers shaking so fast I clench them into a fist. 'You can't touch me. You can't.'"
Dammit Juliette, yes he can!!! Hang on, just let me check...76 more pages? I guess I'll just have to reread Across the Universe or something for the time being.
They start arguing about why they're there, etc., and then Juliette has to lie to the both of them.
"'You can talk to me. Just don't touch me.'
7 seconds of silence join the conversation. 'Maybe I want to touch you.'
There are 15,000 feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart. I'm tempted by recklessness, aching aching aching aching, desperate forever for what I can never have. I turn my back on him, but I can't keep the lies from spilling out of my lips. 'Maybe I don't want you to.'"
They get all huffy and "you don't know what you're talking about" before returning to silence.
This chapter ends with Juliette setting up exposition that will come...I'm not exactly sure when.
Next chapters of both this and The Night Circus will be up later today.
Again I have missed this self-created deadline. I hate disappointing people, and for those of you who are disappointed in me, know that I'm mentally beating myself up like Mike Tyson in Punch-Out!! (That wasn't meant to be exciting, there are just two exclamations in the title.)
Oh, this is going well. My tangents increase exponentially when the sun goes down.
Aaaaaaannnnyyway, this chapter begins with Juliette glossing over a two-week long time jump by saying Adam's "nice" to her.
She's still babbling metaphors and numbers, still writing, of course, which I have to realize is pretty weird because as the books progress there are some...things...that happen that would take very accurate memory to write down later in such detail.
He asks what she's writing, but this time he's smiling. She doesn't answer, though, and he sits next to her, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders.
(slaps inner hopeless romantic) Get yourself together, woman. It's only the second page.
She's still silently wishing he would, I don't know, smother her or something, and says nothing.
She looks into his eyes and finally, finally, finally remembers him.
He babbles, an unfortunate habit everyone right now is sharing, about The Reestablishment destroying language. This is really starting to sound like 1984.
She starts shaking and then he pulls her into his arms, contact she hasn't had in years.
Well, I'm gone. Let's pack our bags, hopeless romantic me. I tried to avoid it. I know what's behind Juliette's Door Number Two, but it's late and I'm listening to Dylan Marron (aka Carlos on Night Vale) tell Cecil that he loves him and it's a long wait until Other Guy stops being written in as the asshole character. We're moving (temporarily) to Team Adam.
Ok, no more tangents. This isn't geometry.
After he hugs her and she gets over the contact, she moves away.
"'You can't t-touch me.' My breathing is shallow and hard to swallow, my fingers shaking so fast I clench them into a fist. 'You can't touch me. You can't.'"
Dammit Juliette, yes he can!!! Hang on, just let me check...76 more pages? I guess I'll just have to reread Across the Universe or something for the time being.
They start arguing about why they're there, etc., and then Juliette has to lie to the both of them.
"'You can talk to me. Just don't touch me.'
7 seconds of silence join the conversation. 'Maybe I want to touch you.'
There are 15,000 feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart. I'm tempted by recklessness, aching aching aching aching, desperate forever for what I can never have. I turn my back on him, but I can't keep the lies from spilling out of my lips. 'Maybe I don't want you to.'"
They get all huffy and "you don't know what you're talking about" before returning to silence.
This chapter ends with Juliette setting up exposition that will come...I'm not exactly sure when.
Next chapters of both this and The Night Circus will be up later today.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
The Night Circus- Part Two (Illumination): Chapter Eighteen (Oneiromancy) - You Can't Defy the Laws of Physics
This chapter begins with Bailey trying to mentally defy the laws of physics.
He is trying to force the sun to set faster so he can enter the circus, of course, but as with most wishing, it goes to waste. Whoof, I'm getting cynical.
Anyway, at dinner they awkwardly discuss the circus, and Caroline has to save Bailey's ass when she brings up him sneaking into the circus.
His mother wants him to take Caroline along, but she only calls him childish and refuses.
While waiting in the crowd, he wonders if the red-haired girl, aka Poppet, will be there. She is, but I'm not so sure you'll be seeing her this time around (this I say because I don't remember...).
A little lost when he finally passes through the gates, he wants to wander for...reasons.
"He thinks, also, that by simply wandering the circus he might improve his chances of happening upon the red-haired girl. Though he refuses to admit to himself that he is looking for her."
Again searching for something to represent my inner hopeless romantic...
First, though, he gets himself a mulled cider, which is, of course, delicious, before setting off. Wow, six commas.
He watches Tsukiko for a bit as she pretzels (that's definitely a word in verb form) before she disappears from a box (she's magic, too, but spoilers).
He then wanders into a tent labeled "Feats of Illustrious Illusion", where Celia is performing.
She begins her show by scaring the shit out of her audience, lighting a chair and turning the door into a solid wall. Yes, that's how you build a loyal fanbase.
She tosses her coat over the chair, smothering the flames. I'm not gonna go into too much detail, but it's as amazing as anything else in the circus, if not more.
She summons doves, creates her jacket-raven, floats chairs, etc. Bailey slowly realizes, something most people have failed to do, that the cannot possibly be tricks. She ends the performance by disappearing
This chapter ends with Bailey exiting to find a platform on which a figure turns, statuesque, while snow drifts down. It is a memorial to someone, but Bailey does not know who it is for.
Hmm, should I or shouldn't I?
I won't. It's not pleasant in the slightest.
Shatter Me Chapter Six should be up later today. Both chapters of each should be up tomorrow.
He is trying to force the sun to set faster so he can enter the circus, of course, but as with most wishing, it goes to waste. Whoof, I'm getting cynical.
Anyway, at dinner they awkwardly discuss the circus, and Caroline has to save Bailey's ass when she brings up him sneaking into the circus.
His mother wants him to take Caroline along, but she only calls him childish and refuses.
While waiting in the crowd, he wonders if the red-haired girl, aka Poppet, will be there. She is, but I'm not so sure you'll be seeing her this time around (this I say because I don't remember...).
A little lost when he finally passes through the gates, he wants to wander for...reasons.
"He thinks, also, that by simply wandering the circus he might improve his chances of happening upon the red-haired girl. Though he refuses to admit to himself that he is looking for her."
Again searching for something to represent my inner hopeless romantic...
First, though, he gets himself a mulled cider, which is, of course, delicious, before setting off. Wow, six commas.
He watches Tsukiko for a bit as she pretzels (that's definitely a word in verb form) before she disappears from a box (she's magic, too, but spoilers).
He then wanders into a tent labeled "Feats of Illustrious Illusion", where Celia is performing.
She begins her show by scaring the shit out of her audience, lighting a chair and turning the door into a solid wall. Yes, that's how you build a loyal fanbase.
She tosses her coat over the chair, smothering the flames. I'm not gonna go into too much detail, but it's as amazing as anything else in the circus, if not more.
She summons doves, creates her jacket-raven, floats chairs, etc. Bailey slowly realizes, something most people have failed to do, that the cannot possibly be tricks. She ends the performance by disappearing
This chapter ends with Bailey exiting to find a platform on which a figure turns, statuesque, while snow drifts down. It is a memorial to someone, but Bailey does not know who it is for.
Hmm, should I or shouldn't I?
I won't. It's not pleasant in the slightest.
Shatter Me Chapter Six should be up later today. Both chapters of each should be up tomorrow.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Shatter Me- Chapter Five- They're Super Duper Mean
This chapter begins with some random and unexplained exposition.
Juliette writes a few paragraphs about her power/curse. We are vaguely told that Juliette accidentally did something to her mother and her parents, who may very well be the worst people ever, turn on her, tell her that she ruined their lives.
Ouch.
Then the focus returns to the room, and outside snow is falling. After staring out the window for a depressing and indeterminate amount of time, Adam's voice breaks our hairbrained heroine (good one, Audrey) out of her reverie, asking what time it is. She tells him she doesn't know, and then comes more exposition.
"We don't really have seasons anymore.
The animals are dying, birds don't fly, crops are hard to come by, flowers almost don't exist. The weather is unreliable. Sometimes our winter hits 92 degrees. Sometimes it snows for no reason at all. We can't grow enough food anymore, we can't sustain enough vegetation for the animals anymore, and we can't feed the people what they need. Our population was dying off at an alarming rate before The Reestablishment took over and they promised us they had a solution."
I wish we were done.
"The Reestablishment promised they would fix things. But even though human health has found a modicum of relief under the new regime, more people have died at the end of a loaded gun than from an empty stomach. It's progressively getting worse."
This goes unexplained for the entire series and it's incredibly infuriating. There is no reason the world is ending or why The Reestablishment was able to take over. I would rather not have quoted that block of words, but I don't have enough information to paraphrase.
Again, Adam is there to bring her back, this time to ask about food, another thing that goes unexplained, because she explains that there is no system to the food.
He asks a question or two she doesn't answer, instead asking why he's here. This goes unanswered, just like most things in this chapter, and he only responds by saying he's not insane.
They exchange some little random quips of conversation, and she says his name out loud for once.
I'm not really in the mood to recount all the babble about The Reestablishment, so I'll just summarize it.
Juliette writes a few paragraphs about her power/curse. We are vaguely told that Juliette accidentally did something to her mother and her parents, who may very well be the worst people ever, turn on her, tell her that she ruined their lives.
Ouch.
Then the focus returns to the room, and outside snow is falling. After staring out the window for a depressing and indeterminate amount of time, Adam's voice breaks our hairbrained heroine (good one, Audrey) out of her reverie, asking what time it is. She tells him she doesn't know, and then comes more exposition.
"We don't really have seasons anymore.
The animals are dying, birds don't fly, crops are hard to come by, flowers almost don't exist. The weather is unreliable. Sometimes our winter hits 92 degrees. Sometimes it snows for no reason at all. We can't grow enough food anymore, we can't sustain enough vegetation for the animals anymore, and we can't feed the people what they need. Our population was dying off at an alarming rate before The Reestablishment took over and they promised us they had a solution."
I wish we were done.
"The Reestablishment promised they would fix things. But even though human health has found a modicum of relief under the new regime, more people have died at the end of a loaded gun than from an empty stomach. It's progressively getting worse."
This goes unexplained for the entire series and it's incredibly infuriating. There is no reason the world is ending or why The Reestablishment was able to take over. I would rather not have quoted that block of words, but I don't have enough information to paraphrase.
Again, Adam is there to bring her back, this time to ask about food, another thing that goes unexplained, because she explains that there is no system to the food.
He asks a question or two she doesn't answer, instead asking why he's here. This goes unanswered, just like most things in this chapter, and he only responds by saying he's not insane.
They exchange some little random quips of conversation, and she says his name out loud for once.
I'm not really in the mood to recount all the babble about The Reestablishment, so I'll just summarize it.
They get mildly adorable while kind-of arguing, and this chapter ends with breakfast arriving.
Next chapters of this and The Night Circus will be up tomorrow.
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