Omg the scream i let out when i saw this tcp review on dreamwidthdotcom of all places ?? CRAZY. fellow tcp enjoyers existing in our lords year of 2024 is MY early holiday gift 🤲
tcp made me realise I do not care for bully romances but as soon as cardanjude moved out of the schoolyard bully stage and into their hateristic puppet king x puppeteer henchman power struggles dynamic everything clicked into place and I was giggling and twirling my hair at the beautiful haterom. you can imagine the oprah.gif I did when jude graduated from evil grand viziership to political marriage, I am always saying that political marriages are the funniest solution to pretty much every imaginable problem. she did almost instantly fall from grace to queen in exile which made me feel somewhat ill as guy who hates it when actions have consequences but I think it was narratively interesting to have her so brutally undercut at the moment she finally obtained power in her own right, so I'm very curious to see how she claws it back as she has been trying to do all series.
I spent a good portion of my original read of tcp praying for cardan’s downfall truly… he was a pain in my daughter jude’s ass n mine as well LOL ur so real for swooning over jurdan’s teetering dynamic SO GOOD SO BEAUTIFUL NEVER CHANGE U TWO <3 i think ur onto something as well on the political marriage front,,,, it might actually be the be all end all of everything hehe. Jude immediately losing everything js when she had it in her LITERAL grasp had me gasping… insane of cardan rlly to put wifey in exile likeeee T_T a big part of her character is she will do rlly anything to get what she wants/needs. as seen by multiple instances (betraying cardan by making him king, betraying madoc as well #sorrydad, poisoning herself for the sake of The Goal n Vision etc etc) her determination is beautiful.
rather unusually I did not enjoy the semi military academy arc it just wasn't giving what I want military academy arcs to give. I've been comparing the school arc in tcp to sinegard arc in tpw to try and figure out why sinegard was so much more appealing to me even though both involved the protag going through heavy bullying/mistreatment/erasure and i think it's because rin had genuine camaraderie and first love to sustain her through the trials and tribulations and she also later looks back on her academy years with somewhat historically revisionist fondness whereas jude does not really gaf about school and didn't have any positive memories there and never thinks about it once she's out of it, and I think that twinned longing/resentment exhibited by rin and other military academy graduates is vital to my enjoyment of military academy arcs. like it's gruelling and terrible but in hindsight the best years of your life. obviously that is not the case for jude and this is one of the reasons why book2>>>>>>book1 to me. I loved seeing jude trying to play the game of thrones so much more than her underdog struggle upwards a position where she can be a player. the part where jude gets kidnapped by the undersea and starved and forced to drink saltwater and tortured while having to pretend that the brainwashing is working and she believes she's having a ball in that bitch did severely landmine me but then I meditated on it a bit more and decided that actually it was extremely sxc of jude to be suffering and consciously having to repress and pretend she's doped up on happiness.
I will confess that i did not in fact finishing tpw ( the mortifying ordeal of losing interest halfway thru is strong and will put u in a chokehold i fear) but it’s military school was ten times more intriguing and exciting to read compared to Jude and The Gentry’s Sliced Up School Scenes. U rlly hit the matter on the nail bcs T__T jude could care less abt school and her classmates and so-called best years of her life (correction: worse) if i may, even, it felt like miss holly black js required a reasonable setting for jude and taryn to be accosted by cardan and friends LOL n fairy school was the best choice for that. tho tcp will always have my fondness, jude flourished sm better in twk. teenage girl trying her hardest to deal w the machinations and chaos of the folk n court, severe and immense daddy issues+twin sister issues, the highs n lows of being unfortunately attracted to ur most hated childhood bully who is not lifting a single finger in making any of this easier for u, n so so much more. U SAID IT BEST: jude’s very own game of thrones moment [moment of silence for her hardships] every other second there was some joe discrediting her position or hey, even her own dad (something abt jude being the high king’s schenescal yet feeling like the 7yr old girl she used to be in front of madoc… OUCH) jude’s undersea arc will never fail to make me feel as tho i was right there alongside her going Thru it. js like u, the landmines also had me XoX a small reprieve i suppose was balekin getting gutted :,) jude deserved to do at least that much. the way daughter has no time to sift thru any of what she goes thru n is thrown into the heat of things once more… queen of repression and compartmentalizing YES
now let's talk about girls girls girls ): the tragedy of the duarte sisters is so fucked up to me ): I love a good gift of the magi / grass is always greener in how vivi is a faerie who wishes she were human and jude (and taryn) are humans who wish they were fae. taryn makes me so unbearably sad they could never make me hate you taryn… the love is neverending but so is the grief. being twin sisters who are explicitly ideological mirrors of each other and can't stand the inverted reflection of themselves in the other even though they love each other is the most terrible thing in the universe!!!!! jude and taryn were by far the most compelling dynamic in book1 and taryn's betrayal of jude right at the end of book2 gutted me almost as much as it gutted jude, but I get it… you do what you have to so you can survive and protect the people you love and get the outcomes that you think will lead to your greatest desires. it's only another distorted reflection of jude's attitude. but my god I wish nothing more than for jude and taryn to properly reconcile and understand each other in the next book at least in some aspect I needddddd siblings to enemies to end in It's All Love Always Has Been.
r u normal or do u think abt the duarte sisters n the tragedy that is them ?? 😭 😭 😭 😭 i am not normal thankfully ! the parallels of vivi wanting to be human and going to live in the mortal world but still exhibiting inherent faerie traits (extreme nonchalance/ignorance? towards what jude n taryn go thru as humans raised in faeirieland) jude desiring so bad n for so long to fit in amongst the folk being accepted by them but still being so unabashedly human in her ways and taryn being a mix of both her sisters in that she is both human-like for wanting what she will never have (being a faerie, loved by one, etc) and faerie-like for going along with locke’s proposal even KNOWING it would break jude’s heart. (it’s so like the faeries to play w the hearts of one another n for taryn do that js for some boy’s affection bcs she desperately wanted to fit in… makes me insane. At the cost of her relationship with jude as well locke can die though. i think it's pretty explicit in the text that taryn picked a faerie to be in love with because she wanted to be in love with a faerie to legitimise her standing and then sunk cost fallacy'd herself into going through with everything that entailed. and while I support self-delusion and women's wrongs I really wish she'd picked another guy. also dare I say repressed lesbian trait. maybe I should open nicaisia/taryn? crown princess of the undersea would be a pretty good target for taryn's social climbing ambitions. anyway I hope taryn kills that man 🙏
IM GIGGLING no one every likes locke which is always the right n true opinion, god speed. hes so funny to me bcs he rlly thinks he’s the story-maker or wtv he was going on abt it n then he gaslit taryn into believing hed make her the hero of her story. LIKE NO MY PRECIOUS GIRL THAT BOY IS SCUM N DOESNT DESERVE A MILLISECOND OF UR TIME RUN FOR THE HILLS. but i suppose a part of motherhood is stepping back n letting ur daughters go thru things so theyll come out better. Or maybe not even better but js Changed irrevocably sigh.. I see the repressed lesbian trait, i rlly do🫡 i love nicasia <3333 shes honestly a fave, #1 jude hater since day 1 give her her laurels fr also broke cardan’s heart by choosing locke (which, um, side eye sorry) n then regretting that decision n then for some inexplicable reason she gets jealous n shoots at him w a bow, but wait it was an accident n she was aiming for the girl he was T_T iconic of her rlly. ngl ive always imagined that if it came down to any of the duarte sisters, the energy would break between jude n nicasia. their chemistry was superb omg. like the tension between the two of them in this scene in twk ?? (“I lost Cardan’s love for Locke’s easy words and easier kisses, sugared like these flowers,” she says. “Your sister lost your love to get Locke’s, didn’t she? But we all know what you lost.” “Locke?” I laugh. “Good riddance.” Her brows knit together. “Surely it’s not the High King himself you were gazing at.” “Surely not,” I echo, but I don’t meet her eyes.”) this one as well → (“This will never be your world, mortal,” she says. “This is mine,” I say, anger making me reckless. “My land and my king. And I will protect them both. Say the same, go on.” “He cannot love you,” she says to me, her voice suddenly brittle. She obviously doesn’t like the idea of my claiming Cardan, obviously is still infatuated with him, and just as obviously has no idea what to do about it.”) oh nicasia oh my dear nicasia I like jude, I love schemers and ambitious women generally and I'm always extremely partial to volatile female protags… her real not fake henchman era as dain's agent was pretty funny also. cardan took a while to grow on me to the point where I was tinhetting dainjude in book1 because what am I gonna do, say no to girl desperate to be a weapon x her direct military superior who gives her purpose but is also pretty awful to her and forces her to choose to stab her own hand to prove her loyalty? wait this is making me realise that jude being in situations where she has to ""willingly"" allow herself to be physically and psychologically harmed because the plausible deniability of supernatural compulsion has been withheld from her and she needs to grit her teeth and persevere for the sake of a greater goal is a Two Nickels thing and I am eating it up every time I do love whump and I do love jude going through trials.
jude, to me, is rlly girl of all time. no one is doing it like her. putting herself in the most outrageous situations n thru the most outrageous things, w the payout only being 30% guaranteed is js wow. i love her silly always moving always thinking always planning self, u said it best, schemers and ambitious women r It for me <3 powerclimbining till the end, that’s my daughter !! im no better than u rlly bcs why was i batting eyelashes at jude n dane n their scenes. So embarrassing to find out he isnt a big player n is killed by balekin (embarassing for him too, like balekin of all ppl?? ) I TOO AM EATING UP THE TRIALS N TRIBULATIONS OF JUDE DUARTE !!!! makes for a good narrative, sadly at the expense of jude's sanity, but dw queen it won’t always be this way.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2024-07-10 10:58 am (UTC)I spent a good portion of my original read of tcp praying for cardan’s downfall truly… he was a pain in my daughter jude’s ass n mine as well LOL ur so real for swooning over jurdan’s teetering dynamic SO GOOD SO BEAUTIFUL NEVER CHANGE U TWO <3 i think ur onto something as well on the political marriage front,,,, it might actually be the be all end all of everything hehe. Jude immediately losing everything js when she had it in her LITERAL grasp had me gasping… insane of cardan rlly to put wifey in exile likeeee T_T a big part of her character is she will do rlly anything to get what she wants/needs. as seen by multiple instances (betraying cardan by making him king, betraying madoc as well #sorrydad, poisoning herself for the sake of The Goal n Vision etc etc) her determination is beautiful.
I will confess that i did not in fact finishing tpw ( the mortifying ordeal of losing interest halfway thru is strong and will put u in a chokehold i fear) but it’s military school was ten times more intriguing and exciting to read compared to Jude and The Gentry’s Sliced Up School Scenes. U rlly hit the matter on the nail bcs T__T jude could care less abt school and her classmates and so-called best years of her life (correction: worse) if i may, even, it felt like miss holly black js required a reasonable setting for jude and taryn to be accosted by cardan and friends LOL n fairy school was the best choice for that. tho tcp will always have my fondness, jude flourished sm better in twk. teenage girl trying her hardest to deal w the machinations and chaos of the folk n court, severe and immense daddy issues+twin sister issues, the highs n lows of being unfortunately attracted to ur most hated childhood bully who is not lifting a single finger in making any of this easier for u, n so so much more. U SAID IT BEST: jude’s very own game of thrones moment [moment of silence for her hardships] every other second there was some joe discrediting her position or hey, even her own dad (something abt jude being the high king’s schenescal yet feeling like the 7yr old girl she used to be in front of madoc… OUCH) jude’s undersea arc will never fail to make me feel as tho i was right there alongside her going Thru it. js like u, the landmines also had me XoX a small reprieve i suppose was balekin getting gutted :,) jude deserved to do at least that much. the way daughter has no time to sift thru any of what she goes thru n is thrown into the heat of things once more… queen of repression and compartmentalizing YES
r u normal or do u think abt the duarte sisters n the tragedy that is them ?? 😭 😭 😭 😭 i am not normal thankfully ! the parallels of vivi wanting to be human and going to live in the mortal world but still exhibiting inherent faerie traits (extreme nonchalance/ignorance? towards what jude n taryn go thru as humans raised in faeirieland) jude desiring so bad n for so long to fit in amongst the folk being accepted by them but still being so unabashedly human in her ways and taryn being a mix of both her sisters in that she is both human-like for wanting what she will never have (being a faerie, loved by one, etc) and faerie-like for going along with locke’s proposal even KNOWING it would break jude’s heart. (it’s so like the faeries to play w the hearts of one another n for taryn do that js for some boy’s affection bcs she desperately wanted to fit in… makes me insane. At the cost of her relationship with jude as well locke can die though. i think it's pretty explicit in the text that taryn picked a faerie to be in love with because she wanted to be in love with a faerie to legitimise her standing and then sunk cost fallacy'd herself into going through with everything that entailed. and while I support self-delusion and women's wrongs I really wish she'd picked another guy. also dare I say repressed lesbian trait. maybe I should open nicaisia/taryn? crown princess of the undersea would be a pretty good target for taryn's social climbing ambitions. anyway I hope taryn kills that man 🙏
IM GIGGLING no one every likes locke which is always the right n true opinion, god speed. hes so funny to me bcs he rlly thinks he’s the story-maker or wtv he was going on abt it n then he gaslit taryn into believing hed make her the hero of her story. LIKE NO MY PRECIOUS GIRL THAT BOY IS SCUM N DOESNT DESERVE A MILLISECOND OF UR TIME RUN FOR THE HILLS. but i suppose a part of motherhood is stepping back n letting ur daughters go thru things so theyll come out better. Or maybe not even better but js Changed irrevocably sigh.. I see the repressed lesbian trait, i rlly do🫡 i love nicasia <3333 shes honestly a fave, #1 jude hater since day 1 give her her laurels fr also broke cardan’s heart by choosing locke (which, um, side eye sorry) n then regretting that decision n then for some inexplicable reason she gets jealous n shoots at him w a bow, but wait it was an accident n she was aiming for the girl he was T_T iconic of her rlly. ngl ive always imagined that if it came down to any of the duarte sisters, the energy would break between jude n nicasia. their chemistry was superb omg. like the tension between the two of them in this scene in twk ?? (“I lost Cardan’s love for Locke’s easy words and easier kisses, sugared like these flowers,” she says. “Your sister lost your love to get Locke’s, didn’t she? But we all know what you lost.” “Locke?” I laugh. “Good riddance.” Her brows knit together. “Surely it’s not the High King himself you were gazing at.” “Surely not,” I echo, but I don’t meet her eyes.”) this one as well → (“This will never be your world, mortal,” she says. “This is mine,” I say, anger making me reckless. “My land and my king. And I will protect them both. Say the same, go on.” “He cannot love you,” she says to me, her voice suddenly brittle.
She obviously doesn’t like the idea of my claiming Cardan, obviously is still infatuated with him, and just as obviously has no idea what to do about it.”) oh nicasia oh my dear nicasia I like jude, I love schemers and ambitious women generally and I'm always extremely partial to volatile female protags… her real not fake henchman era as dain's agent was pretty funny also. cardan took a while to grow on me to the point where I was tinhetting dainjude in book1 because what am I gonna do, say no to girl desperate to be a weapon x her direct military superior who gives her purpose but is also pretty awful to her and forces her to choose to stab her own hand to prove her loyalty? wait this is making me realise that jude being in situations where she has to ""willingly"" allow herself to be physically and psychologically harmed because the plausible deniability of supernatural compulsion has been withheld from her and she needs to grit her teeth and persevere for the sake of a greater goal is a Two Nickels thing and I am eating it up every time I do love whump and I do love jude going through trials.
jude, to me, is rlly girl of all time. no one is doing it like her. putting herself in the most outrageous situations n thru the most outrageous things, w the payout only being 30% guaranteed is js wow. i love her silly always moving always thinking always planning self, u said it best, schemers and ambitious women r It for me <3 powerclimbining till the end, that’s my daughter !! im no better than u rlly bcs why was i batting eyelashes at jude n dane n their scenes. So embarrassing to find out he isnt a big player n is killed by balekin (embarassing for him too, like balekin of all ppl?? ) I TOO AM EATING UP THE TRIALS N TRIBULATIONS OF JUDE DUARTE !!!! makes for a good narrative, sadly at the expense of jude's sanity, but dw queen it won’t always be this way.