Well, that’s a lot of tragic backstory to dump in the first paragraph of the book. Three days before Amy’s birthday, she got labeled trailer trash because her dad walked out on her and her mom the year before. And then when she was thirteen, her mom got into an accident (car accident?) and became a pain med addict.
And Madison’s apparently the local mean girl.
Oh, the foreshadowing with the bit where the Christmas after Amy’s failed birthday party, she lost faith in Oz.
Fast forward to modern day, and apparently Madison’s still the mean girl, plus a teen mom-to-be who’s more white trash than Amy.
So, the pink hair thing Amy’s got going on is cool.
OK, seriously, Amy? Sure, Madison’s the mean girl-white-trash-teen-mom who started the fight, but punching out a pregnant girl? What did that baby ever do to you?
Oh, right. Tornado on the way faster than Madison’s kid. Amy keeps mentioning that.
Really, Amy’s Mom? Going out to the bar in the middle of a tornado? That’s beyond crossing the line between “serious depression” and “horribly neglectful parenting.” Then again, it sounds like that line’s long been crossed.
This is basically a prequel AU for Frankenstein where Victor has a twin brother.
So, this bit right at the start kinda feels like an homage to the original Frankenstein novel. But with a very different monster.
“‘Because it is you,’ she whispered, ‘who is the real monster.'” Holy foreshadowing.
Why does the fight between Victor and his brother also feel like foreshadowing?
…So, wait, this whole thing was a play? OK…
We’ve got Elizabeth, we’ve got Henry, we’ve got the parents, we’ve got the new twin Konrad. Who are we missing?
“Oh, yeah, I’m always fine every time I sneak out here on this ledge.” And then Victor immediately falls.
I’m getting Channel Zero: Candle Cove vibes from the relationship between Victor and Konrad. Which twin will end up being Mike, and which twin will end up being Eddie?
“….and rain hadn’t been invented yet.” Off to a great start already.
Crawly the snake demon? BOOO! Bad pun!
And so begins the BroTP between Crowley and Aziraphale. Or whatever it is they’ve got going on.
And I love Crowley’s bit in the cast list: “An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards.” (Honestly, if that were me, it’d probably say something more about tripping over my own feet.)
I’m laughing about the one time, someone on Tumblr asked Neil Gaiman what Dog would look like in the upcoming TV adaptation (note to self: at some point, I should do the trial version of Amazon Prime, binge watch the show when it drops, and immediately cancel said free trial), Neil vaguely described how Dog would look like he was supposed to in the book, and the immediate next post on my dash was a dog who very loosely fit that description. That was one of the closest moments I’ve had to “hey, look, my dash did a thing.”
Note to self: This is totally an awful pun, but don’t actually read The Hunger Games while your stomach is growling.
Even after recasting Buttercup the cat in the movies, they still couldn’t make him look as butt-ugly as Katniss thinks he is.
District 12 is coal mining. I feel like I’m going to need a chart to keep track of all of this.
Non-electric electric fence. How long is Katniss going to be lucky about that?
So, Mr. Everdeen’s dead, and Katniss is practically the breadwinner of the family because of Mrs. Everdeen’s depression following his death in the mining accident.
Anybody else headcanon that Katniss is autistic because she’s not that great with social cues? First instance: kid!Katniss randomly blurting out seemingly treasonous shit about the Capitol without knowing that was, you know, treason, only stopping after scaring her mom shitless too many times.
Honestly, if this is actual canon without most people noticing, Katniss would be a lot better representation for people like me than, say, shitty stereotypes like Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory.
I know a lot of people focus on the love triangle instead of the revolution against the government, but if I had to pick a side on that, I wouldn’t pick Gale. He’s kind of an ass.
Oh, the Effie impressions. She’s ridiculously over-the-top, but I love her.
So, Prim looks more like the mom, blonde and all, and Katniss looks more… Mediterranean? like the dad and not all white bread like the movie.
Sure, Gale and Katniss could abandon their families and run away, but where would they run to? How would they get into the Districts that the Capitol aren’t too poor to care about? And District 13 is *supposed to* not exist anymore.
Katniss sucking at social cues instance: Not getting that Gale has a crush on her and wants to start a family with her.
No, but seriously. Let one of those other girls who all fawn over Gale have the jerk.
OK, but why did Greasy Sae get cut from the movies? And Madge?
The reaping system is totally fucked up. (Not to mention the whole Hunger Games thing.)
Also: “Say you are poor and starving as we were.” Oh, you mean like most of District 12?
Speaking of “why isn’t Madge in the movies?” When Katniss is talking about Gale constantly ranting about the reaping system, she… actually briefly mentions the gold pin that Madge eventually gives Katniss to be her token in the Games.
“Hey, a bunch of kids fighting to the death on live TV is so much fun to watch, right District peeps?” according to the people of the Capitol.
Of course Prim, with her one entry into the pool of possible kids to get reaped, is that year’s female tribute.
For the ephemera: So this flashback is the beginning of the “books are illegal to the public” thing. Or is it the earliest bit of rebellion against the Library of Alexandria, this AU version of Gutenberg’s press?
Here’s more of the brotherly relationship between Jess and Brendan. Brendan’s a bit of an ass. (Actually, make that a lot of an ass.)
No, but seriously. Did Brendan find and kill the ink-licker from the prologue after so many years?
So, after the older brother was executed for book smuggling, apparently now Jess is supposed to be the one to inherit the family business since he’s the older twin (and the oldest surviving kid in the family)?
Plot twist (or not): Mr. Brightwell is planning on shipping Jess off to the Library of Alexandria for work. I doubt the whole spy for the family thing will end well, though.
And Jess got into the library. That was… fast. Or efficient? On the one hand, I’m curious about more details about the actual testing process, but on the other, I feel like such a long description would break the flow of the chapter.
Is Brendan actually going to miss Jess or not?
Of course right when Jess is waiting for the train to go to Alexandria, there’s a terrorist attack from the Burners. Because of course there is. To be fair, the Library’s higher-ups are kinda doing exactly what the Burners’ message is, but… Still no excuse for terrorism.
…This dude just burned himself alive? That’s… kinda gruesome.
There’s apparently some big thing going on in Wales? An increase in Burner presence? Or general resistance/mass protests/whatever to shitty government?
Thomas is cool. I like Thomas.
A Muslim girl of color? Who got the only perfect entrance exam score ever in the history of history? YAS, KHALILA!
Glain is… not the kind of badass female I’d like. A bit too bitchy already for me, I guess?
Wolfe is definitely intimidating. I’ll admit that early in my first readthrough of this, I didn’t like him, but he later started growing on me after a brief blip in one of the ephemera bits. (Also, during my first readthrough, I obliviously missed the fact that Wolfe’s hair is described as shoulder-length. I thought it was… shorter? and more severe like his personality?)
Megan's Book Blog 