Corambis - Sarah Monette
Aug. 24th, 2009 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grassangelSo… I’ve finished it. And I would do my usual thing, commenting on interesting bits and then giving a more general squee, BUT I’VE PRETTY MUCH MARKED EVERY OTHER PAGE.
Seriously, this book provoked so much squee from me. The brothers were brothers and were cute and actually got along and resolved all that tension between them. It’s a little sad that I’m so deliriously happy at them having a healthy relationship, but it’s so squishy and good. Even though the downside is that I’m shipping them together again, they’re HAPPY.
And yes, I thought I had gotten over shipping Felix/Mildmay because I could handle siblings being cute together but then they started SMILING at each other and joking. I just want that to continue but with things like hugs as well. Of course, the no-touchy rule is there, but they’re just so cute and I’m not sure if I’m only wanting fluffy cute sibling stuff from the pairing or something like a de facto pairing and I so blame FMA in part for being so confused over Mildmay and Felix because the only way I can get fluffy Ed/Al!brothers stuff is by turning to Elricest because apparently siblings don’t hug each other unless they’re having sex.
YES, I am confused and in conflict over this, just like I am over another handful of ‘ships where there is no-touchy but they work so well together~ *cries in frustration*
Shipping frustrations aside, there was other cuteness as well, such as Mildmay learning how to read (link is to Sarah Monette’s 2009 International pixel-stained technopeasant day entry) and Corbie’s crush on Felix, which is all kinds of cute but kind of brain-hurty when it’s revealed she has sex with Mildmay because she couldn’t have Felix. I am also very amused at the glimpses of the bizarre ménage a trois (in the strictest sense of the term) that occupied Felix’s rooms. We had Gideon taking care of Mildmay when he’s sick and in general those two being nicer to each other than either of them were with Felix, despite their relationships with him.
And here is where I should just get on with the comments…
I love the big entrance Mildmay’s first piece of narrative has. And then Felix and his comment about St. Grainne and how she must’ve save a particularly stupid sheep.
I’ve kind of squeed already about finding out their ages, but mostly because yay, numbers. (Also, there was a Q&A about their birthdays. I’m vaguely tickled I share one.)
Then on the next page (I wasn’t kidding when I said I marked every other page) there is discussion about Mildmay being smart/clever and then something about space and other worlds. Both made me squee a bit, but the other worlds made me do so more.
Also, Felix is vaguely interested in botany if his fascination with roses and plants in general is anything to go by. This amuses me greatly, partly because of the Khloidanikos and the thought of him maybe having a garden in Grimglass and getting a sore back from tending it. It is also very cute.
Flaily, sleeping Felix is kind of fun, except he’s having a bad dream AND he’s hitting Mildmay, as they’re sharing a bed, again, while they travel. Although I’d be kind of amused if he was a wriggle wriggle kick kick in the normal course of events, except I don’t think so, especially considering his childhood.
Then on the same page is an amusing situation where Felix thinks Mildmay is saying he’s got a thing for necrophilia, except it’s for helping dead people instead.
Felix having an eye tattooed on the middle of his palm (is it only his left?) is kind of creepy though, purely because of that monster from Pan’s Labyrinth.
The coin lesson in the inn reminds me of a similar scene from Spice and Wolf except I think with Horo it’s cuter and a bit more fun. Foreign monies! Exchange rates! Commerce and economics in a swords and magic fantasy world!
And returning to my ramble above, before the bath house scene and Mildmay’s just come up from playing cards, I squeed a bit over the clothing details (waistcoats! cravats!) but mostly over Mildmay’s hair. Freshly unbraided hair? Long unbraided hair? Yes please. Oh and Felix wanting to touch it was squee-able too.
AND THEN FELIX OFFERS TO TEACH MILDMAY TO READ. Okay, so reading the Sybilline would’ve been kind of fun too, but anyone who gets symbolism and metaphors and can link ideas can do that.
Oh! And FINALLY, some minor arcana are used in a reading. Even if I have even less of idea what those mean in the real world analogue than the major arcana, it always annoys me when something is purely in the major arcana and there hasn’t been an explicit mention of the minor arcana being removed. Okay, so maybe if the force were really strong, but… I don’t see why something can’t be within the realms of probability AND be prophetic.
THE BATH SCENE. On one hand I’m all squeal-y over it, both because they have a conversation even if it is one of the knife-like ones and because Felix’s attraction to Mildmay is ‘cured’ or apparently so from this point on. Except, you know, I’m a fangirl, a SLASH fangirl and it only adds fodder.
And Mildmay? Hitting Felix when you know he likes it is NOT a good idea.
Although sitting on people until they tell you what they want to hear is. Kind of. It worked for me when I little.
Mildmay with a fever and having all his barriers down and visibly wanting Felix’s approval is so adorable. And also reminds you that they have a 6-7 year difference in age. And asdfklj;h, I hope someone does fanart of them as little kids. Good fanart mind, but little!Felix and Mildmay! Wouldn’t your heart just melt?
Felix in a bookshop. We actually get to see him in one. In a large one that is obviously quite well stocked and like nothing he’s ever seen. (The one he’s in resembles Dymocks in my head.) BOOK GEEKERY. And the neck crick thing. Poor him, but he’ll get used to it, unless he ever spends five hours looking for something or is ever really tired and looking for a book in that state.
Appropriately to above, we get a little more insight into chibi!Felix and Joline. Paper hats!
The sphinx is spectacularly creepy. SPECTACULARLY, even if it didn’t maul Felix and was actually rather nice. (And the meanings of the other two animals are somewhere within the Q&A entries too.)
The Kalliphorne! I love her. Seriously. Especially her apparent delight when she smells Mildmay on him. (Which sounds odd, but probably only because I read too much yaoi/slash.) And I kind of wish the whole thing about dream swimming was explained in more detail and the apparent existence of entire dream worlds, which don’t belong to anyone person. Which makes an awful lot of sense when I put it like that, but, you know, in-text explanation is always nice.
Oh, I so love Thamuris as well. And fuck, I’m only a quarter of the way through and maybe one sixth through all the bookmarks I put in.
Hee, Felix shoving Shannon into a convenient wardrobe when Diokletian dreamwalks to see him. CONVENIENT WARDROBE. It amuses me.
And then him making comments that Felix only hangs around Thamuris because he wants to get into his pants.
One of the reasons I quite like Corbie is because she is curious. And easily excited over some success in her magic lessons. And because she’s a serial drapist (as in drapes herself over people on a regular basis) and Felix even comments on this by comparing her to a fur stole. Never mind that she has a little crush on him, just that fact that she would drape if she could. (Also, that is a comment that sounds very weird when said aloud. Just to let you know.)
Poor Mildmay though, the conversation after going to church with her is awkward.
Corambis has ELEVATORS. This amuses me more than it should. (It’s a kind of blink and you’ll miss it reference, but it’s when Kay goes to Gerrad’s funeral and doesn’t have to go down legions of stairs.)
There are a couple of comments here and there from Kay about his “acting like a girl-child” which makes me terribly confused as to whether he’d be a transsexual or not. I am assuming it’s just plain acting girly for a boy who is supposed to be a warrior, but yeah, that confuses me a bit.
And yes, Caloxan is based on Shakespearean language, as stated in Corambis Q&A round 5. I feel strangely justified in catergorising it as Shakespearean lolcat.
Another one of the cute scenes is when Felix talks Mildmay down from a roof and going ‘no, Kolkhis can never get you again, because I’ll take care of you’. It was sweet.
And I marked the page where Mildmay finally becomes lucid after his sickness, but I don’t know why, even after re-reading the page. Possibly something to do with the tension of Felix being hurt or something. idk.
And then, not quite suddenly but still quite fast, mentions of their shamelessness at being naked in each others presence. Well, that they are usually, rather than the actual atmosphere. That’s rather tense actually. Especially the bit where Mildmay notes that Felix could totally use the opportunity to feel him up but doesn’t. I’m actually quite glad he doesn’t actually. No touchy relationship, as I said.
But there’s the most adorable conversation after that, about how they’re worried about each other and kind of want to be friends and how bad they are at being monsters. It’s a happy conversation, which is good.
Random bursts of explicit descriptions from Felix is kind of weird though. Except they’re also used to highlight Malkar’s abuse of him, so it’s more creepy and sad than weird.
‘I do not LOOM’ has to be one of most unintentionally funny lines in the book for me. Oh Felix.
Also, the runner girl' for Corbie’s brothel, Nell, makes me giggle a bit because of her name. It’s a perfectly good name, but fandom corrupts me.
The random fact sharing that both the brothers and Corbie don’t know their mothers is marked and thus I remark upon it.
What’s more fun is when Mildmay becomes alert at the mention of stories and Felix noting that he’ll use that next time he needs to grab his attention.
I find Felix getting hit in the groin when they encounter the tree on the tracks endlessly amusing for some reason. But the quote soon after about a magician is handy like a pocketknife is even more so.
Also, from this point on, it is more obvious that Felix and Mildmay get on better. Possibly because of that conversation they had about being friends, but the banter between them on the train is so fun. Like the bit about Felix being good and not getting eaten by bears.
Someone needs to draw a vague map of Meduse, the world Doctrine of Labyrinths is set in. Seriously. I want to know where Caloxa is in relation to Corambis and the Usara.
Finally though, Mildmay learns of how Thamuris is doing and that Felix has been talking to him in dreams. I do kind of wish Mildmay could join in on the meeting in dreams but… he is supposed to be non-magical. Just, his best friend from Troia! Mildmay needs more friends and Thamuris is the most adorable. And kind of the first. Kind of.
Figuring out how to climb the glass bird cage is pure Mildmay though. And oooh, shiny non-stereotypical fantasy world guild reference. BUTCHERS.
Felix not being subtle at all about Gideon. *snorts* Felix, you have the delicacy of an elephant trying to tap dance. And the tact of an angry bull alligator, as Mildmay says.
Ouch, thaumaturgical scar tissue. Also, Virtuer Hutchence is very fun. Although Sarah Monette’s feminism is showing after he invites Felix (and everyone else) to help transport the Automaton (Gundam?). Not that I mind the extra feminism after she’s admitted finding female characters potentially boring after childhood moulding by the books available to her. It’s just that it’s showing. (As does Felix’s but at least his seems to also be because he sounds as if he may have been a little scared by Victoria.)
Then, the highlight of the book for the people who seriously do ship Felix/Mildmay: Mildmay says he loves Felix.
And a whole load of other stuff about Felix could count on one hand the amount of times that been said to him and sex hasn’t been involved and how Felix can’t make him go. And Felix smiles at this.
So I go more “YAY! Squishy brother!love!” than “OMFG, YAY INCEST!”.
And there’s more about this thing called love a couple of pages later and we get to hear more about Joline and Mildmay is practically hugging him during this entire exchange.
Later, they have a conversation about power and pain and how being a tarquin/martyr is not solely about the latter. It’s at the tail end at how they meet other people’s perceptions of them and how they could change that. Fairly deep and I don’t feel like re-reading all of that and regurgitating the stuff I like best about it. But I do like where Felix points out that they’re both used to being the one with the least power in their previous relationships.
And then after the retrieval of the Automaton, how they look at each other and see a person who can change. AND TEA. Tea is always good.
Mildmay and the Mammoth! Mildmay and the Bog people! Curious Mildmay is adorable. So is Mildmay thinking that Felix would ask the right questions to get the right answers about the bog people.
But ouch, the description of how skinny Felix is.
And the Kay being friends with the brothers and getting along with Mildmay is terribly cute and good for them.
Minotaur god of Cymellune eh? Although the mystery of why Nauleverer forest collected mikkary was never quite solved…
Learning that Felix would be an aethereal if it weren’t for his magic is… interesting.
METAPHORS. It’s driven in a bit much I think.
Although when Felix suddenly thinks of one or something someone else says spurs him onto a tangent, that’s pretty awesome. EXCEPT THERE ARE TOO MANY METAPHORS.
More cuteness from the brothers when Felix tries but fails to explain his book purchases away. Getting overexcited over books is fine. I would hope, now that Mildmay knows how to read, that he’d understand that a little. (But he’s previously gotten excited over maps, so I assume he would.)
There’s also Gideon flashback which is oh so adorable. And some more later on where Felix admits that Gideon loved him and he misses him and Mildmay lets him cry on his shoulder. Tell me that isn’t cute.
Oh, I kind of feel sorry for Felix, believing in ghosts and spirits and having no school of magic which would allow that.
Ouch, the true dreaming with Issac Garamond and St. Crellifer’s.
Seriously, why all the botanist!Felix references in this book?
And fuck, more labyrinths. And more lists, because apparently Mulkists like lists. (I love them, but hate them at the same time.)
Kay’s confession to Vanessa. *bawls*
Venables Hall. VENABLES HALL.
I do like the bog people. Mostly because I’ve watched too much Meet the Ancestors and Time Team. I know exactly what they look like and I kind of wish that the Corambin scholars had facial reconstructionists. And hee, both Felix and Mildmay being mildly morbid and saying that it’s easier to throw a person into a bog if they’re strangled.
More tattoos and labyrinths…
Mildmay’s views on history is slightly saddening, as that means he isn’t going to go scholarly any time soon and will probably pick up engineering rather than cooing over history books.
I kind of like Murtagh/Felix. Kind of. Mostly for the reactions that happen when they meet each other in good company or when other people ask what the hell is going on between them.
Then there’s the heavy stuff at the end of the book, in the last part.
The discussion about Nera, Cymellune and Corambis being culturally related was *sigh*, awesome. Lovely intellectual conversation. I kind of miss that.
And they figure out why the Automaton woke up. Hurrah!
MILDMAY TEACHING FELIX CARDS. Fu~n.
And I’ve already rambled about allowances in statistics for major arcana…
Instep blisters. Ow
0.0 Felix apologises to Mildmay for causing him to expect to be hurt by him. Except it’s a lot cuter in text, especially it’s soon followed by a shoulder bump, which is beyond adorable.
And there are yet more metaphors, except it’s a pretty one for Corbie so she can brighten her witchlights.
Felix is familiar with koi. I find this odd.
Hee, Felix being chirpy afterwards and ordering people to stop Kay moping. And Kay’s subsequent protest.
”I would not be grateful to be dead” is probably the most wrenching line in the entire book. It’s also the point from which everything is more or less solved.
The fantôme’s possession of Felix is creepy, but strangely fun to read.
Then, when everything is over, there is a little humour over Felix’s weakness towards books and how Hutch tempted him into accepting the position of the light house keeper of Grimglass by mentioning the uncatalogued papers.
And oh, finding out that Shannon threaded Felix’s rings onto the only thing he had of his mother’s… just a little bit heart breaking, not to mention the chain sounds pretty. On the yay side though, our Felix is back and Mildmay in encouraging him. *smiles broadly*
I did mention Murtagh/Felix was amusing, right? (And there’s word of goddage that he does visit his brother-in-law and the brothers after Corambis finishes. Which means yes, there is some trysting going on.)
Then after all that, there’s a little mention of Felix falling into the habit of counting in sevens as he’s descending a ladder.
And finally, the epilogue boat ride. It’s made very obvious that Mildmay likes mechanical things and there are cute mentions of how they stay up late and night and read and talk and how they’re glad they’re trying to be happy with each other and Felix true smiles.
So, overall, very cute and fluffy and I love this book so much more than the other three, except they’re all good and I love those ones too, so it’s kind of a moot point.
And why yes, I am finally posting this after having finished Corambis over two months ago.
Seriously, this book provoked so much squee from me. The brothers were brothers and were cute and actually got along and resolved all that tension between them. It’s a little sad that I’m so deliriously happy at them having a healthy relationship, but it’s so squishy and good. Even though the downside is that I’m shipping them together again, they’re HAPPY.
And yes, I thought I had gotten over shipping Felix/Mildmay because I could handle siblings being cute together but then they started SMILING at each other and joking. I just want that to continue but with things like hugs as well. Of course, the no-touchy rule is there, but they’re just so cute and I’m not sure if I’m only wanting fluffy cute sibling stuff from the pairing or something like a de facto pairing and I so blame FMA in part for being so confused over Mildmay and Felix because the only way I can get fluffy Ed/Al!brothers stuff is by turning to Elricest because apparently siblings don’t hug each other unless they’re having sex.
YES, I am confused and in conflict over this, just like I am over another handful of ‘ships where there is no-touchy but they work so well together~ *cries in frustration*
Shipping frustrations aside, there was other cuteness as well, such as Mildmay learning how to read (link is to Sarah Monette’s 2009 International pixel-stained technopeasant day entry) and Corbie’s crush on Felix, which is all kinds of cute but kind of brain-hurty when it’s revealed she has sex with Mildmay because she couldn’t have Felix. I am also very amused at the glimpses of the bizarre ménage a trois (in the strictest sense of the term) that occupied Felix’s rooms. We had Gideon taking care of Mildmay when he’s sick and in general those two being nicer to each other than either of them were with Felix, despite their relationships with him.
And here is where I should just get on with the comments…
I love the big entrance Mildmay’s first piece of narrative has. And then Felix and his comment about St. Grainne and how she must’ve save a particularly stupid sheep.
I’ve kind of squeed already about finding out their ages, but mostly because yay, numbers. (Also, there was a Q&A about their birthdays. I’m vaguely tickled I share one.)
Then on the next page (I wasn’t kidding when I said I marked every other page) there is discussion about Mildmay being smart/clever and then something about space and other worlds. Both made me squee a bit, but the other worlds made me do so more.
Also, Felix is vaguely interested in botany if his fascination with roses and plants in general is anything to go by. This amuses me greatly, partly because of the Khloidanikos and the thought of him maybe having a garden in Grimglass and getting a sore back from tending it. It is also very cute.
Flaily, sleeping Felix is kind of fun, except he’s having a bad dream AND he’s hitting Mildmay, as they’re sharing a bed, again, while they travel. Although I’d be kind of amused if he was a wriggle wriggle kick kick in the normal course of events, except I don’t think so, especially considering his childhood.
Then on the same page is an amusing situation where Felix thinks Mildmay is saying he’s got a thing for necrophilia, except it’s for helping dead people instead.
Felix having an eye tattooed on the middle of his palm (is it only his left?) is kind of creepy though, purely because of that monster from Pan’s Labyrinth.
The coin lesson in the inn reminds me of a similar scene from Spice and Wolf except I think with Horo it’s cuter and a bit more fun. Foreign monies! Exchange rates! Commerce and economics in a swords and magic fantasy world!
And returning to my ramble above, before the bath house scene and Mildmay’s just come up from playing cards, I squeed a bit over the clothing details (waistcoats! cravats!) but mostly over Mildmay’s hair. Freshly unbraided hair? Long unbraided hair? Yes please. Oh and Felix wanting to touch it was squee-able too.
AND THEN FELIX OFFERS TO TEACH MILDMAY TO READ. Okay, so reading the Sybilline would’ve been kind of fun too, but anyone who gets symbolism and metaphors and can link ideas can do that.
Oh! And FINALLY, some minor arcana are used in a reading. Even if I have even less of idea what those mean in the real world analogue than the major arcana, it always annoys me when something is purely in the major arcana and there hasn’t been an explicit mention of the minor arcana being removed. Okay, so maybe if the force were really strong, but… I don’t see why something can’t be within the realms of probability AND be prophetic.
THE BATH SCENE. On one hand I’m all squeal-y over it, both because they have a conversation even if it is one of the knife-like ones and because Felix’s attraction to Mildmay is ‘cured’ or apparently so from this point on. Except, you know, I’m a fangirl, a SLASH fangirl and it only adds fodder.
And Mildmay? Hitting Felix when you know he likes it is NOT a good idea.
Although sitting on people until they tell you what they want to hear is. Kind of. It worked for me when I little.
Mildmay with a fever and having all his barriers down and visibly wanting Felix’s approval is so adorable. And also reminds you that they have a 6-7 year difference in age. And asdfklj;h, I hope someone does fanart of them as little kids. Good fanart mind, but little!Felix and Mildmay! Wouldn’t your heart just melt?
Felix in a bookshop. We actually get to see him in one. In a large one that is obviously quite well stocked and like nothing he’s ever seen. (The one he’s in resembles Dymocks in my head.) BOOK GEEKERY. And the neck crick thing. Poor him, but he’ll get used to it, unless he ever spends five hours looking for something or is ever really tired and looking for a book in that state.
Appropriately to above, we get a little more insight into chibi!Felix and Joline. Paper hats!
The sphinx is spectacularly creepy. SPECTACULARLY, even if it didn’t maul Felix and was actually rather nice. (And the meanings of the other two animals are somewhere within the Q&A entries too.)
The Kalliphorne! I love her. Seriously. Especially her apparent delight when she smells Mildmay on him. (Which sounds odd, but probably only because I read too much yaoi/slash.) And I kind of wish the whole thing about dream swimming was explained in more detail and the apparent existence of entire dream worlds, which don’t belong to anyone person. Which makes an awful lot of sense when I put it like that, but, you know, in-text explanation is always nice.
Oh, I so love Thamuris as well. And fuck, I’m only a quarter of the way through and maybe one sixth through all the bookmarks I put in.
Hee, Felix shoving Shannon into a convenient wardrobe when Diokletian dreamwalks to see him. CONVENIENT WARDROBE. It amuses me.
And then him making comments that Felix only hangs around Thamuris because he wants to get into his pants.
One of the reasons I quite like Corbie is because she is curious. And easily excited over some success in her magic lessons. And because she’s a serial drapist (as in drapes herself over people on a regular basis) and Felix even comments on this by comparing her to a fur stole. Never mind that she has a little crush on him, just that fact that she would drape if she could. (Also, that is a comment that sounds very weird when said aloud. Just to let you know.)
Poor Mildmay though, the conversation after going to church with her is awkward.
Corambis has ELEVATORS. This amuses me more than it should. (It’s a kind of blink and you’ll miss it reference, but it’s when Kay goes to Gerrad’s funeral and doesn’t have to go down legions of stairs.)
There are a couple of comments here and there from Kay about his “acting like a girl-child” which makes me terribly confused as to whether he’d be a transsexual or not. I am assuming it’s just plain acting girly for a boy who is supposed to be a warrior, but yeah, that confuses me a bit.
And yes, Caloxan is based on Shakespearean language, as stated in Corambis Q&A round 5. I feel strangely justified in catergorising it as Shakespearean lolcat.
Another one of the cute scenes is when Felix talks Mildmay down from a roof and going ‘no, Kolkhis can never get you again, because I’ll take care of you’. It was sweet.
And I marked the page where Mildmay finally becomes lucid after his sickness, but I don’t know why, even after re-reading the page. Possibly something to do with the tension of Felix being hurt or something. idk.
And then, not quite suddenly but still quite fast, mentions of their shamelessness at being naked in each others presence. Well, that they are usually, rather than the actual atmosphere. That’s rather tense actually. Especially the bit where Mildmay notes that Felix could totally use the opportunity to feel him up but doesn’t. I’m actually quite glad he doesn’t actually. No touchy relationship, as I said.
But there’s the most adorable conversation after that, about how they’re worried about each other and kind of want to be friends and how bad they are at being monsters. It’s a happy conversation, which is good.
Random bursts of explicit descriptions from Felix is kind of weird though. Except they’re also used to highlight Malkar’s abuse of him, so it’s more creepy and sad than weird.
‘I do not LOOM’ has to be one of most unintentionally funny lines in the book for me. Oh Felix.
Also, the runner girl' for Corbie’s brothel, Nell, makes me giggle a bit because of her name. It’s a perfectly good name, but fandom corrupts me.
The random fact sharing that both the brothers and Corbie don’t know their mothers is marked and thus I remark upon it.
What’s more fun is when Mildmay becomes alert at the mention of stories and Felix noting that he’ll use that next time he needs to grab his attention.
I find Felix getting hit in the groin when they encounter the tree on the tracks endlessly amusing for some reason. But the quote soon after about a magician is handy like a pocketknife is even more so.
Also, from this point on, it is more obvious that Felix and Mildmay get on better. Possibly because of that conversation they had about being friends, but the banter between them on the train is so fun. Like the bit about Felix being good and not getting eaten by bears.
Someone needs to draw a vague map of Meduse, the world Doctrine of Labyrinths is set in. Seriously. I want to know where Caloxa is in relation to Corambis and the Usara.
Finally though, Mildmay learns of how Thamuris is doing and that Felix has been talking to him in dreams. I do kind of wish Mildmay could join in on the meeting in dreams but… he is supposed to be non-magical. Just, his best friend from Troia! Mildmay needs more friends and Thamuris is the most adorable. And kind of the first. Kind of.
Figuring out how to climb the glass bird cage is pure Mildmay though. And oooh, shiny non-stereotypical fantasy world guild reference. BUTCHERS.
Felix not being subtle at all about Gideon. *snorts* Felix, you have the delicacy of an elephant trying to tap dance. And the tact of an angry bull alligator, as Mildmay says.
Ouch, thaumaturgical scar tissue. Also, Virtuer Hutchence is very fun. Although Sarah Monette’s feminism is showing after he invites Felix (and everyone else) to help transport the Automaton (Gundam?). Not that I mind the extra feminism after she’s admitted finding female characters potentially boring after childhood moulding by the books available to her. It’s just that it’s showing. (As does Felix’s but at least his seems to also be because he sounds as if he may have been a little scared by Victoria.)
Then, the highlight of the book for the people who seriously do ship Felix/Mildmay: Mildmay says he loves Felix.
And a whole load of other stuff about Felix could count on one hand the amount of times that been said to him and sex hasn’t been involved and how Felix can’t make him go. And Felix smiles at this.
So I go more “YAY! Squishy brother!love!” than “OMFG, YAY INCEST!”.
And there’s more about this thing called love a couple of pages later and we get to hear more about Joline and Mildmay is practically hugging him during this entire exchange.
Later, they have a conversation about power and pain and how being a tarquin/martyr is not solely about the latter. It’s at the tail end at how they meet other people’s perceptions of them and how they could change that. Fairly deep and I don’t feel like re-reading all of that and regurgitating the stuff I like best about it. But I do like where Felix points out that they’re both used to being the one with the least power in their previous relationships.
And then after the retrieval of the Automaton, how they look at each other and see a person who can change. AND TEA. Tea is always good.
Mildmay and the Mammoth! Mildmay and the Bog people! Curious Mildmay is adorable. So is Mildmay thinking that Felix would ask the right questions to get the right answers about the bog people.
But ouch, the description of how skinny Felix is.
And the Kay being friends with the brothers and getting along with Mildmay is terribly cute and good for them.
Minotaur god of Cymellune eh? Although the mystery of why Nauleverer forest collected mikkary was never quite solved…
Learning that Felix would be an aethereal if it weren’t for his magic is… interesting.
METAPHORS. It’s driven in a bit much I think.
Although when Felix suddenly thinks of one or something someone else says spurs him onto a tangent, that’s pretty awesome. EXCEPT THERE ARE TOO MANY METAPHORS.
More cuteness from the brothers when Felix tries but fails to explain his book purchases away. Getting overexcited over books is fine. I would hope, now that Mildmay knows how to read, that he’d understand that a little. (But he’s previously gotten excited over maps, so I assume he would.)
There’s also Gideon flashback which is oh so adorable. And some more later on where Felix admits that Gideon loved him and he misses him and Mildmay lets him cry on his shoulder. Tell me that isn’t cute.
Oh, I kind of feel sorry for Felix, believing in ghosts and spirits and having no school of magic which would allow that.
Ouch, the true dreaming with Issac Garamond and St. Crellifer’s.
Seriously, why all the botanist!Felix references in this book?
And fuck, more labyrinths. And more lists, because apparently Mulkists like lists. (I love them, but hate them at the same time.)
Kay’s confession to Vanessa. *bawls*
Venables Hall. VENABLES HALL.
I do like the bog people. Mostly because I’ve watched too much Meet the Ancestors and Time Team. I know exactly what they look like and I kind of wish that the Corambin scholars had facial reconstructionists. And hee, both Felix and Mildmay being mildly morbid and saying that it’s easier to throw a person into a bog if they’re strangled.
More tattoos and labyrinths…
Mildmay’s views on history is slightly saddening, as that means he isn’t going to go scholarly any time soon and will probably pick up engineering rather than cooing over history books.
I kind of like Murtagh/Felix. Kind of. Mostly for the reactions that happen when they meet each other in good company or when other people ask what the hell is going on between them.
Then there’s the heavy stuff at the end of the book, in the last part.
The discussion about Nera, Cymellune and Corambis being culturally related was *sigh*, awesome. Lovely intellectual conversation. I kind of miss that.
And they figure out why the Automaton woke up. Hurrah!
MILDMAY TEACHING FELIX CARDS. Fu~n.
And I’ve already rambled about allowances in statistics for major arcana…
Instep blisters. Ow
0.0 Felix apologises to Mildmay for causing him to expect to be hurt by him. Except it’s a lot cuter in text, especially it’s soon followed by a shoulder bump, which is beyond adorable.
And there are yet more metaphors, except it’s a pretty one for Corbie so she can brighten her witchlights.
Felix is familiar with koi. I find this odd.
Hee, Felix being chirpy afterwards and ordering people to stop Kay moping. And Kay’s subsequent protest.
”I would not be grateful to be dead” is probably the most wrenching line in the entire book. It’s also the point from which everything is more or less solved.
The fantôme’s possession of Felix is creepy, but strangely fun to read.
Then, when everything is over, there is a little humour over Felix’s weakness towards books and how Hutch tempted him into accepting the position of the light house keeper of Grimglass by mentioning the uncatalogued papers.
And oh, finding out that Shannon threaded Felix’s rings onto the only thing he had of his mother’s… just a little bit heart breaking, not to mention the chain sounds pretty. On the yay side though, our Felix is back and Mildmay in encouraging him. *smiles broadly*
I did mention Murtagh/Felix was amusing, right? (And there’s word of goddage that he does visit his brother-in-law and the brothers after Corambis finishes. Which means yes, there is some trysting going on.)
Then after all that, there’s a little mention of Felix falling into the habit of counting in sevens as he’s descending a ladder.
And finally, the epilogue boat ride. It’s made very obvious that Mildmay likes mechanical things and there are cute mentions of how they stay up late and night and read and talk and how they’re glad they’re trying to be happy with each other and Felix true smiles.
So, overall, very cute and fluffy and I love this book so much more than the other three, except they’re all good and I love those ones too, so it’s kind of a moot point.
And why yes, I am finally posting this after having finished Corambis over two months ago.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-08-25 06:12 am (UTC)Mildmay and the Mammoth! Mildmay and the Bog people!
Hee, Felix being chirpy afterwards and ordering people to stop Kay moping. And Kay’s subsequent protest.
^ some of my favourite parts. Especially the bears bit.
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Date: 2009-08-25 09:07 am (UTC)