The Demon's Covenant: Some Reactions

[themadpoker]

SO MANY SURPRISES, SO MANY THINGS I DID NOT SEE COMING. Let's make a list.

- Seb McFarlane. Oh Seb, I liked you so much! And then you turned out to be playing both members of the Crawford family (and also having been even more of a dick to Jamie then I realized, you are OFF the list >()

- EVERY SINGLE THING ALAN DID? I'm really hoping for a Christmas short story from his point of view because his head is so TWISTY and every time I try to think like him I have difficulty pinning his voice down. On a side note: I'm not the only one who does that right? Automatically try to make up how a scene is going from another character's POV in your head?

- Not a surprise so much as a punch? WHEN ANNABEL DIED. T_T I cried. So hard. She wasn't there long but she made such an impact and Mae and Jamie broke my heart with how much they were hurting. REST IN PEACE ANNABEL.

Other Things: Not Surprises, Just Awesome

- MAE THE COMEBACK KID. I love her so MUCH. Sometimes she screwed up and got things wrong and felt terribly embarrassed and SOLDIERED RIGHT ON. And I think she's the most emotionally intuitive out of the group? She picks up on what they're all feeling so well even when she misdiagnoses the cause (see Jamie's mystery crush).

- Sin was so fantastic I can't even. And the way Mae just liked her so much straight away and I got why because I liked her straight away. The book ended on a bit of a tense note for them but I hope there are many scenes of their friendship come book three.

- On a different but tangentially related note let's talk shipping! Okay so my favourite kind of fanfic tends to be gen where the focus is on friendship and family and you can see how much everyone likes each other and there's sort of free floating subtext between everyone in the cast. WHICH WAS BASICALLY THIS BOOK. I am so excited to see marmalade_fish after the 18th because I'll bet anything it explodes with fic activity and it will be GREAT. \o/

- Also I like the cover for this so much more than the one(s) for The Demon's Lexicon. The girl here looks like she could actually be Sin whereas neither the hardcover or softcover of Lexicon look anything like how I picture Nick. I was chatting about it with my brother and I suppose it would have been a tough job to get across the sort of dangerous slightly off air you get from Nick in the books (or as Ahmed put it, the guys they have just don't look anywhere near badass enough).

- Back on topic, NICKKKKK. STILL MY MOST FAVOURITE BOY. Taking human lessons and trying so hard and understanding what fear is because he didn't want Alan to leave him. ;_; I am buying Lexicon tomorrow, I have to have it handy for rereading purposes (I got it from the library before and I thought of getting a copy when I picked up Covenant except all they had were paperbacks and I like my series to match. :/).

- Also FAMILY. sarahtales did a review a bit back on Swati Avasthi's Split where she talked about how much she likes books about family and complicatedness and sticking together and it totally shows up in her writing. I love how much the focus in both Lexicon and Covenant are on sibling relationships. BECAUSE FAMILY IS IMPORTANT. And how Annabel came through and hit Gerald ("Get away from my son") and was generally so awesome in what we had of her (;_;). And near the end where Mae hoped so much that Daniel Ryves would come through too and not say something hurtful and he DID and it was perfect. "But one thing is very clear to me now. I am writing this for both my sons."

- The humanity lessons! The Mae/Nick interaction in this book was so GOOD and it actually made Lexicon work even better for me now because I understand better how she was feeling with regards to both brothers. Mae/Alan was interesting though now deader than a doornail because he lied and lied and lied. :/ Seriously, Alan is so HARD to pin down for me.

- Back to the siblings! Mae and Jamie with their dancing game and her rescuing him when he was drunk and how open they are with their affection. And when he leaves: You and me against the world. If something bad happens to either of them in the next book I will...well I don't know what I'll do. But I'm pretty sure there'll be crying and things being thrown with great force. SO JAMIE HAD BETTER BE OKAY.

- Speaking of, he reminds me so so much of Quality of Mercy Draco. Down to the blond hair and the intense feelings and the joking and the going off to be a spy because no one else can do it.

- Also, I was so incredibly proud of Nick at the end when he didn't leave Mae and he hugged her. He's made amazing amounts of progress. CLEARLY MAE IS AN EXCELLENT TEACHER OF HUMANITY.

- Gerald. I don't know what to do with Gerald, I really don't. He's interesting but I'm not so attached that I think I'll mind terribly if he dies. I'm not sure what route the next book is going to take (well I'm fairly certain there'll be dead magicians involved but knowing Sarah I'm sure there'll be unexpected complications attached) but I expect Jamie'll play a large role in determining his fate. Idk, I probably need a reread before I can figure out anything to say about Gerald at all.

- Anyone else wondering about whether Merris'll be getting any sleep? As I understand it, she's in charge during the day and Liannan at night. So when will she be sleeping? Or is demon power a good substitute for a night's rest?

Oh my God, look at the time, I have work early tomorrow. 0_o Okay, shutting up now. THERE MAY BE MORE TO COME.