punchyguavas

[punchyguavas]

So, I had a thought. I've mentioned before that I made a SOC playlist. I actually have made one for each grouping of books in the series (S&B trilogy, SOC duology and KOS duology), and I add new songs whenever I find one that fits. My sister, who can be very critiquing on music in a playlist, thinks I've made excellent playlists for the books. I also LOVE music, I'm working towards a career as a live sound engineer, so music is sort of my life.

As such, I thought it might be fun if I start a "Song Saturday" where I share a new song. Sometimes they may he off a playlist for a book or character, sometimes maybe it could be just vibes or a song I've been listening to lately, etc. Is this something you guys would be interested in?

Part of why I say this is cuz I would LOVE to share my Grishaverse playlists, but I don't want identifying information for myself out at this time and my Spotify is, annoyingly enough, linked to my Facebook.

I've got some great songs in mind to start, 2 of which are so insanely KOS coded that I desperately wanna share them.

[punchyguavas]

My sister and I were just talking and King of Scars came up cuz I was showing her a song I put on the playlist (which btw, is so INSANELY Zoyalai coded, I will share it then when she's onto that duology).

During this convo she said part of why it's taking her so long to finish SOC is cuz she just doesn't want the duology to end, let alone the series (she absolutely LOVES Nikolai and is so excited to see him again but she doesn't wanna leave our Crows). I told her I felt that but if it made her feel better the last book is kinda open ended for an 8th book. She asked if it was a KOS continuance and I said I wouldn't tell her but she would find out.

This eventually stemmed to the Crows (as it always does) and she started talking about being stressed about their ending and asked if it was opened ended. To which I said sort of cuz it's like a "where do they go now" type of thing. She started asking if a a crow was gonna die and saying she can't mentally handle if one does.

... ah, chapter 40.

I had told her that I obviously wasn't gonna say and that she needed to be just as stressed as the rest of us wondering if they'd all make if out.

What I have not told her (for obvious reasons) is that I unfortunately went into this duology knowing Matthias was gonna die. I am SO glad she doesn't know.

I honestly don't know which Crows death would make her the most upset. But I do know that Matthias will wreck her. Part of me ALMOST feels bad, but she got me to read the Empyrean series and it's my turn to make her suffer.

[punchyguavas]

For anyone new to my page (which would be unsurprising given my little hiatus there), I post my sisters reactions to reading the Grishaverse, primarily the SOC duology.

So, since it's been a while, there are a LOT of reactions, and I'll try to share them all over time, buttttttttt in the meantime, what scenes do you specifically wanna see my sisters reactions to in SOC?

[punchyguavas]

Part 2!!! (Find part 1 here)

Her:

Me: He's got it ROUGH rn

Her: I'm freaking out

Me: And yet, you thought he had

Her:

*I didn't save the snap with her reaction to his oath and I'm so mad about it, don't talk to me (kidding, of course, love you all💖)*

Me: *in response to the now lost reaction*: THE FUCKING DECLARATION KILLS ME

Her: I'm in a constant state of shock

Me: The duology will do that to you

Her: I literally melted, like okay Nina I get it

He rewrote the meaning of his religion for her like STOP IT

Me: He declared himself to serve her and her alone, like bitch what???

Using an oath that he holds incredibly sacred

Her: it's giving Rebecca Yarros read SOC cuz that's so Xaden coded *we have had many a discussion on why we think RY read SOC and possibly the Grishaverse as a whole that I will happily go into if y'all are interested*

I can't 😭😭

Nina's response is so real too I love them

Me: I also wanna say how Matthias melts my heart in this scene

Btw, this couple gives you hella whiplash, huh?

Her: Absolutely

Like the way he's talking her down from her crisis of conscience with a single sentence

Swoon

Me: Literally such insanely well written enemies to lovers

They are THE enemies to lovers

Her: 100%

Why isn't everyone taking about this

Me: I DON'T KNOW

Her: fuck Alina why was THIS NOT THE SHOW

Like sry queen love you but damn

*this eventually spiraled into a whole convo about how we were robbed the SOC spinoff, which I can share some day if y'all want*

Still her: They're caught they're caught they're caught oh fuck

WHERE THE FUCK IS KAZ

Me: 🤷‍♀️

Suppose you'll find out

*she then begged me to read Quicksilver cuz something in this scene must've reminded her of it. I had started it at this point but not finished, still haven't cuz of shit hitting the fan*

Her:

Me: She absolutely is

Her:

Me: The way they treat Matthias breaks my heart, cuz no matter how awful the Druskelle are, they were his family

Her:

Me: Always a flare for the dramatic, that bastard

Her: IM SCREAMING

WHY ARE YOU NOT FREAKING OUT

Me: Cuz I've read it and freaked out sufficiently then

I'm rather enjoying reading your freakout though

*we started talking about Kaz and went into his chapter so I shall end the update here*

As you can see, she was having a ROUGH time, happy ending of course (short-lived though it may be). The constant up and down these two face is gonna leave her absolutely wrecked at the end of CK. They're the definition of doomed by the narrative and it's heart breaking.

[punchyguavas]

As promised (finally):

This is gonna be rather long, consider it an apology/making up for time.

We're gonna start right from the moment Brum reveals Matthias is there:

Right before he revealed himself my sister said "everything is a mess and I am stressed." Girl you can bet she was real stressed a minute later.

Her:

Me: 🤷‍♀️

Her: WHAT IS GOING ON

Me: Pain

Her: NOTHING MAKES SENSE

THIS CAN'T BE REAL

THIS IS WORSE THAN TOLYA AND TAMAR *referring to when they betrayed Alina*

Me: I very much agree

Her:

Me: Love watching you spiral, I've been waiting for this

Her:

Still her: I can't belive I dedicated a John Legend song to this dickhead *she's referring to the song "Drown" which was one of her additions to my SOC playlist cuz the second she heard it she thought of Helnik (I laughed when she showed me cuz it made me think of Kanej, obviously she doesn't know that yet cuz she has yet to experience the ✨bathroom scene✨ but it's totally both)*

*My sister's an Empyrean fan (as am I thanks to her) so for any other fans, comment your vote to this next part*

Her: Ok Brum, Varrish or Aetos for biggest asshole in history

Still her: Okay we get it religious trauma and the pretty girl made you feel things you didn't know how to process

Giving white people the worst name

*"Black and Blue" by Thomasin Grace started playing in the middle of this and she started to lose it cuz she "need[s] to know what's going on with everyone at all times" and it's very much a Kanej song and she is "obsessively thinking about them" especially while things were falling apart with her favorite couple, "one love story is falling apart I need to check on the other"*

Her... still *she was rambling like crazy as you can see*: "oH yOu FeEl gUilTy???!"

Fucking good

*unfortunately, I seem to have lost the snap where she says what song it is, but trust I have a killer playlist for this duology that strikes at the perfect moments*

Me: This is a hard chapter for sure

Her: I hate it here

Me: Yep

Her:

...So did y'all know there's an image limit? I did not. Afraid this is gonna have to be a 2 parter. NO WORRIES, I will upload the second part in a few minutes💗

Find part 2 here!

[punchyguavas]

Been working on the update for at least 2 hours, forgot how long these take and this post is WAY longer than usual. It's almost 3 am for me, I need to be up around 5:30 so I gotta stop. BUT I'm still gonna finish and post it tomorrow, I promise!

[punchyguavas]

I'M ALIVE!!

So so so so so so sooooo sorry!

Life kinda got crazy after my moms appendix situation. I had started an internship the week prior (in addition to my already existing part time job) and her appendectomy revealed some concerns. So my sister and I ended up extremely busy cuz my mom owns her own cleaning company and was physically limited; so we had to do her job too.

She's pretty much good to go now, and I've settled into my new routine. So, while I won't make promises, cuz I started classes last week, I should be good to start posting on a pretty regular basis again.

I will be posting that promised update to my sisters reaction to the Matthias' betrayal later today. Then I will share her reactions to the remainder of the book. She started CK around when everything went to shit but is restarting it cuz she had to take such a long pause. SO, once there are some updates there and we're caught up in SOC posts I will get those out too!

I also haven't forgotten my promise for her reactions to other Grishaverse books, I'll get those out periodically.

Fingers crossed that my life doesn't go to shit again and it's smooth sailing for at least a few more weeks (til my internship ends lol).

[punchyguavas]

Hey all! Sorry for the continued delay, my mom's appendix burst over the weekend so we're just dealing with some chaos here. I'll get some updates out in the next few days but it may be a bit yet.

[punchyguavas]

I promise I haven't forgotten my promise to post my sisters reactions. She ended up binging the entire end of the book and I've started a new job while simultaneously getting sick this week. I will post all the different, reactions and comments but it'll probably be this weekend cuz I'm kinda dead rn.

[punchyguavas]

My sister is currently crashing out over Snapchat cuz she just finished Six of Crows chapter 34 and is reading 35. For context that's the scene where Matthias is about to betray Nina (before he comes to his senses).

And she. Is. Pissedddddd.

I'll update with messages tomorrow but I've got to be up in a few hours and making those posts is a process.

But I promise, you can look forward to the reactions soon.

[punchyguavas]

I think I mentioned that my sister was only recently catching onto Wesper. So here's her official ✨moment✨ with texts.

"Shipping them"

"YEP"

She's so real for these being the moments lol. I had told her going into this chapter that one of the fandoms favorite Wylan line's was in this chapter. So, she went in excited and was not disappointed.

[punchyguavas]

My sister's text reactions to this scene:

"Yes, yes it is. Jesper you give me anxiety"

"He just in general is anxiety-inducing"

"A walking liability albeit an endearing one"

I would like to add, that she is rather fond of him.

I can't wait for her to find out why they got attacked before leaving Ketterdam.

[punchyguavas]

I responded to an anonymous ask earlier that was wondering about my favorite nicknames from the Grishaverse. In my response, I basically said that I hadn't thought of it, and gave the titles/nicknames Demon King and Dragon Queen as my answer. I also said I'd think on it a bit.

Well, @the-wra1th listed out a few examples and 2 of those examples stood out. I commented on the original post I made but I wanted to share here too.

Two nicknames from the Grishaverse that I'm fond of would be Razrushost and The Wraith. Both of which for the same reason. To quote my response fo the comment directly: "I love the power behind both of them. The act of claiming something that was done to them and turning it into an area of strength."

I'm just so amazed and proud of both of them for coming out the other side of something horrible, stronger. And for transforming an act that was done to them and not letting it destroy them, but rather creating strength from it:

Genya for claiming herself not as "ruined/razrusha'ya" but "ruination/razrushost." She refused to be made "less" by an act that was done to her. She would not be made weak by powerful men who wanted to see her as such. Yes, ik there's controversial opinions on the Darkling, and I am more than happy to make a post discussing my view on him one day (if y'all wanna hear that). But the reality is her pain and suffering was his creation too. Instead, she made herself stronger, feared. She made the damn KING afraid of her, made him realize his mistake for underestimating her, for equating her to weakness.

Inej for becoming dangerous without even meaning to and turning herself info a force to be reckoned with simply by choosing she wanted to be quiet. She was seen but not actually seen for almost a year and the girl she was died in that ship; she became The Wraith in that moment. And when Kaz gave her the title she owned it proudly and became the very thing that everyone feared, the thing they created.

They are both just so brave and strong and survivors and I think their "nicknames" show that survival so well.

There are truly so many strong characters in this series. Really, they're all survivors that carved out their place. But for these two to take what was done to them and put it into a name that displays the power they demanded and took for themselves as a result of it... they're just incredible.

[punchyguavas]

What would be your favorite nickname in the grishaverse? Example: storm witch, queen of mourning, etc. Or do you have some of your own nicknames?

You know, I never really put much thought into Grishaverse nicknames. But I do love the titles Demon King and Dragon Queen. I suppose those don't exactly count as nicknames but they were the first things to come to mind.

I'll have to think about this more cuz I think it's fun.

What are some that you all enjoy?

[punchyguavas]

My sister was doing something last evening and I made a suggestion and she went, "what would be the point?" I then asked "what's that from?" Only to realize a second later that it's Inej and immediately started going "wait, no, no, nevermind." And my sister looked at my mom and said, "well that means it's either from the show or from the book."

[punchyguavas]

The results are in, so I'll start compiling some of the trilogy reactions to share in addition to SOC.

I've mentioned previously that my sister isn't just reading SOC but the entire Grishaverse. She wasn't as good with sharing thoughts during the first trilogy til the last book. But I've got lots of different messages and reactions I could share.

[punchyguavas]

Back when I first read the Grishaverse, I would bring the books to work and read there, when I could. While "Ruin and Rising" grabbed my attention, I hadn't really become obsessed with the series til SOC. As a result, my boss was curious about the duology and asked about it.

When I described the plot she found it interesting and I offered to loan her my books so she could read it. She read the first book then started on the second but just fell off it (she's not always great with finishing books and wasn't sure if she'd finish this duology, I'm honestly proud of her for finishing SOC cuz she's also in her 60's), idk where she stopped, I'm gonna go by the office to visit her soon so I'll find out then.

My sister and I used to work for the same company, so my old boss and her still actively work for the same one. So she opted to bring the book to my sister's office to have her return it to me. It happened to be on a day when I was there and she gave it back to me directly while my sister was in the room...

Y'all the absolute panic I felt when she started to say, "does Inej ever-" that's all the further she got til my sister and I both were like "wait! no!"

For all I know she was just gonna ask if Inej ever got her ship but the panic was absolutely there regardless.