#koltc spoilers

[thelavendernarwhal]

Stellarlune as Reviewed by a Potato

I just finished reading Stellarlune and I’m going to make it everyone else’s problem.

- Finally some Sophie and Dex friendship. Even if we didn’t get a lot of it fully written, it’s nice to see these guys hang out.

- Jensi’s back and I couldn’t be happier. He adds a lot to the tonal range of the series and it’s neat to see how he’s developed since Sophie last checked in. You can tell that he’s changed over time while the camera was away.

- Also, we can finally explore one of Sophie’s friends being talentless. I hate to wish bad things upon Jensi, but it would add so much to the story overall.

- The shadow-realm tracking could’ve been foreshadowed more. I know Shannon can’t go back into book 5 and add this, but a small comment from Keefe hinting to it would’ve gone a long way.

- Please don’t let Dex and Biana be paired-spares, please don’t let Dex and Biana be paired-spares, please don’t let Dex and Biana be-

- I know this is a bit of a hot take, but I love Sophie’s interactions with Oralie. She’s bitter and spiteful and doesn’t want to forgive Oralie because she’s been betrayed by someone who should love her above all else, but clearly doesn’t and won’t.

- As much as I love her, Sophie needs to fail. It makes sense for her development to be very reckless in this book, but now she needs to learn about the consequences of her actions the hard way to balance her out.

- Keefe’s hiding plan was very well thought out and caught something I completely forgot about. Nice job.

————-If you like Sokeefe, you might want to stop reading here. If this is as far as you go, hope you liked my silly little opinions :) —————-

- Now it’s time for my most controversial take; I really didn’t like how Sokeefe was written. Granted, I never shipped it and I was never a fan of the love triangle as a whole, so this book would’ve had to do some serious heavy lifting to get me to like the pairing, but the romance in this book was unbearable. It didn’t seem like Sophie was interested in Keefe in the previous books, so her having a huge crush on him all of a sudden was really off putting. Shannon has said many times that she wasn’t partial to either side of the love triangle, but because of that, Sophie and Keefe’s relationship wasn’t developed enough to sell me on it. It just seemed like neither of them fully wanted this.

- Plus, Fitz got thrown under the bus this book and I feel so bad for him. He and Dex should start a club.

- Double plus, the whole ‘pros and cons of dating Keefe’ scene was the most aro thing I’ve ever read and it made me very sad that we don’t have a-spec Sophie.

And that pretty much sums up my thoughts. Sorry to end this on a negative note, but I give this book a solid 6 out of 10. When it wasn’t focusing on romance, I had a great time.

[les-eat-bread]

[HUGE STELLERLUNE SPOILERS]

[Like, fully revealing the ending level spoilers]

I wanna preface this by saying that I loved Stellerlune, and I don't want to criticize the whole book. I also don't think the bad outweighed what I liked about the book. But.

Am I the only one who was just really... disappointed with the ending? And not just like, "oh, a cliffhanger, how could she do this to us"?

Nothing really happened for the first 500 pages, then there was a build up to the climax where it seems like Keefe is about to kill his mom, and then there's just this elf in a cloak? And that's it??

Shannon said this was the "turning point of the series" she was "building up to" this whole time, but if that were true she wouldn't have to say that! If the ending were actually as significant as she says it is, it should have been set up for the 8ish books that came before, but it wasn't.

Maybe it's significant, but it doesn't feel significant the way I think she intended it to. I have no problem with cliffhangers, especially from koltc, but this doesn't feel like a cliffhanger as much as the end of a chapter, if that makes sense.

It wasn't foreshadowed, Elysian isn't even named very far before this, and nothing was there to suggest this would happen.

I'm not upset this is where the plot went. But. I feel like it wasn't set up nearly enough to feel as impactful as actually is, leaving readers confused and disappointed.

[i-dont-know-nor-care-go-away]

ik this is supposed to be an emotional moment rn but all I'm thinking is "do you like the color of the sky"

[cecebookworm07]

Anyway, I finished Everblaze like three days ago but then I had to process a few theories and reread the information bit of Unlocked so this is technically late. But besides all that, which will be coming on a “half way there” wrap up style post after Lodestar, here are my thoughts after my Everblaze reread!

NOTE: I will be going back to my previous KOLTC reread thoughts and adding this as well because I forgot to but SPOILERS! I will be discussing everything I felt/noticed regardless of whether certain things were revealed in this book or in later books. So if you haven’t read the whole series I wouldn’t recommend this. (And if you don’t care then go off)

- I feel like this books strength is that when it starts it doesn’t stop. From Fintan’s healing onward it’s just bam bam bam with action or drama or mystery.

- Sophie is so iconic in this book. The Blackswan told her no and then she said, “UNO REVERSE!”

- Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffffffffffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeee He hurts me in this book. Like look, it gets worse. We’ve all witnessed Neverseen Keefe, Legacy Keefe, UNLOCKED KEEFE! *shudders* But this is his early on set trauma pain, and I hate it.

- Fitz is actually nice in this book. Yes he has a lot to make up for after Exile, but I found his care for Sophie amid everyone detesting over the healing extremely charming and sweet.

- B I A N A !!!!!! Finally, after two books of being absolutely horrible she can have her icon arc. I love her in this book. I mean, the scene where Edaline gives some of Jolie’s old dresses to Biana rather than Sophie brings me some, shall we say, pain. But, that was unintentional on all fronts so it’s fineeeee. Plus Biana going bop bop to Gisela on Everest is a personal favorite moment of hers for me in the whole series.

- Oh Dex, where do I begin… mannnnnnnn, that circlet plot still annoys me to this day. I mean seriously, Dex? Your father is talentless and you’ve SEEN first hand how poorly people treat him over it but you’ll subjugate someone else to that WILLINGLY? For shame.

- I always wonder what his family thought in this moment. Specficlly, Juline. While we don’t know that she’s in the Black Swan at this point in the series, nor do we even meet Squall yet, I can’t help but wonder how she felt about witnessing this. Given that she’s in the collective, I doubt she was even happy that Dex was working with the council to create weapons, and then she had to witness Emery swear that anyone associated with Black Swan would be hunted down (aka her, lmao), AND THEN, she had to witness Sophie (the Moonlark) literally be nerfed in-front of the nation. Yikes.

- Generally speaking, the circlet plot is still really messed up. I would argue it’s one of the worst things the council present in the series did. Regardless of how many people perceived Sophie to be a danger to society, considering the circlets first version left her litteraly unconscious, then it’s second attempt left her physically and mentally weak, I would argue that’s torture to one of your citizens. But oh well. This is the council we’re talking about so are we really surprised?

- Can we talk about all of the non-council adults in that scene? Oh my god, we all know how protective Grady is of her, but seeing protective Edaline, Tiegran, and Elwin is so legendary.

- Grady in this book is double the pain. Like he was going through it in Exile, but that’s honestly worsened in this book. While his blame shifts from himself/The Black Swan, it immediately goes to the mysterious pyrokinetic (aka Brant) who he KNOWS killed Jolie and tortured Sophie during her kidnapping. At that point, he’s suffering from the fact that both his daughters suffered at the hands of the same person but he doesn’t know who it is. Then it’s revealed to be Brant, aka the person him and Edaline have been taking care of like a son for the past sixteen freaking years. WHEN I SAY THIS SERIES HURTS! I MEAN IT HURTS!

- That whole sequence is still sooooooo good. Grady’s rage, Sophie’s protectiveness, Brants mania. MY GOD! (Then there’s that really really really messed up line where Brant basically says he’ll kill Sophie but leave Grady alive basically just to make Grady suffer even more is still probably one of the most horrible throw away lines in this series. And that’s saying something)

- Silveny’s role in this book will forever pain. Not as much as in Flashback but close.

- The whole aromark subplot makes no sense to me as a student currently in biology. This is my favorite series of all times, and yes, it is fantasy, but I don’t think Shannon Messenger entirely understands what an enzyme is…

- The Fintan healing scene still pains me to this day. Especially when you find out Kenric kind of knew he probably wasn’t gonna make it. Plus those scenes are just so well written.

- Kenric is still a character that baffles me, something we’ll touch on further when I get to my rereads of Unlocked and Stellarlune. I always find myself wondering if he GENUINELY cared for Sophie. His constant gentle teasings when he’s around her, the fact that he’s the councilor with her during her second inflicting session after her really horrible first one, you get the gist. Did he genuinely care for her and see her as a symbol of hope? Or is it simply that he looks at her and sees Oralie’s daughter? I doubt we’ll ever get the full answer to this given that he’s dead as of this book, but it’s still something to consider.

- Okay, here’s where my notes come in. FIRST NOTE! Page 89, and this one isn’t about future theories or anything, I just find it really interesting that one of the poems Brant writes to Jolie is both an ode to her an ode to fire. Again, at the end of this book we know WHY, he’s a pyrokinetic blah blah blah. I just never noticed.

- Pages 156-158 are both sad and cute. Seeing Sophie try to comfort Keefe about needing more of his skin melted off pains me. Worsened by when he’s later like, “My mom actually seemed like she cared about me this time.” (Not verbatim) PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAINNNNNNNNN!

- Page 189. Here begins cognates Sophie Foster and Fitzroy Vacker. From here on out dear Keepers, take a shot of Lushberry Juice.

- HERE WE HAVE A MADDDDD SKIP: 324-325. I’m sorry, but I could really use some somnalene. My restless anxious can’t sleep ass really needs somnalene. Why can’t this exist irl?

- Page 409. This is something that just, bothers me. Keefe says, “Though of course my mom told me I fastened it to loosely and insisted I repin it. Twice.” (Verbatim) So like, Gisela is 100% a horrible person who just didn’t want Keefe to lose the pin because that would mean they couldn’t find them. I HATE HER! *angry pillow punching*

- Page 482. Emery calling Sophie, “Not Normal” is so shitty. I don’t care if she technically isn’t. Shamming a thirteen year old in front of the world before maiming her? NOT COOL MAN!

- Chapters 43-44. Peak Sophie dumbassery. “Read the ogre kings mind!” Her dumb dumb brain said. “It won’t be that bad!” Her dumb dumb brain said.

- It went bad

Anyway, Everblaze was fun. But most of the mysteries presented here have been solved. The next book, Neverseen on the other hand, well, that’s just getting started isn’t it?

(I’m so melodramatic sometimes lmao)

[sunset-telepath]

I had a sudden impulse to write this

tw: murder, poisoning

Sokeefe and Shannon Messenger look at their handiwork. It was difficult, but after 21 stab-wounds to the back, Sophitz was no more.

“A toast,“ said Sokeefe, high on their victory, “to Sophie and Keefe’s eternal love“

“Yes,“ says Shannon slyly, handing Sokeefe a glass of wine. Sokeefe drinks the wine, tasting a bitter, acrid taste in their mouth. Shannon smirks, before casting the contents of her glass away.

Sokeefe suddenly clutches their chest, blood filling their mouth.

“Sh- Shannon!” Sokeefe screams, falling to the ground

“To Unlocked,” Shannon calls callously, giggling.

Sokeefe convulses on the ground, spasming for a few minutes before ultimately stopping. Shannon waits a few minutes before leaning down to check Sokeefe’s pulse.

Suddenly, someone walks out from the woods behind her - it’s Sosingle.

“It is done,” Shannon says slowly.

“Excellent,“ Sosingle says, before laughing. Shannon joins them in the mockery. Nine years, and she’s killed both of them and broken tens of thousands of readers’ hearts.

[polygot-goals]

I love that the only time I cried during the ENTIRE KOLTC series was(spoilers but not really) when Sandor fell off the cliff.

Like I haven’t cried at all. Except that time I was sOBBING, and my sister had to tell me that he’d be okay in order for me to keep reading.

[bottled-elementine]

Lesbian Biana Vacker! I haven’t posted an aesthetic in forever, so sorry about that. I haven’t received my copy of nightfall yet, so lookin at any KOLTC blog on Tumblr is like walking through a landmine of spoilers. And I half want to look, but then I don’t because...spoilers.