justice of toren collecting songs and one esk/breq constantly humming/singing them is such a good detail and ann leckie does so much with it. an incomplete list:
justice of toren's eager collection of songs is part and parcel of its violent destruction of cultures: these songs are cultural artifacts that it only learns because of its presence on those worlds during their conquest, and in many cases breq is the only one to remember them because their people have died out due to that violence. JoT preserves cultural artifacts for its own use at the same time it directly contributes to the need for that preservation in the first place.
the matter-of-fact way in which this is narrated to us gives us information about JoT's stance on respect and imperialism - that is, contrasted with other characters who look down on the conquered cultures, JoT does actually seem to appreciate their value. and yet it communicates to us no sense of remorse over its role in their genocide.
singing can be a communal activity. this allows us to feel the difference between one esk's multiple bodies singing together in harmony/in a round vs. breq singing alone. this has emotional weight, is an evocative image, and illustrates quite nicely some of the logistic considerations of having one vs. multiple bodies.
the constant humming/singing is extremely notable and idiosyncratic according to other characters, which is a dangerous combination for someone who's supposed to be undercover, so it adds a lil bit of fun suspense for us.
the fact that no one ever figures out breq's identity despite this giveaway tells us something about the other characters' attitudes towards artificial intelligences (though see below about seivarden).
the fact that it's so idiosyncratic also tells us something about the ability of individual AIs to have personalities that distinguish them from other AIs, and the fact that one esk sings constantly but two esk doesn't tells us something about the ability of different ancillary decades that are all part of the same AI to have distinguishing characteristics. this is very relevant to, and illustrative of, the series' thematic throughlines around identity, personality, continuity, etc.
the fact that breq personally has a bad voice also serves multiple purposes. because breq and seivarden both believe that the medic could have chosen a body with a good voice if she had wanted to, we can infer something about how ancillary bodies work, how much the AI (and, by extension, its medics) knows about the individual capabilities of those bodies while they're in suspension, and what kinds of things the AI can and can't control once it has unfrozen and taken over a body.
we can also draw conclusions about the medic that chose that body and about intracrew relations on that ship.
breq's bad voice creates moments of humor and irony in the narrative, such as when breq's constant singing - aka the most obvious clue that she is one esk - is precisely what makes seivarden so sure that breq can't be one esk, because no esk medic would use a body with a bad voice for an ancillary.
constant singing/humming imposes itself on the shared soundscape, meaning other people can't easily avoid it and it has the potential to annoy them, especially if the voice itself has annoying qualities. the reactions of other characters to the frequency and/or quality of this verbal tic tells us something about the level of affection those characters have for one esk or breq.
because singing involves words, the meaning of the lyrics being sung can be used to advance the plot, communicate things about specific characters, create irony in juxtaposition with what's happening on the page, etc.
i especially like what's done with the lyric "it all goes around". it's woven throughout the story in such a way as to manifest its own meaning (the repetition of "it all goes around" is, itself, an example of something going around). by repeating the lyric, breq is the one making it true, and i would argue that her repetition of this particular lyric about things orbiting other things contributes to, and/or is a sign of, her growing understanding of the necessity/reality of interdependence and her place in that framework/her role in constructing it, or in other words, the extent of her own agency and the rights and obligations it confers upon her.
because the singing/humming is a constant, background, automatic action, it only ceases when breq is experiencing a strong emotion. from this we are able to infer things about the emotional state of our famously-omits-details-about-her-emotional-state narrator based on other characters' comments about whether or not she is currently doing this thing.
we also aren't even aware that breq is doing it constantly until another character says so. on a narrative level, this serves the dual purpose of making sure we know about how much she hums AND of reminding us that she's not telling us everything.
the humming is not mentioned constantly even though it is happening constantly - this helps us forget in between mentions that it's going on while also simultaneously reinforcing just how constant it must be, so constant that to mention it every time it happens would be like narrating every time she breathes in or out. whenever someone brings it up, we are reminded anew that something has been happening all along that we forgot about. this means that ann leckie is able, by leaving information out, to hammer home to us how much we are not being told.
through this one character trait, ann leckie efficiently and elegantly communicates not just aspects of character but also of setting, plot, tone, theme, and narrative. there's no extraneous exposition just to tell us about the song collection or singing; everything that tells us about it is serving other functions in the narrative as well. the ways in which she manifests this one character trait in the universe and in the narrative contribute to and exemplify both the story itself and the method of its telling.
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Hi I saw in your pinned post that you've read over 1,000 TMNT fics. Do you have a few really good ones you would recommend?
(don't feel any pressure to respond if you don't want to)
Oh boy this is...quite an ask. Especially bc fanfic recs are so personal? What I think is a good fic will be vastly different from other people. I have a really high angst tolerance, so please double check tags with these. Also keep in mind that I mainly read donnie-centric fics.
Here are my personal favorites! My hand slipped and I have more than just a few to recommend...what can I say there are so many good fics.
CRACK BUT READS LIKE CANON
Back To School by Em_H | 10,965 [FINISHED]
Donnie enrolls in April’s school and tries to juggle his packed schedule. A shrek play is included. Do I need to say more?
☆ In Volvunt: a RotTMNT Fanfiction ☆ by kittylittersmoothie | 27,082 [FINISHED]
In which the rest of the bros continuously try and fail to rick roll donnie. A war is started, alliances are made, betrayals occur, this is a hilarious feel good fic. It’s very in line with the show tonal wise and the dialogue is very rise
Mikey's Jam-Packed, Guaranteed to Get Donnie's Memory Back, Friendship Tour! By Eyse | 92,972 [ON-GOING]
Donnie wakes up with no memory of anyone including himself. Que his brothers trying to find ways to get his memory back. Has some of the most wacky adventures and scenarios I’ve ever encountered in a rise fic. Feels like you’re reading the actual show
YOU WILL BE EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED
Quiet Your Mind by daedelweiss | 18,081 [FINISHED]
Fusion Au with the disaster twins set in the bad future timeline. I don’t cry. This one made me cry. Bittersweet ending.
Telepathy (of a Twin Variety) by vosian_nightmare | 24,423 [FINISHED]
My personal favorite twin telepathy fic. Character study on the disaster twins.
Something Borrowed, Something Blue by Cass_Phoenix | 31,963 [FINISHED]
A Donnie from an alternate reality kidnaps Leo. Or is he bringing him home? This one will fuck with your mind. One of my bookmark notes is “Reality existentialism”
Firefight by remrose | 94,480 [ON-GOING]
What if donnie gets trapped in the prison dimension with leo? I’m usually not a fan of changing plot points in the rise movie or suicidal leo, but this fic is the exception. It is VERY well written and has some of the best exchanges between the disaster twins. You WILL be scared for the characters and your heart WILL be crushed. Proud to say I was here for this fic since chapter 1 bc that NEVER happens with me
THE CROSSOVERS
Familiar Places, Foreign Faces by Petra4President | 36,434 [ON-GOING]
Rise/2012 Crossover Fic. The Rise Donnie & 2012 Raph fic I didn’t ask for (I read this before watching 2012) but didn’t realize I NEEDED. Donnie gets sent to the 2012 universe and must find a way home.
A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx | 168,344 [ON-GOING]
Rise/Avatar the Last Airbender AU. This one is pretty popular so I won't say anything else except its really good.
I WOULD BOOK BIND THESE
All I have to say about these fics is that they’re REALLY good and BOOK WORTHY
Monsters Among Us by DanzinoraSwitch | 86,136 [FINISHED]
Violet Hues and Holy Blue by SibillaScribbles08 | 115,752 [FINISHED]
I May Be Invisible, but I Still Look Good by Dandy | 124,862 [FINISHED]
MY PERSONAL COMFORT FICS
Things will never be the same (but that's okay) by Petra4President | 14,493 [FINISHED]
Post movie aftermath fic that focuses on the changes created by the events of the movie. Idk what specifically has me rereading this occasionally, but its really well written and a little different than most aftermath fics I've read.
Corrupted Upgrade by Dandy | 25,898 [FINISHED]
Donnie Villain AU with a twist. He really gives off megamind vibes. DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE’S A REASON EVERYONE IS OUT OF CHARACTER IN THE BEGINNING. I almost slept on this fic and it became one of my favorites. It’s the type of fic that I can read over and over and over.
Turning Purple by Lizardstuff | 48,123 [ON-GOING]
Donnie slowly gets more and more sick post rise movie and the rest of the characters must find out what’s wrong and find a cure. THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, MEDICAL NERDS. Author has done research and any inaccuracies have gone over this EMT’s head. I reread this one every chapter update and every time I’m haunted by “the blueberry french toast paragraph” No I will not explain further, go read it.
MY TOP FIC RECOMMENDATION
Spider's Web with Strings Attached by CurlySwirly | 125,661 [ON-GOING]
Donnie and Leo get kidnapped and are forced to fight in the battle nexus. This is my pick for the most well written fanfic and most in canon characterization with ALL the characters. You will HEAR the characters not just through the dialogue but also through the writing itself. As the reader, you will be beaten down and have your heart crushed mercilessly which makes the pay off the most rewarding, satisfying experience that I've personally ever felt with a fanfic. This fic lives in my head rent free and I think about it at least once a day. It is my all time favorite rise fic and I highly recommend it.
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The fact that TMAGP begins with boot up noises -- and it's implied that Teddy turned off his computer but it turned itself back on -- establishes that we're listening from the same vantage point as whatever's in that machine. Or the system at large.
So the pub conversation is what confuses me. Is whatever's in the OIAR system on Alice's phone? She would DEFINITELY ignore regulations around not connecting personal devices to the network/etc. But is it following her intentionally, or did it just get on there? You hear camera noises while Sam talks to Colin, so it feels intentional. Malicious or beneficent, though...
The transcripts also say that Norris's and Chester's readings occurs in "CYBERSPACE," which is cool to me because TMA didn't get super deep into fears of technology (certainly cameras, keyboard eating, and uncanny automata could all be lumped in, but tech itself wasn't the "fear" - it was the eye, the spiral, and the stranger). So far technology, the complexity of it, the things lurking in spaghetti code, are front and center.
All of the stories so far have also touched on body modification, even transhumanism (esp. 3), and I can't resist thinking I KNOW where this is going. Gimme that sweet sweet .jmj 🙈
I also wonder if the mere act of categorizing these cases is constructing the new fears.
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