#stellarlune might be one of my favorites of the series

[ellickalways]

just finished my fourth reread of all 10 kotlc books so far. and she expects me to wait for the last one?? has she met me????

[mtr1234]

KOLTC fans who do not like Fitz, this post is for you. Fitz fans who do not believe people have sound arguments about why they dislike Fitz, this post is also for you.

Disclaimer:

I will mention stuff that happened in Stellarlune, so if you are not caught up with the series you might not want to continue reading.

I will try to provide quotes, but I will likely just describe the scene and what book it is in when I provide my reasons.

Also, this post will be pretty long which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.

______________________________________________________________

Anyway, let’s get to the reasons why I dislike Fitz. I have broken them up into three main categories, and I will be talking about aspects of Fitz’s character that I think a lot of people overlook (not the reasons that people do tend to mention: him having anger issues and being boring)

I don’t know if you guys have noticed this, but Fitz is really shady, Iike really shady (and not in a good way like our favorite shade Tam)

He has eavesdropped on Sophie and Keefe’s conversations before which I find so weird

In Lodestar, when Sophie and Keefe were communicating telepathically in that slimy location that Keefe picked out, Fitz started listening in on their conversation without their knowledge. He said it was because he was worried since he heard Sophie gasp. Personally, I do not buy this excuse. He can literally see Sophie so he could easily determine that she is not in danger. At the very least, why did he not immediately announce that he was listening once he knew Sophie was okay? In my opinion, it just feels odd, and if I were Sophie or Keefe I would feel a bit uneasy.

In Flashback, Sophie and Keefe were talking in the healing center about starting weapons training, and Sophie asks Keefe if he is down to do that (or something along those lines). Fitz immediately shouts, “I’m in!” The shady thing about this was that he was sleeping in his cot when they were talking. Now, I’m not saying that he is expected to cover his ears while they have a private convo in the healing center. But the thing is, he pretended to be asleep to listen to more of their conversation which is creepy.

The next very shady thing was the gift he gave Sophie in Legacy which was a painting he asked Keefe to make.

I always thought this was shady because, for one thing, he completely stole Keefe’s idea for a gift. Come on, a painting with a heartfelt message on the back?! That was literally what Keefe gave Sophie in Nightfall. Here comes the actual shady part though: why did he not just go to Atlantis or somewhere and have someone paint it for him? He purposefully asked Keefe to paint the confession scene between him and Sophie when he knows that Keefe likes Sophie. That is so messed up. This is made even worse by the fact that he paid Keefe when literally every elf is born with an unlimited birth fund so it was essentially worthless.

This next example happened in Legacy. I feel like a lot of people forgot about this or kind of swept in under the rug, but I think it is actually very telling of the type of person Fitz is. I am talking about when Fitz decided to search Lord Cassius’s mind to learn anything about where Alvar might be after he got away in Flashback.

There are several shady things about what happened in this scene. First of all, Fitz decided to do this even though he knew that it would make Keefe uncomfortable (Fitz would see the abuse/trauma Keefe suffered at home). Secondly, Fitz did this without even asking Keefe first or even letting him know about it. If you recall, he literally just showed up at Keefe’s house without any warning. Lastly, he tried to lie about it too. He tried to say “I’m doing this for Keefe” and “whatever I find will be helpful for Keefe”. Give me a break, we all know he did not do this out of concern for Keefe and he was caught lying in the act by Keefe himself. *I find it funny how he tried to lie about it to Keefe, when Keefe is literally the strongest empath in their world and is literally so smart even though he does not get enough credit for it.

2. When he gets mad at Sophie, the first thing he does is belittle her or try to make her feel stupid:

This first example comes from Exile when Fitz was getting mad at Sophie about what happened to his dad. Now, a lot of people like to dismiss how Fitz acted in this situation because he was under a lot of stress, but I do not think this is right to do because it absolves Fitz of any guilt instead of addressing how his behavior was wrong. The specific scene I am referring to is when, I believe, Alvar suggests that maybe Sophie can help Alden and then Fitz responds with: “Please, she’s just a kid.” What I get from this statement is that he is making Sophie feel less than, and in the process he is putting himself above her “level”. Now, one can use the excuse that he wasn’t himself and that he was torn up with grief, but he says similar things to Sophie later on in the series (when his dad is not on his deathbed) which I mention below.

This next example happens towards the end of Legacy, just before Fitz and Sophie broke up. Sophie was defending her decision to search Lord Cassius’s mind for any important information even though Fitz was already doing that (she honestly didn’t even need to do this because everyone knew he was getting nowhere and that he would never have found anything useful). Anyway, Fitz responds with: “So you thought the Moonlark needed to swoop in and take over? The leader of Team Valiant? Lady Sophie Foster? The fact that he is trying to make her feel bad about her accomplishments is a major red flag in my opinion. As someone who supposedly cares about her more than anyone, he should feel the most proud of her successes.

This third example is from Stellarlune. It’s when Fitz and Sophie have their first telepathy session after the whole “Fitzphie’s not a thing!” debacle. So, Sophie is asking Tiergan what a Cognate Inquisition is and then here comes the interjection: “Better question,” Fitz jumped in using a smug tone that made [Sophie] wish one of the buttons on her telepathy chair would turn Fitz’s into an ejector seat and launch him out of the room. “Why were you hoping to spare us from it?” I just think this is unnecessary and uncalled for; why is he trying to embarrass/ one up her in front of their mentor? (Did he forget that he is the one who joined her session, not the other way around?)

3. The last major issue I have with Fitz is the fact that he guilt trips Sophie and Keefe a lot. And, just so everybody is aware, not about minor stuff. He tries to make them feel guilty about things that are completely out of their control, and as you are reading these examples I just want you to keep in mind that elves are not equipped to handle guilt. Their mind can literally shatter if they feel too much of it (like Alden), and that’s why I think it is so horrific every time Fitz does stuff like this:

Everybody knows this one, but I am still going to put it here because it is worth mentioning. In Exile, Fitz blamed Sophie for his dad’s mind shattering. I have seen a lot of people try to say it is justified because he was going through a lot at the time, but I disagree. I think we can all agree that just because someone is going through a tough time (no matter how tough it may be), it does not give them the right to bully an innocent person.

Moving on, in Flashback, towards the end of the book Fitz makes everyone search for Alvar because he thinks he is up to something shady. When they find Alvar and question him, Keefe says that he can tell that Alvar is telling the truth. Then Fitz retorts, “Like you could tell with your mom?” In this remark, he is referring to the fact that, before she revealed her betrayal, Keefe had no idea that his mom was evil. This made me so angry on Keefe’s behalf because everyone already knows that he blames himself for everything that his mom is doing. With every revelation about his mom’s plan he sees how much worse things truly are, and that sends him into a downward spiral of guilt. For his “best friend” to say this to him is so messed up.

This is not another example, just my own thoughts about what I said above so you can skip it if you would like. I never understood why people (namely the Councillors) expected Keefe to know that his mom was evil. For one thing, his parents are literally known for never showing any physical or emotional affection to him. So, how is he supposed to be able to read his mom’s emotions if he never is close to her? Secondly, I think people are forgetting that as an empath he can only read people’s emotions. He does not know the reason why they are feeling the way that they do unless he has context. Lastly, his mom was literally erasing his memories left and right so whatever information he could even manage to glean would be wiped from his mind. Meanwhile, Fitz is literally a telepath, and he had no idea his brother was evil (and I assume he must have read his brother’s mind at least one time) so I think he needs to lay off the judgment.

In Legacy, Gisela leaves a note for Sophie to bring Keefe to Loamnore during the “showdown” (or whatever you want to call it). Anyway, Sophie does not want to do this because it is obviously a trap, and Keefe gives in and agrees to stay behind. When he makes this decision, Fitz says, “Wow, you really hate Tam that much? Because he’s the one who’ll pay the price if you’re not there—you get that right?” Is it just me or does that not sound so condescending? All I can say to this is how does he have the nerve to blame Gisela’s actions on Keefe, especially when Keefe is one of the people working the hardest to stop her? Also, it is crazy that Fitz is guilt tripping Keefe for deciding not to be bait and leaving his life in the hands of his (crazy) mom. I’m sure it’s easy for Fitz to say that because he is not the one who is being targeted by an evil mastermind who wants to experiment on him.

This last example happened in Stellarlune, so it is is quite literally very recent. Fitz and Sophie are in the school cafeteria, and they are disagreeing about next steps to take to stop the Neverseen. In that conversation Fitz says, “But sometimes it feels like you don’t realize that it’s only a matter of time before something you do gets someone else killed?” In my opinion this is a completely unfair statement to make against Sophie. First of all, since the beginning of the series she never wanted her friends involved in the fight against the Neverseen because she wanted to keep them safe. However, her friends (including Fitz) would not take no for an answer and insisted on helping. Secondly, Sophie is always going above and beyond (risking her life) to save that of others. Both times when she almost died fixing her abilities, she endured it all for the sake of becoming stronger and protecting her friends, family, and her world. That is why I think the way Fitz is trying to make her feel guilty, and put the entire weight of people’s lives on her shoulders, is so unjustified. She is literally a young girl trying to do her best to save her world from crazy powerful villains, cut her some slack.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. Honestly, there are many more examples that could be brought up that I’m sure a lot of you are thinking about, but I am too lazy to write all of that. I just wanted to share my thoughts because I have been seeing some people say that Fitz has had good character development throughout the series (which I just have not seen) and does not deserve all the hate so I just wanted to share why I believe Fitz is viewed the way he is by a majority of the Keeper fandom.

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

genuine thoughts on Sokeefe. Go 🎤

This is gonna piss somebody off. They're probably one of my least favorite ships in fiction to date. Only coming slightly before Jude and Cardan lol It's not a popular opinion, I know, so please don't come @ me. And I haven't read the books in so long... I might have details screwy.

PS: I don't hate Sokeefe shippers, ship away, it doesn't bother me. but I hold deep animosity for the way the ship is written.

Sokeefe feels contrived, and unplanned. Which is the appeal to many, but the turn off for me. Genuinely. I think I just have issues with the writing and execution of it. If you have to completely ruin the other love interest (Fitz) to convince me that the runner up is better... we got issues.

Allow me to explain:

Fitzphie felt intentional and planned. And sue me, I hate love triangles and I like when someone can just unequivocally choose someone and stick with them.

I used to really ship Fitzphie, but after Legacy I was really annoyed with the way Shannon wrote it all playing out. It felt fabricated and convoluted and completely out of character. Sure, I can pathologize why Fitz would care about matchmaking to the moon and back... but canonically, it doesn't even make sense. He was okay with going to Exullium and ruining his reputation that way, he was okay with infiltrating the ogre king's mind, and throwing hands with his brother publicly, being seen with Sophie, and befriending outcasts- but matchmaking is his last straw?? That's what suddenly got him pissed off? Not the fact that Sophie was keeping secrets, emotionally confiding in Keefe and not Fitz, whilst claiming Fitz as her boyfriend, letting his traitorous brother go etc...

^THOSE are all way more valid reasons to break up a ship like Fitzphie. That's a break up I can respect. Bc we know Fitz values honesty, trust and dependability. That tracks. We know he struggles with anger, but only when something actually serious is happening: His dad's mind breaking, Alvar betraying them <- arguably bigger deals than matchmaking by a LANDSLIDE. but anyway- I'm fine with them being broken up. I just wish it hadn't taken a complete character assassination and a stupid reason. I am of the mind that Fitz straight up just deserves better atp and that he's been ooc for the last few books and held to unfair standards compared to Keefe and Sophie's characters. Which just makes me pissed off at the whole ship lmao

(this all led to me beginning to dislike the series as a whole, and Fitz becoming my favorite character.)

OKAY- now for Sokeefe.

They feel contrived and like a fan-service. Don't hate me PLEASE-

You mean to tell me I read 7 books straight of Sophie pining after Fitz, never commenting on having romantic feelings for Keefe (aside from loving him in general as a friend and finding him attractive and him making suggestive comments about her feelings and being overly touchy feely and her deliberately choosing not to examine it) only for Sophie to suddenly act like she hadn't been obsessed with Fitz for 7 books straight the moment she had him?? because of some stupid concept about head and heart emotions?? (It's world building. I get it. Doesn't mean I don't find it hilariously dumb.)

I ALWAYS got the undertone of Keefe pining for Sophie, but she did not have that energy back towards him. In fact, she seemed wildly uncomfortable in some scenes (the one in Nightfall?? I think?? Where he backs her up against a wall??) and she seemed to not understand and be completely oblivious to his suggestive comments, aside from making her blushy and self conscious cuz she's an insecure character.

So anyway, after the Fitzphie break up, reading Stellarlune- I KNEW she was going to end up with Keefe. Not because it made sense, or because it had been foreshadowed in SOPHIE"S POV, but bc the fans wanted it and Keefe is a favorite, and he grew on Shannon. I just- maybe I'm just bitter, but I have never been under the impression that Sophie genuinely wanted a romantic relationship with Keefe. Until this book. Which felt like whiplash to me.

Wasn't our girl just crying over Fitz? like what is going onnnn

I could respect Sokeefe If Sophie had been having a mental war between Fitz and Keefe since at least book five, I'd believe that she had real romantic feelings for Keefe. BUT SHE DIDN"T. at least- not that I remember. So with the lack of build up on her part, but the readers obvious awareness of Keefe's feelings for her... it falls flat. Had Shannon planned on Sokeefe being endgame and had she sprinkled in more deliberate and crushy thoughts that could only be interpreted as romantic on Sophie's part, I would feel less blindsided. I would feel like it was all intentional. Like Keefe wasn't the only one pining for 9 books. Like Sophie wanted it just as bad as him.

like how long does it really take someone to realize they like someone?? I just find the whole thing to be unrealistic. How can Sophie be THAT unself aware? (I know the argument is that she didn't allow herself to like him bc it would put their friendship on the line but girl- it was obvious Keefe liked her and I just don't think she's that purposefully dumb.)

bro I could go on forever.

I didn't even touch on Keefe and Sophie's personalities and why I don't particularly like them as individual characters. That's a rant for another time.

im sorry! please forgive me.

[cogaytes]

The Song Twins & Keepblr Characterization

@arson-anarchy-death @camelspit Sorry for my lateness!

Avi Cogaytes Professor Spit Roisin's Reading Rumble #3 16 July 2023

The Song twins are fan-favorite characters in the online fandom for Keeper of the Lost Cities, a middle grade fantasy book series by Shannon Messenger, present in roughly 30% of fanfictions posted on Archive of Our Own and popular on blogging website Tumblr. However, their characters are often misinterpreted by the fandom due to a combination of racial stereotypes and sometimes a lack of nuance. Despite the popularity of certain portrayals of the Song twins, several popular ways of seeing them actually have little to not basis in canon.

In Keepblr, Tam is often seen as "emo" and someone who represses his true feelings. Multiple posts have described him as "bottling up" his emotions. However, Tam is explicitly angry from the very first time we see him on the page (not counting the shadow-whispering). All of the words used to describe him and his speech are harsh: "demanded," "spat," "defiant stare." Clearly, he isn't trying to repress or bottle up this anger, since it influences how he speaks and interacts with the others. He also visibly expresses his emotions several times during that conversation; he "blinked several times" and his "jaw fell open" when Mr. Forkle offered them a place to stay, in addition to blushing when Keefe brings up the Foster Fan Club (Neverseen). From very early on in his introduction, it becomes clear that he is not actually trying to hide his feelings, and in fact his reactions are often easy for Sophie to pick up on. When Keefe is revealed to be a traitor, Tam "wiped tears from his silvery eyes" (Neverseen); he is clearly unafraid to display emotions and not repressed the way the fandom seems to see him. This also relates to him being seen as "emo"; people described as emo tend to hide their emotions and act more stoic. He's been labeled as a "dramatic emo" in one post, and is called that often by other posts in general. In canon, however, he's sensitive and expressive, a good friend who comforts Keefe after he leaves by reminding him that he isn't worthless (Nightfall), and does not try to hide his emotions or reactions in his facial expressions. This is not the other extrapolation about Tam often taken from canon.

Another popular headcanon of Tam is that he is queer and/or transmasculine. There are numerous posts dedicated to this headcanon, one in particular saying that Tam "[screams] gay" and the poster "can't see [him] liking women." They say that Tam having a crush on Keefe is "basically canon at this point," when there is actually zero canonical basis for this; other than banter they have no romantic subtext at all. He is also not shown to have any bodily dysmorphia or discomfort with masculinity or femininity that might hint to a transgender identity. Neither of these headcanons have basis in the text, no matter how popular they are. Rather than canon, these headcanons are likely based in racial stereotypes; elaboration about how this opinion may have come about can be found here. Tam's twin also undergoes similar fandom treatment, where she is portrayed as soft and sweet (as Asian women often are) rather than dimensional the way she is in canon.

Linh is seen as "fluffy" and has no backbone. In fanon, she's described as: "a push over," so sweet she's "a toothache of diabetes," "feminine and small and controllable," "quiet and reserved" "compassionate," a "smile through the trauma character." But in canon, she's not afraid to make waves or be defiant; she destroys Ravagog in a flood (Neverseen) and considers herself grateful for the power that allowed her to do that (Lodestar), showing her autonomy. She's defiant to her parents, telling them "Respect has to be earned" (Lodestar) and turning her back on them. She argues with her brother instead of burying her feelings of discomfort with his behavior (Stellarlune). She's willing to share about her vulnerabilities as well, telling Sophie "I've often wondered if I have more power than I should" (Lodestar). All of this in canon gives her significantly more dimension than the fluffy, stoic character she's described as in fanon.

As stated before, these portrayals are likely due to typecasting rather than actual canon. Asian men are often seen as more feminine and therefore queer or trans; they are usually stereotyped as either very "soft" or repressed about their emotions. This stereotype may have contributed to how widespread this opinion became despite the way Tam clearly emotes in canon. Asian women are also viewed as sweet, sensitive, and uncomplicated in media, while bottling up their emotions for others' convenience; unlike that stereotype, Linh has autonomy and is willing to both express herself and be defiant. Despite this, however, portrayals like the ones cited above remain unfortunately common. Members of Keepblr, therefore, should examine their perceptions of the Song twins to ensure that their headcanons have a canonical, rather than stereotypical basis.

[dragoncookies]

(PT 1) REREADING STELLARLUNE!

I am on a mission this summer to reread the entirety of Stellarlune, every last word, because I’m really just delusional and don’t want to believe my favorite childhood series is spiraling downward (even though it truly is). There’s still some gold in Stellarlune, quite a lot actually. 

SO, if you don’t want to reread stellarlune but still stay up to date you can follow me as I analyze this convoluted book. If you want, of course. 

(TW: all caps). 

(Sorry for grammar or spelling mistakes).

CHAPTERS 1-2:

Quick summary: Sophie finds the note, gets pissed at Grady for letting Keefe go and leaves her room to go to Elwin’s place with Sandor. Elwin and Ro are having a weird stuffed animal/exlir showdown, they have a long discussion about Keefe (go figure), then they call up Dex to figure out why Keefe freaked out and left. Dex clearly doesn’t want to tell them but they find out that Lex is talentless (it’s so sad). 

First of all can I just say OH MY GOSH the whole thing is about Keefe. Literally that is all anyone obsesses over for the first two chapters so far. Literally his health and safety is ALL SOPHIE OBSESSES WITH in her internal monologues. Is that even healthy...?

CHAPTER ONE:

Funny thing, CHAPTER ONE HAS MAD PARRELELS TO THE SOPHITZ FIGHT SCENE IN LEGACY. Like, I’m not even lying when I say that I got intense flashbacks to that scene because Grady was literally acting like Fitz in his mannerisms and the syntax was so similar and the dialogue rang so many bells. It was uncanny.

Fitz tends to drag his toe on the ground and run a hand down his face when he’s stressed, and in this chapter Grady would be doing things like “dragging the toe of his boot through he flowers woven into her carpet” 

and “Grady dragged a hand down his face”

I’m not even joking when I say that Grady said, “You trust me, don’t you?”.

There’s also a part in chapter one where it goes:

“’But I’ve never seen him so detirmined. Best I could do was...’

‘Was?’ Sophie prompted when he didn’t finish.”

In the Legacy fight scene there were multiple moments when Sophie didn’t finish her sentence and Fitz finished it. Except now it’s Sophie finishing the sentence. She was the one who was frustrated and she was lowkey acting like Fitz did in the Legacy fight scene. Little reverse reverse moment.  

Do with this information what you will.

I never get tired of the Flori descriptions. In the first part of chapter one Shannon described her swaying to be like an autumn breeze, but at the end of chapter one she was described as swaying in a storm. Felt fitting.  

Also, 

someone get rid of Shannon’s ability to hit the Enter button, 

Please.

;)

CHAPTER TWO:

I forgot how unironically comical Sandor is. It might just be me, but I narrate things when I read occasionally so I would be reading his stuff aloud with the squeaky bunny voice and everything he says is so serious but the voice makes it lowkey funny. The first lines of chapter two were so goofy because Sandor was all “it’s exactly what I feared” and it’s just Elwin’s house. It’s funny for me to imagine okay. 

Chapter Two really highlights something in Sophie at this point: She is very unpractical. She’s a little dramatic but she refuses to listen to common sense and logic, and gets annoyed with anyone who tries to reason with her. She only listens to those who agree with her in that Keefe should have stayed. Like with Grady and Elwin she feels horribly betrayed, but connects with Ro because Ro wants to drop every current problem they’re all facing with the state of affairs in the elven world to find Keefe. When Dex (later in this chapter) points out Keefe might be safer in the lost cities Sophie gets mad and thinks “what’s wrong with everybody??” Like, Sophie please you’ve got bigger problems right now. Lowkey relatable ngl. 

Okay I might ruffle some feathers with this, but Ro only gets more and more annoying with every new book that comes out. She’s so unbelievably in everyone’s business it’s surprising she has the fanbase she does. I feel as though Shannon is TRYING to make her BLATANTLY disrespectful and everyone just eats it up more and more. First of all, she just exposes Keefe’s personal statement in front of everyone and it clearly makes Sophie uncomfortable, then talks about how she’s been wanting this to happen forever and just assumes Sophie feels the same way about Keefe that Keefe does Sophie. Like, what would Ro have done if Sophie genuinely didn’t like Keefe? She’s shoving her nose in a teenage relationship she has NO BUISNESS being in. Gosh Ro. Sorry that was critical...she’s just so invasive. Also, this is a fantasy series, the romance is becoming excessive. 

When Sophie calls up Dex, all I can say is oh my. Oh my. 

Dex has clearly been crying and looks real rough and Sophie’s just like “so why are you crying. You’ve been crying tell me why, don’t argue with me” and when I tell you I’ve never wanted to reach through the pages and slap someone more. He’s clearly hurt and all she can think about is how badly she needs to get Keefe back. She makes Dex reorganize his priorities in the middle of a grieving session for his sibling so she can make him try and find Keefe. SOPHIE. HE’S YOUR FRIEND. BE NICE. 

This entire conversation is also highlighting how lowkey hypocritical Sophie is (wow I’m absolutely bagging on the poor girl). She asks Dex “you trust me, don’t you?” when Grady literally asked her that a chapter ago and she got mad about it. She also tried to tease Dex a little to lighten the mood like Grady did a chapter ago when Sophie didn’t find it funny before. 

Then there’s the part where Dex really really REALLY doesn’t want anyone to know that Lex is talentless and Ro just goes “well i know what happened and I’m going to spill your secrets in ten second unless you tell her yourself” (paraphrasing). That is just. I hate to say it but that is absolutely disgusting. You don’t hold people’s sensitive and personal information over their head’s like that. Dex has been sobbing and there’s crashing coming from his end of the imparter from inside his house. His world has probably been flipped upside down, he’s shouting “STOP” and asking them not to prod anymore, and Ro just FORCES the information to come out of him one way or another. That’s sick. It’s underhandedly sick. Sophie goes along with it too, using some pathos type sappy speech to convince Dex why invading his privacy is important because guess what? Finding Keefe (a relatively useless task) is more important than Dex’s privacy. 

Then after Ro forces Dex to tell Sophie keefe’s new ability-detecting ability she makes it seem as though he’s overreacting. 

Put simply: poor Dex.

There’s emphasis on the obsession with elven abilities in this chapter. Ro repeatedly highlights how bizarre it is that elves are so infatuated with something that can only be useful half the time, and Dex’s grief over Lex not having an ability shows how HEAVY the elven prejudice runs. Like, it’s literally making him cry. He doesn’t even want to say it. That’s how important it is in elven society. Dex even says, “Abilities define us for the rest of our lives”. Yikes. Maybe this is an important concept to keep in mind...?

I love this part of the chapter, though, when Dex actually does tell Sophie about Lex:

“’Oh,’

The tiny word seemed to pulse, growing louder with every beat until the sound filled the enormous room.

So did the word none of them said. 

Talentless. 

More tears dripped down Dex’s cheeks, and Sophie felt her own eyes turn watery.”

Sad :(

Well, that’s all for now. If you read all of that, you’re a legend. Stay tuned for more chapters!

[spaceangst]

What caused you to move Flashback up in your rankings?

i'm going to link you to my review of flashback from when i first read it here, so you can get an idea of what my thoughts were.

as for now, it's not so much that it moved up a lot in my rankings or anything, it's just that i appreciate the events of the plot more in conjunction with everything that's happened.

at this point, i might as well put together a proper ranking of the series, so stay tuned, i guess?

flashback is still a very polarizing novel in the sense that there's a lot set up that feels a lot like waiting for the other foot to fall. the three most important plot points i can pull from there are in regards to the vacker legacy, fitz, and alvar. there's unfinished business there, and sure, there's probably another hive of those trolls (like in stellarlune) but i think this is the big fight that book 10 (elysian) is going to give us. for that, i can appreciate it.

outside of that, there's a lot that fitz says and does that is very much unwarranted for, unless it's followed up with a solid corruption arc or total betrayal.

we're also left in the dark about whatever it is that keefe and alden talked about, which i find odd, especially considering it probably had nothing to do with sokeefe.

for the most part though, i do pretty much agree with my initial thoughts.

i do have a few annotations to add, and i'd be interested in knowing what other people thought of these moments, because they were all bookmarked for a reason.

keefe saves fitz a lot. i would've liked to see fitz full on lash out just so we can get some kind of confirmation regarding what direction his character is going in. this will he-won't he kind of characterization is what's making him the most unlikable because all things considered, he's still one of the good guys, just with the attitude of someone not so great. there's some character development in legacy and a little in the opposite direction of legacy in stellarlune, but it keeps going back and forth.

sophie is someone with immense power and she's incredibly aware of her responsibility. fitz acts like a kid and he's incredibly entitled despite the power and status he holds in the elven world. there's a gross power imbalance when it comes to their relationship too, and it shows when he idolizes her and simultaneously has issues with her authority (which, considering the women in his family, he shouldn't.)

all things considered, fitz has been hurt by the neverseen the least. biana, dex, even the song siblings, have been directly targeted far more than him. the most fitz has experienced happens in legacy and it's after wylie's been tortured and everything. keefe's situation is more personal, and coupled with the emotional and psychological abuse he's grown up with, he definitely blames himself for the neverseen's attacks.

but for fitz, who meets with lord cassius just to learn more about alvar, despite cassius also being an empath who lived with gisela, to blame someone he's supposed to consider his best friend? yeah, there's no amount of justifying that, even in anger. there's a lot keefe could have said back, especially in regards to the way he treats sophie, but he holds back and while i respect keefe for that, i can't forgive fitz for it.

not sure if i have any notes saved around this point, but it's just an extension of the way fitz treats dex and it's just. he's in a position where he knows (fitz "i like being a vacker" avery vacker) so i'd find it hard to believe he doesn't know how unwarranted his attitude is.

wylie was more of a well rounded character in flashback and i definitely appreciated that!

considering the events of legacy, this was hypocritical at best, blatantly disrespectful at worst.

edaline's one of my favorite characters and i love how giving she is, and how kind she is to keefe, who's got lady gisela as the standard for mothers.

anyway.

i think the biggest problem i have with flashback is that honestly, fitz wasn't much of a problem to me in books prior to flashback. sure, he's not my favorite in the previous books, but the change in his character, rather, the more we learn about his character from flashback onwards, he stops being likable. and an unlikable character at the forefront of the story who's supposed to be the main love interest? it's not great.

there's also a lot that happens with the trolls and everything that happens really gets built up in the last 1/3 of the book, which is also the reason why stellarlune doesn't rank as high for me either. while stellarlune attempts to get somewhere and intentionally drags things out so we can build suspense, however, flashback drags. sophie and fitz spend a long, long, long time in healing center and the plot lulls there.

as for the rest, i think my initial thoughts covered it pretty well. there's not much more i could add that i haven't already covered in my analysis of fitz and review.

what were your thoughts on flashback?

[the-neverseen]

💖 KOTLC Book 9: Stellarlune Barnes & Nobel Virtual Tour Notes 💖

Shannon was wearing an elephant finger puppet that she bought at a portland airport on her way home that reminded her of Ella! ♥

She knew she wanted at least 10 books right from the start. She knew that writing about the rebellions and all the reasons they came to be, along with all the details about them, would take a long time to really flesh them out well.

After book 5 the series was popular enough that they basically said they would give her as many books as it –reasonably–  takes to finish the series!

Dialogue is one of her strong points due to her screenwriting background in college.

When Sophie had to leave and only got to take one thing, she choose Ella because it’s what Shannon herself would take. 🥺

One moment she wrote in Stellarlune has been in the works since 2008! She was going to add it earlier, but the time wasn’t right yet. 😮

She’s on the downhill part of writing the series, working hard to wrap up all the storylines that have happened throughout the books.

She doesn’t really outline so she had an editor help make one for books 8, 9 and 10 so that she could wrap everything up as smoothly as possible to make everyone happy.

THERE COULD BE A BOOK 11

If she needs to make book 10 into two parts then she will do so! ("I might have to walk back the "only one more book!" thing, oops!")

The Movie is still happening, just slowly as they are in the very early stages of making it. She mentioned that it could even turn into a tv show??

There was a zoom poll (Shannon's answers are in bold) sci-fi/fantasy, banshee/imp, elven desserts/gnome veggies, talentless/pyrotechnic, and throwing stars/sword (she said she has too bad of an aim for throwing stars lol)

Her writing advice this year is about finding your style and what you like and don’t like. She reads books she doesn’t like so that she can find the weaker points in her writing. Likewise, find inspiration in books that you love!

Her favorite things to write are humor and dialogue, and it’s why there is a lot of each in the keeper series!

From the Q&A:

Q: Will we ever get to see what The Great Gulon Incident was?

A: “Not in one of the books. It will be in a short story eventually.” She also hinted at an entire short story book. (She said since it has been a running topic throughout the series, she’s not sure how to write it in a way that wouldn’t feel underwhelming. “Sophie would just be like “...Okay.””)

Q: Did you know Fitzroy Avery Vacker rhymes with Ritz Savory Cracker when you named him? “Please tell me yes. Please I need to know”

A: Shannon, “No, I really didn’t.” James, “You should just say yes, I would.” 😂

Q: Are you working on any new stories yet?

A: She doesn’t have time to flesh any out until she’s done with Keeper, but she has a notebook full of shiny new story ideas.

Q: Team Sofitz or Team Sokeefe?

A: They talked about love triangles and how it’s something that whole swaths of fans get very dedicated about, and can shape how you write your series. How it turns into trying to appease fans instead of what the characters would want. Talked about Susan Collins’ experience with it as well.

Shannon said she always wants her characters to make the choices that seem right to them in the moment, so she is solidly team Sophie for now. “Maybe Sophie will say I don’t want any of you! Basically, I’m team Sophie.” (TEAM SOPHIE FOR THE WIN) James said he's still team Dex lol

BONUS: 

Elephant finger puppets sightings @ 6:20, 6:26, 6:35, 6:50, 6:52, 6:54, 6:58pm 🐘

Shannon and James' friendship was really sweet, and the event never had an awkward moment or silence! (Both of their first books came out on the same day, and he read the email he sent her that day!)

Emoji reactions constantly scrolled during the event, we sent many waves of hearts, one of "O" faces, and hands waving until they ended the zoom call!

Overall the event was a lot of fun, and went really smoothly!! Can't wait to get my hands on that lovely B&N edition!

[official-kenralie-fanbase]

how about your grady and/or edaline thoughts?

My honest opinion of them: LOVE. Just... all my love and affection goes out to these two. First off, Grady: I find that normally in books, parents (especially dads) don't have too much characterization. They're either just "the good dad" or "the bad dad". But Grady's character is so complex and detailed. He has a lot of struggles with anger and guilt, but he's such a genuinely kind person and so sweet with Sophie. His relationship with Brant is absolutely fascinating to me... I recently reread Everblaze and it's heartbreaking how betrayed he is when he learns about Brant. He's so tough but also so kind. (And I'm obsessed with the "I'll show you ruthlessness line" in Nightfall, however it goes) Next: Edaline. I'll admit, at first I was more interested in Grady than in her, but the more I look back at the series the more I realize that she also had such great development. At first, many people (including the reader) underestimate her; she's broken over the loss of her daughter and just seems so fragile. But as Sophie learns to trust her and goes to her with her problems more, the reader also learns to like and trust her. And I absolutely love her in Stellarlune. She's the perfect mom Sophie needs right now. These two are some of my favorite fictional parents and they deserve the world <3

Who (if anyone) I ship with them: Each other... I know they're married and all but they just fit SO WELL together

And what I think will happen with them in the next book(s): First off, I highly doubt either of them will die. Shannon's going to hit us with an emotional blow, but that would be too huge of an emotional blow. I think they're going to both fight in the final battle, and one of them might end up injured, but neither of them will die. I also think that they're going to be very upset with Oralie when the news is revealed, but have to work with her at some point. I hope they meet Sophie's human parents... I think the two couples would get along well. Ooh and I really want Grady to use his Mesmer ability more; it's so fascinating but hasn't been used much in the later books.

Send me any KOTLC character for the ask game!

[camallowing]

MY THOUGHTS ON STELLARLUNE:

better pacing than flashback, I liked the fancy revelations and connections between loose ends that have been popping up over the entire series. It feels like this is definitely coming to the end of the series (although there’s going to be AT LEAST one more book).

very surprised by gisela killing vespera, did not see that coming at all and vespera was cool so kinda upset about that. Sophie was less annoying in this one and fitz showed some surprising emotional maturity which was nice to see. Keefe didn’t get enough page time. Ro might be taking the place of my number one favorite character but it was a crime elwin wasn’t present at all. got as close as we could to a canon prentice-tiergan relationship without it being too gay because we can’t have that now can we. Glimmer is Very Cool and also making her way up the Top Ten Characters list.

All in all, cool nice good but i am very concerned about the living status of Ro. where is she i need her back because her older sister found family bond with both keefe and sophie got me through the many many many wordy pages of this book.

anyways

[gingerthemoonlark]

alright!!!!

okay!!!!

as previously mentioned my copy of stellarlune came in and i read it all in one night and i have SO MANY THOUGHTS

(which we will be exploring in other posts, fear not)

but for now!!!! can i just say what i wonderful surprise this was???

because i'm not the only person whose made posts talking about starting to doubt the series. and honestly, in the first bit of the book it got even worse as i remembered all the plot lines that just haven't been talked about it forever. and guys, there's SO MANY PLOTLINES

these books got incredibly complicated and we all started doubting whether or not shannon could tie all of it together or if she was just throwing things in at this point

and i was kinda on team "shannon might not have 100% of everything together here" but i was SO HAPPY to be wrong

because the way that this book tied together so many things was really awesome. it made my brain very happy. (also, you know, sokeefe, but that's a ramble for another time)

anyways i'm really, really pleasantly surprised by this book

it honestly might be my favorite later book in the series

ALSO ELYSIAN BEING A PERSON IS JUST SO PERFECT CAUSE THIS SERIES NEVER HAD AN ACTUAL MAIN VILLIAN, IT JUST SHIFTED BETWEEN VESPERS, FINTAN, AND GISELA BUT NOW THERE'S ONE MAIN GUY WHICH TRUST ME, I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IN MORE DEPTH LATER

[cecebookworm07]

Edit: Rereading this now you can so tell that I’m half asleep. I type like I’m ten when I’m half asleep. I’ll just edit this in the morning when I can actually understand what I’m typing and thinking. :)

What I learned from my most recent rereading and annotations of the first KOLTC book in no particular order:

- Fitz and Sophie’s first encounter is so much funnier than I remember OH MY GOD

- Dex and Sophie are really adorable together in the “two silly best friends” kind of way in the beginning

- Dex pissed me off when there fight happens. Like bro, she’s losing the people who she was CONVINCED we’re going to be adopting her but noooooo focus on the fact that she might be adopted by the Vackers just cus you don’t like them. Believe me, after Flashback I haven’t been a fan and if I was an elf in that world I would hate them too, but STILL. You keep that to yourself in that instance.

- This whole book I just kept thinking about the fact that Sophie is midway through an adoption and Rayni has already been abandoned and forgotten. Yikes.

- The first time we’re introduced to Oralie I wrote, “First mother daughter meeting.” on the top of the page.

- I realized after being forced to basically highlight 75% of the pages that this book is 100% pure set up.

- Honestly underrated. I perfer the more recent books but MY GOD if Grady and Edaline didn’t have my heart in this book (there my next point)

- I skim read this book for fan fic reasons a lot and I tend to skip over the whole adoption debacle on one hand because it likely won’t play a part in the fan fic but also because I don’t have the emotional strength to read that. I literally started balling my eyes out midway through chapter 39 even though I knew everything would be okay in the end.

- Grady and Edaline. Just them being tragic and compelling af in this book. Like honestly there relationship and relation to Sophie in this book are SO well written. Criticize this series all you want, but some of these platonic relationships hit like truck.

- My dumb dumb brain never put together the significance behind the three original councilors to meet her. Brontë: Suspected dad for a book, later close mentor. Kenric: Honsstk idk, I thought he was a mystery after Unlocked but he just got more mysterious after Stellarlune I swear. Oralie: … Mom…

- Keefe isn’t that important in this and it kind of hurts.

- At this point in the series SoFitz was 100% Endgame.

- If I was at Foxfire, my favorite subject would 100% be history (thought it’d be 75% propaganda) and the universe.

- Telepathy is overrated

- This world is aristocratic and that’s just so funny to me.

- Biana is so bad in this book OMG. And honestly so is Alden. The twist at the ending. Horrible.

- Marcua and Stina are legit awful in this book too regardless of there later redemption.

- I can’t pick between any of the abilities I would want so oh well. There’s to many.

- Iggy is the real hero of this series

- The councils apology to Sophie at the end of the series is honestly both funny and horrible. Like they basically said, “Sorry that you were stalked, kidnapped, and tortured right under our noses but we’ll do better next time. Consider that your official punishment for saving the world! (Plus promise we’ll catch them!)”

- 8 books and one novella later and no one has been caught.

Anyway, book one was fun and all but mostly I was just thinking about how much of it was set up. Like seriously. Almost EVERYTHING was set up.

[soshesighs]

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

I honestly just don’t have anywhere to put this (though I might make a thread of my answers on twitter too, I’m still debating it), and I really wanted to answer and play along with the cool kids, so I’m tossing it up on here. All this is going to do is show off my indecisiveness, but hey ho. I like rambling about books. 

(Under a cut though because this got really long. Shocker.)

Best book you’ve read so far this year? I’m super late to the game, but Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas was definitely one of them that I finished and just wanted to kick myself for putting it off for so long. It’s such a beautiful, carefully written, inclusive story, and it deserves all the hype it’s gotten. Runners up: The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun, Love From Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill.

Best sequel you’ve read so far this year? Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire, probably! I’m the biggest fan of Wayward Children series, and every time we get a new novella, it feels like coming home. (Also, Seanan McGuire is doing some of the best work writing diverse main characters in the game right now, I swear.) Runner up: Saga #55 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, making a triumphant return after a nearly four year hiatus.

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to? I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston. Yes, I’m kicking myself that I haven’t picked it up yet. No, I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll get to it soon, I swear. Honestly. Runner up: Book of Night by Holly Black.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year? There is no simple answer here. You get a list: Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater Husband Material by Alexis Hall Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger

Biggest disappointment? Definitely The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka. I got an ARC of this from NetGalley and was so excited about it (queer romance + super powers? sign me the hell up), and it just... it was so bad. It was a great premise, and probably could be a good book, but it needs so much work to get there. The plot is all tied up in a neat, incredibly unrealistic bow, and nothing is ever explained. Nothing makes any sense. Runner up: Gallant by Victoria Schwab, and that pains me to say. Look, I adore V, I really do, but this one was a bit of a let down in that not much happened. It’s very, very atmosphere-driven, very reliant on V’s lyrical prose over plot. Beautiful book to listen to (and hold a physical copy of - the illustrations are gorgeous), but a bit lacking.

Biggest surprise? Probably Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater. Brave was never my favorite Disney movie, but this was a great companion novel. Disney couldn’t have asked a better author to take on this book, given Maggie’s History degree focusing on early Scottish history, along with her knowledge-base of Celtic culture and mythology. I liked the ARC I read of it so much that I bought a physical copy as well. Runner up: The Audacity of Sara Grayson by Joani Elliott. I went into this knowing nothing about it really, no real expectations - it just happened to be the book of the month one month for my work book club - and it was a delight. A love letter to anxious writers with imposter syndrome, I swear.

Favorite new (to you or debut) author? Hmm. Can I say Rachel Smythe? I read the bind-up Volume One of Lore Olympus and loved every second of it. I wanted to dive right in to reading it all on webtoons, and I did start to after finishing the volume, but it fell to the backburner as life got hectic. But I just got Volume Two in the mail today, and I’m very, very excited.

Newest fictional crush? Benny from Love From Scratch (the pun game is so strong with this one, not to mention the sheer level of support he gives to Reese) or Mei from Under the Whispering Door (get you a girl who will jump to your defense with kitchen knives at the slightest need).

Newest favorite character? Charlie from The Charm Offensive. The mental health and diverse sexuality representation in this book meant a lot to me, but Charlie in particular... I’m not sure I’ve ever read a ‘romantic hero’ character, so to speak, that deals so openly and on-page with anxiety and depression and OCD and isn’t shunned or seen as unlovable for it, and I needed that.

Book that made you cry? Back to Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune again. So much crying, but in a good way, if that makes sense? The book centers on the stages of grief, so there’s a lot of talk about love and loss, about how to make the most of the time we have with people, about how it’s never enough time. Ever. And it made me sob, but then glued my heart back together again, and I loved every second of it.

Book that made you happy? Network Effect by Martha Wells. The Murderbot Diaries series is my go-to comfort reread - I’ve gone through the whole series five times, I think? In two years? Anyway, this is easily one of my favorite books of all time now, and the most satisfying reunion plotline I’ve ever read in a book. Period.

Most beautiful book you received or bought so far this year? The special edition Diviners Series (by Libba Bray) bind-up from The Bookish Box. This series was done incredibly dirty by the publishing industry and never given a full set of all 4 books in the same format (as in, all hardback or all paperback) with matching covers. There are... I think 4 different variations on covers for the series - they changed it that many times - but never was the full series done to match, ever. Two book boxes did gorgeous sets of them this year, but this one... this one is truly magical.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? Ahahaha, so many. Again, you get a list, because I can’t pick just one or two: Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (Ariadne is my all-time favorite character from Greek mythology, and she is constantly forgotten. She got a whole book written about her and I haven’t read it yet, and honestly how?) Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi Beyond the End of the World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin (This is my only currently lingering ARC on NetGalley, so I need to get to it before early August, ahhhh.)

[mtr1234]

KOLTC fans who do not like Fitz, this post is for you. Fitz fans who do not believe people have sound arguments about why they dislike Fitz, this post is also for you.

Disclaimer:

I will mention stuff that happened in Stellarlune, so if you are not caught up with the series you might not want to continue reading.

I will try to provide quotes, but I will likely just describe the scene and what book it is in when I provide my reasons.

Also, this post will be pretty long which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.

______________________________________________________________

Anyway, let’s get to the reasons why I dislike Fitz. I have broken them up into three main categories, and I will be talking about aspects of Fitz’s character that I think a lot of people overlook (not the reasons that people do tend to mention: him having anger issues and being boring)

I don’t know if you guys have noticed this, but Fitz is really shady, Iike really shady (and not in a good way like our favorite shade Tam)

He has eavesdropped on Sophie and Keefe’s conversations before which I find so weird

In Lodestar, when Sophie and Keefe were communicating telepathically in that slimy location that Keefe picked out, Fitz started listening in on their conversation without their knowledge. He said it was because he was worried since he heard Sophie gasp. Personally, I do not buy this excuse. He can literally see Sophie so he could easily determine that she is not in danger. At the very least, why did he not immediately announce that he was listening once he knew Sophie was okay? In my opinion, it just feels odd, and if I were Sophie or Keefe I would feel a bit uneasy.

In Flashback, Sophie and Keefe were talking in the healing center about starting weapons training, and Sophie asks Keefe if he is down to do that (or something along those lines). Fitz immediately shouts, “I’m in!” The shady thing about this was that he was sleeping in his cot when they were talking. Now, I’m not saying that he is expected to cover his ears while they have a private convo in the healing center. But the thing is, he pretended to be asleep to listen to more of their conversation which is creepy.

The next very shady thing was the gift he gave Sophie in Legacy which was a painting he asked Keefe to make.

I always thought this was shady because, for one thing, he completely stole Keefe’s idea for a gift. Come on, a painting with a heartfelt message on the back?! That was literally what Keefe gave Sophie in Nightfall. Here comes the actual shady part though: why did he not just go to Atlantis or somewhere and have someone paint it for him? He purposefully asked Keefe to paint the confession scene between him and Sophie when he knows that Keefe likes Sophie. That is so messed up. This is made even worse by the fact that he paid Keefe when literally every elf is born with an unlimited birth fund so it was essentially worthless.

This next example happened in Legacy. I feel like a lot of people forgot about this or kind of swept in under the rug, but I think it is actually very telling of the type of person Fitz is. I am talking about when Fitz decided to search Lord Cassius’s mind to learn anything about where Alvar might be after he got away in Flashback.

There are several shady things about what happened in this scene. First of all, Fitz decided to do this even though he knew that it would make Keefe uncomfortable (Fitz would see the abuse/trauma Keefe suffered at home). Secondly, Fitz did this without even asking Keefe first or even letting him know about it. If you recall, he literally just showed up at Keefe’s house without any warning. Lastly, he tried to lie about it too. He tried to say “I’m doing this for Keefe” and “whatever I find will be helpful for Keefe”. Give me a break, we all know he did not do this out of concern for Keefe and he was caught lying in the act by Keefe himself. *I find it funny how he tried to lie about it to Keefe, when Keefe is literally the strongest empath in their world and is literally so smart even though he does not get enough credit for it.

2. When he gets mad at Sophie, the first thing he does is belittle her or try to make her feel stupid:

This first example comes from Exile when Fitz was getting mad at Sophie about what happened to his dad. Now, a lot of people like to dismiss how Fitz acted in this situation because he was under a lot of stress, but I do not think this is right to do because it absolves Fitz of any guilt instead of addressing how his behavior was wrong. The specific scene I am referring to is when, I believe, Alvar suggests that maybe Sophie can help Alden and then Fitz responds with: “Please, she’s just a kid.” What I get from this statement is that he is making Sophie feel less than, and in the process he is putting himself above her “level”. Now, one can use the excuse that he wasn’t himself and that he was torn up with grief, but he says similar things to Sophie later on in the series (when his dad is not on his deathbed) which I mention below.

This next example happens towards the end of Legacy, just before Fitz and Sophie broke up. Sophie was defending her decision to search Lord Cassius’s mind for any important information even though Fitz was already doing that (she honestly didn’t even need to do this because everyone knew he was getting nowhere and that he would never have found anything useful). Anyway, Fitz responds with: “So you thought the Moonlark needed to swoop in and take over? The leader of Team Valiant? Lady Sophie Foster? The fact that he is trying to make her feel bad about her accomplishments is a major red flag in my opinion. As someone who supposedly cares about her more than anyone, he should feel the most proud of her successes.

This third example is from Stellarlune. It’s when Fitz and Sophie have their first telepathy session after the whole “Fitzphie’s not a thing!” debacle. So, Sophie is asking Tiergan what a Cognate Inquisition is and then here comes the interjection: “Better question,” Fitz jumped in using a smug tone that made [Sophie] wish one of the buttons on her telepathy chair would turn Fitz’s into an ejector seat and launch him out of the room. “Why were you hoping to spare us from it?” I just think this is unnecessary and uncalled for; why is he trying to embarrass/ one up her in front of their mentor? (Did he forget that he is the one who joined her session, not the other way around?)

3. The last major issue I have with Fitz is the fact that he guilt trips Sophie and Keefe a lot. And, just so everybody is aware, not about minor stuff. He tries to make them feel guilty about things that are completely out of their control, and as you are reading these examples I just want you to keep in mind that elves are not equipped to handle guilt. Their mind can literally shatter if they feel too much of it (like Alden), and that’s why I think it is so horrific every time Fitz does stuff like this:

Everybody knows this one, but I am still going to put it here because it is worth mentioning. In Exile, Fitz blamed Sophie for his dad’s mind shattering. I have seen a lot of people try to say it is justified because he was going through a lot at the time, but I disagree. I think we can all agree that just because someone is going through a tough time (no matter how tough it may be), it does not give them the right to bully an innocent person.

Moving on, in Flashback, towards the end of the book Fitz makes everyone search for Alvar because he thinks he is up to something shady. When they find Alvar and question him, Keefe says that he can tell that Alvar is telling the truth. Then Fitz retorts, “Like you could tell with your mom?” In this remark, he is referring to the fact that, before she revealed her betrayal, Keefe had no idea that his mom was evil. This made me so angry on Keefe’s behalf because everyone already knows that he blames himself for everything that his mom is doing. With every revelation about his mom’s plan he sees how much worse things truly are, and that sends him into a downward spiral of guilt. For his “best friend” to say this to him is so messed up.

This is not another example, just my own thoughts about what I said above so you can skip it if you would like. I never understood why people (namely the Councillors) expected Keefe to know that his mom was evil. For one thing, his parents are literally known for never showing any physical or emotional affection to him. So, how is he supposed to be able to read his mom’s emotions if he never is close to her? Secondly, I think people are forgetting that as an empath he can only read people’s emotions. He does not know the reason why they are feeling the way that they do unless he has context. Lastly, his mom was literally erasing his memories left and right so whatever information he could even manage to glean would be wiped from his mind. Meanwhile, Fitz is literally a telepath, and he had no idea his brother was evil (and I assume he must have read his brother’s mind at least one time) so I think he needs to lay off the judgment.

In Legacy, Gisela leaves a note for Sophie to bring Keefe to Loamnore during the “showdown” (or whatever you want to call it). Anyway, Sophie does not want to do this because it is obviously a trap, and Keefe gives in and agrees to stay behind. When he makes this decision, Fitz says, “Wow, you really hate Tam that much? Because he’s the one who’ll pay the price if you’re not there—you get that right?” Is it just me or does that not sound so condescending? All I can say to this is how does he have the nerve to blame Gisela’s actions on Keefe, especially when Keefe is one of the people working the hardest to stop her? Also, it is crazy that Fitz is guilt tripping Keefe for deciding not to be bait and leaving his life in the hands of his (crazy) mom. I’m sure it’s easy for Fitz to say that because he is not the one who is being targeted by an evil mastermind who wants to experiment on him.

This last example happened in Stellarlune, so it is is quite literally very recent. Fitz and Sophie are in the school cafeteria, and they are disagreeing about next steps to take to stop the Neverseen. In that conversation Fitz says, “But sometimes it feels like you don’t realize that it’s only a matter of time before something you do gets someone else killed?” In my opinion this is a completely unfair statement to make against Sophie. First of all, since the beginning of the series she never wanted her friends involved in the fight against the Neverseen because she wanted to keep them safe. However, her friends (including Fitz) would not take no for an answer and insisted on helping. Secondly, Sophie is always going above and beyond (risking her life) to save that of others. Both times when she almost died fixing her abilities, she endured it all for the sake of becoming stronger and protecting her friends, family, and her world. That is why I think the way Fitz is trying to make her feel guilty, and put the entire weight of people’s lives on her shoulders, is so unjustified. She is literally a young girl trying to do her best to save her world from crazy powerful villains, cut her some slack.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. Honestly, there are many more examples that could be brought up that I’m sure a lot of you are thinking about, but I am too lazy to write all of that. I just wanted to share my thoughts because I have been seeing some people say that Fitz has had good character development throughout the series (which I just have not seen) and does not deserve all the hate so I just wanted to share why I believe Fitz is viewed the way he is by a majority of the Keeper fandom.

[spaceangst]

Uhhh thoughts on Lodestar? That one was always my favorite so I just wanted to know what you think

personally, i really liked lodestar! it went up in my personal rankings (that will never be solidified bc they change every time i reread the series in preparation for a new book) this time around and i think it brought a lot to the plot outside of the love triangle as well.

one of the greatest pitfalls of the later books (post nightfall, i want to say?) is that the plot tends to meander and stall. you can't really blame shannon for it because it happens when any series gets too long, and a randomly short book wouldn't do justice to the series, neither would two books in one, just to further the plot. that being said, neverseen and nightfall still remain as my top two books for that reason. i'd say lodestar could come in a solid third place?

i honestly loved how much we got to see keefe handling the neverseen from the inside (even if we later learn that they were playing him the entire time, i fully believe he's too clever to not have picked something up that they let slip by accident.)

lodestar's greatest strength is the character development through the plot, rather than character development parallel to the plot. we see keefe's anguish over his legacy in the way he chooses to save alvar and bring him back to the neverseen with the aluveturre crystal, and we see sophie's feelings for him take less of a backseat and emerge a little more in the forefront of her mind. we get to see tam really shine - and this is the book where i really started to have three favorite characters rather than 2.

shannon also balances the humor well:

(feat. tam as the president of the foster-keefe fanclub)

this is a book that unsuspectingly lays down the groundwork for a lot of what's to come in the series.

anyone who remembers my time writing fanfiction for sokeefe (back when all the kotlc fics were on wattpad, before we all collectively discovered ao3), might remember the follow up to neverseen that i had predicted keefe would develop a few more abilities. ironically enough, one of those is similar to those that he actually developed, but the other was psionpathy. you win some, you lose some. either way, i think this really set us up to keep looking for keefe's new ability, and we all let our guard down after nothing emerged immediately. and then BAM! we get hit with unlocked.

this is also the book that does the absolute most for sokeefe in terms of developing their relationship, apart from neverseen. we see mr. forkle encouraging them (and i know the fandom has conflicting views on mr. forkle, but i'd urge y'all to look at him the way harry potter fans view dumbledore. he did what he thought was necessary, even if it wasn't the best way to go about it. at all. circumstances affect how we approach problem solving, and they were both desperate.) see the following:

this scene above is probably the most important since it's the one that gives keefe the most hope about sophie's feelings. we're all experts on cassius's mind and heart theory, and it's obviously about sophitz and sokeefe just as much as it is about how the different intelligent races approach their problems. the more elves think with their heads and rationale, the less their society progresses. the more elves think with their hearts and emotions, the more their society falls apart. there needs to be a balance between the two, but i digress. this is the first time we see keefe given a glint of hope and we know this in how he doesn't share it, or tease sophie about it. stellarlune all but confirms that, when he mentions that despite feeling somewhat numb, he can still tell what sophie's feeling. he doesn't even bring it up even though that's what sophie wants.

the scene where sophie and mr. forkle are talking about keefe also stood out to me because it gave us a glimpse at how they both think really similarly. they're both in unique positions where simply being around each other endangers the other, and they're not ready to lose each other. forkle's got a valid point - pushing each other to be better is sokeefe's greatest strength. it's anyone's greatest strength - you want a relationship that improves both of you, whether it's romantic or familial or platonic. it's about dynamic improvement, constantly.

another more subtle thing lodestar does is slowly push oralie to the forefront. she's important because she's sophie's genetic mother, as we know, and while i have my own complicated thoughts on how sophie reacts to that, she's important for a lot more than that. a lot of the events in stellarlune wouldn't have been possible without her access to the cache and she's slowly become more of a main character, more so than kenric (and y'all know i have my theories about him).

overally op, i'm not sure what exactly you wanted to hear about lodestar, so here are my thoughts broadly? i hope this was an interesting read regardless, and i'd be interested in reading about why lodestar's your favorite too!