Discussion-y Discussions!

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

It started with a post about some friendly competition during the YA Fantasy Showdown,
 
to which aspectabund said this:  He'd just like, catch it and throw it back harder and stick it right in her EYE!

http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/398470.html?thread=9934470#t9934470 (the orignal post and discussion)

and went on a tangent nicely into a discussion about Attolia and her infrequent smile, the real one, mind you not the scary "I'll eat your liver for breakfast" smile.

To which Jade suggested this side discussion deserves its own post. :-D

So this is what we gots: 
Aha! p. 375 in KoA she smiles at both Teleus and Gen.
Okay so: Gen, Teleus, (we know by infering Relius)
Am I making it up about Costis? (like when she calls him in her room to make sure Gen stays in bed....) maybe I'm making that up...And what about Sophos in CoKs? 
queen smiles at Costis when Gen calls him his watchdog.
Also Eddis. It's in QoA, a hesitant smile that makes Eddis think there's hope for Gen, around the polecat/vulpine exchange, right before the horse tosses his head like someone had twitched the bit in its mouth because SOMEBODY FORGOT GEN WAS IN THEIR MEGARON, LOCKED UP AWAY FROM EVERYONE ELSE.
Does her satisfied smile at Ornon count? After she offers Gen her wine cup and defuses the situation - something Ornon was unable to do? (p96)

So, so far we have: Goat Foot GEN, We Protect Our Queen TELEUS, Secret Almost-Lover RELIUS, Sweet Costis, and Just Awesome HELEN. And Possibly Sheep Lover Ornon.

Comments

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Just Awesome Helen! I love the nicknames, Elle.

Eh, sorry I can't contribute more. I woke up too early this morning and did far too much walking.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

THIS

IS

WIN

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

A G R E E D

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh Oh! And isn't there something in either KoA of QoA where there's a flashback of Attolia talking to Relius, and he tells her to trust no one. And it says something like: she laughed--this was back when she still laughed sometimes--and says Not even you? And he replies Not even me.

It must be in QoA because it's so sad, and makes us start to reluctantly like Attolia, or at least feel sympathy for her and begin to understand why she is the way she is.

I like this discussion!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

That is in KoA (p128 of paperback right after she has him arrested. She is thinking about this when she is in her room afterward. I LOVE this scene. It is incredibly heartbreaking. He was her mentor and she remembers him telling her not to trust him right after she has found out she can't anymore. This is followed directly by the reminder that he taught her that only through pain could she be sure of the truth.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough Attolia smiles at Gen a lot the first time she meets him in The Thief. And it is not her scary smile. It says "She smiled gently." She seems to be genuinely amused and friendly toward him all the way up until he tells her she is more beautiful but less kind than Eddis. That is when she breaks out the scary smile.

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

The scary smile is VERY scary.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

oh God and that is when I started shipping onesided!Relius/Attolia LIKE BURNING.

because I have that image in my head of the two of them in her study and it's late at night and you've got flickering candlelight and she's all girlish and smiling up at him and he's all *flickering candlelight distorts his torn expression into one of stern solemnity but you can see feelings darting through his eyes* and and.

gah.

want.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

p.s. I have seen that book like a thousand times and never actually picked it up is it good.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Secret Almost-Lover RELIUS









brb fangirling this post forever

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

That's true. I sort of get the impression that her personality wasn't entirely settled in the first book. Like, it works for The Thief, but when you compare it to the rest of the series, she's changed sort of inexplicably and it doesn't quite match. Maybe it's just me.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Perhaps... she was younger then? And hadn't yet been insulted by a cute little thief boy with an outrageous smile?

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

SHE SMILES AT ALL DA BOIZ WHEN EUGENIDES AIN'T A-LOOKIN'!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Yes, this exactly. Not so much that she was younger but under less pressure before Gen came barreling into her life and stole the Gift. She had to worry about her barons but the external pressure was a bit less than when we see her in QoA. During Thief Sounis was concentrating on taking Eddis, giving Attolia a reprieve from his machinations. After the incident with the Gift he was scared of Gen and poured all of his energies into taking Attolia. Plus there was the arrival of Nahuseresh and the question of the Medes. I think a lot happens between Thief and QoA that pushes Attolia closer to the end of her resources and makes her less accessible than she already was. And the cute little thief boy with an outrageous smile who insulted her is responsible for that.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to read the Princess and the Hound for ages, and my new library has it. So....I love retold fairy tales, they are probably my favorite things. And the first half was great, I couldn't put it down, then it started to get strange for me. I guessed the big secret right before the divulge, which is always fun, but some things just didn't make sense to me, and some things seemed to happen at the *wrong* time in the writing and one thing sort of creeped me out. I dunno. I'd like to read the sequel and loved the characters. LOVED George. I wasn't crazy about the style of writing, with short, simple sentences. I like a little more lyrical-type writing, I guess. This all sounds very meh, but it was much better than meh. I think the meh is me tonight.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

XD

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Good explanation. I hadn't considered that. There is a big change to political situation between books 1 and 2. I guess I was just thinking about all the times she said she used to smile more often, or used to trust people more, as having been years and years and years ago. Like Costis I have trouble actually imagining her younger.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

THAT'S WHY HE GOT RID OF DITE SO FAST, xD

and did she ever smile at Dite??? I'm sure when he was reading his poem
proposing to her...maybe he got a smile then?

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

yeah, I kind of *know* what you mean. Not to mention he was in her prison so she was actually *in control* unlike most the QoA, where she feels like she's losing it, (especially sinces she's falling in looooove)

[anon8.livejournal.com]

Also, in The Thief, Gen is introduced to Attolia as a clever but common *Sounisian* pickpocket type, not as a trained member of the Eddisian aristocracy. I think Attolia thought she could afford to be a little indulgent toward this supposedly landless commoner, and cultivate him to her use. I don't think Gen's left little notes in her bedchamber yet, at this point. By Queen of Attolia, she has good reason to be angry at him for undermining her sense of control and privacy.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

I kinda doubt it. She was probably just all cordial and "ok, nice poem, why are you bothering me with this? I've got more important things to do..."

Poor Dite.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

THIS DISCUSSION IS SO DISCUSSION-Y AND GREAT!

I was lookin in KoA, and the only smile to Costis I could find was the watchdog one (on p. 303 of the paperback). Were you thinking of an additional time?

Hm. I haven't looked, but I don't think she's ever genuinely smiled at Sophos. He's still sort of in awe/very wary of her, and she doesn't seem to be His Biggest Fan. I hope they get to know each other better in future books.

Personally, I wouldn't count the Ornon smile. She probably has some respect for the ambassador, but I think it was more of a "haha!" moment.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And remember, in TT Attolia was the enemy. She's an amazing character once you know more of her, but when I read TT I very much disliked Attolia, and very much prefered Eddis to her. Even during QoA, where we learn a great deal about Irene Attolia's character, it didn't make me like her. I especially couldn't stand the scene between Gen and Eddis "My Queen" "only for that" moment. *tears* but KoA where she's back in control and letting Gen in, that's when I started to like her, a lot. (Mind you I read them all together, one after the other)

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

lol

she is, there's no other way to say it!



& lmaooo
icon love <3

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

But she probably smiled when she heard Sophos pushed over Gen! That seems the sort of thing she would like. C: