Our perception of Attolia

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

(I suppose this serves as re-introduction post, as I haven't been on here in a few years)

Until recently, everyone I know in person who've read the books all had positive opinions of Attolia (positive is an understatement, actually). I got another friend into the series, and he's currently reading QoA. While he sympathizes with Attolia, he thinks her selfish, arrogant, and too prone to listen to her advisors and Nahuseresh. I'm currently waiting for his reactions by the end of the story, but I can see why he might be interpreting her character as such. As well, it got me wondering about how I saw her before all the epic reveals were made.

How about you guys? From The Thief, to QoA, and even throughout KoA, what were some of your opinions, guesses, misgivings, biases, against Attolia? Were you pleasantly surprised to find her different/similar to how you'd perceived her to be? Did you find her character hard to reconcile with the one you had in mind? Am I asking too many questions in one post that have been answered already?

Comments

[lizzyazula.livejournal.com]

When I first read the book, I did think she was falling for Nahuseresh (I pretty much fall for all of MWT's ploys) and was convinced he had her wrapped around his finger. But unfortunately, the back of the book and a few reviews online told me she would eventually end up with Gen, so I knew she had to be "good" all along--I was just surprised by the way it all turned out, especially when we find out she knew what Nahuseresh was about the entire time.

I actually had more issues with her in aCoK--I wanted waaaay more out of her character than she gave us. I'm not sure what exactly I wanted though. Perhaps after all the development from QoA and KoA, I was expecting a much different person....

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

"Diplomacy, in my own name" is one of my absolute favorite lines of the book. Love it so much.

The issues I had with ACoK may have been due to POV? I had other issues with it, too.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

That is my favorite line in all the books too!!!

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I've reread aCoK, and I'll keep in mind what you've mentioned to see if there's something I'll notice that I missed before.
I remember guessing Attolia and Gen would get together, partly due to the summary at the back (Gen having to steal something she thought she'd lost a long time ago, which I thought meant her heart), and thanks to the title of the next book, King of Attolia, who I assumed would mean Gen. However, the process it took was unexpected, and felt realistic and true to character. When I was younger, I think I was totally on ship with the two by the end, but that was without much thoughts of my own. I was a pretty gullible reader back then! And now whatever I say is probably biased, but it just feels like their love makes as much sense as love ever will, and they feel natural in a way that both is and isn't.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

to your last question: certainly not! I think this is a great discussion!

my two cents will have to be put on hold due to imminent bedtimes, but for now I will just say I LOVE HER.

/the entirety of my thoughts in three words

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

3 words, said so often, and yet convey all that there can be said sometimes!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Hi there!! Welcome! And to answer the last question first - you can never ask too many questions!

LOL, it' funny, because when I started QoA, when I got to the part where Irene stays to see if Gen screams, Islammed the book shut, marched myself downstairs, and announced to my sister "Attolia is EVIL!" By the tim shesaid that awesome line, "Diplomacy. In my own name," my opinion of herhad shifted 180 degrees. That line totally cemented her as my favorite charachter in the series. So, I think your friend might be changing his opinion as he progresses through the book.

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely counting on that, although I'm having a hard time not blurting out everything. He deserves to discover the character for himself though, I have to keep reminding myself!

So many of MWT's characters are so wonderfully empowering, and I wish I could just draw some of their strength and cleverness. Every time I reread the series, while the characters are the same, and the story is as well, I keep discovering new depths to them. As I grow up as a reader, I learn to perceive their characters in a more enhanced manner, and that feels empowering as well :)

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Attolia is my favorite character and was from the first time I read about her in The Thief. She is fascinating in that one scene and I loved how much her presence shadowed over the last part of the book even though she wasn't physically there. I was sympathetic to her from the beginning of QoA. I felt bad for her and thought MWT was brilliant for creating such a flawed character who wasn't really an antagonist, but another protagonist who happened to be in conflict with the original hero. AND she was female. Oh so many things to love. And I do have to confess I wanted the end we got. I felt a little weird that I so wanted to see Gen and Irene together, and questioned whether I was misreading her several times, but I still wanted it.

I loved her even more in KoA. I do wish we could have had more of her in ACoK, but I love the observations Sophos does make about her.

I actually wrote an entire post about her once but am afraid to link to it because lj suddenly thinks all links are spam and I don't want to lose all of this comment.

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

Hope to be able to read that link of yours one day :)

Speaking of "AND she was female"... until my last reread, I was very unaware of, say, gender roles and sexism in in the worlds of fiction. It wasn't until the past year or so that, namely tumblr, woke me up to those issues, and when I reread QoA last week, I had a completely different outlook. All of Nahuseresh's condescensions, the mere fact that Helen is Eddis and Irene is Attolia and how they rule in their own right, the whole backstory of how Irene became queen of Attolia, what Costis meant when he catches Attolia and realizes she's not just a queen, but also a human and a woman, Eugenedes' proprietary kisses during breakfast, etc etc etc... all that actually sunk in for me. I don't even know exactly what that sinking in is, it's just, I think I understood the nuances and implications behind MWT's writing in those scenes, and it felt amazing. Thanks for giving me an outlet to rant that out :P

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I posted it on my blogger blog which is why I'm worried it will be considered spam. Here it is (http://randommusingsofabibliophile.blogspot.com/2012/01/queens-thief-week.html).

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I just tried to post it and I think it was marked as spam. If one of the mods gets around to it it may show up, but you may get an email with it since it was in direct response to you. :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Unspammed! Stoopid LJ.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

I love Attolia. When she first appears in The Thief, I initially disliked her because she's set up as such an antagonist. And then there's the beginning of QoA. But by the time I was halfway through QoA for the first time, the details of her solitude and the way she keeps trying even when her situation looks pretty darn hopeless totally won me over. That moment when she thinks Gen is dead sealed the deal. I think MWT set up one of the best redemption stories I know, and I am a sucker for redemption stories. Every time I go back and re-read the books, I realize just how constrained she felt--not that it necessarily excuses what she does, but it makes it understandable. And then in KoA she is just plain awesome, showing how she has changed in her conversations with Relius. But honestly, in a sense it's not so much that she's changed as that the person she always was is free.

I also love that she reaches out to Eddis. The farewell scene in ACofK when she reaches out and holds Eddis's hand made my heart explode with feels. It's such an understated moment but it says so much about how far she has come.

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

The overall character arc's of all the main characters is pretty phenomenally written, and I guess I never really drew conscious connections between who they were before and who/how they end up becoming until recently. And I love what you said about "not exactly excusable, but understandable". I think most of the best characters are written like that (George R.R Martin's A Song of Ice And Fire series is popping up in my mind right now).

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

Or Elizabeth Wein's Medraut, who I also love.

[betonyb.livejournal.com]

My perspective towards Attolia was similar; in The Thief, she's a one-scene antagonist, so I didn't pay much attention to her except to be glad that Gen et al had escaped from her. But the sections from her perspective in QoA made me see her as more than just a cardboard cutout, and by the time we hit KoA and we find out she's wry and caring and harder on herself than anyone else, she was one of my favorite characters.

And I agree with how wonderful the friendship between Eddis and Attolia is, too. Despite their different courts and approaches to ruling, they have so much in common, and I love how subtly that's explored.

[elvenjaneite.livejournal.com]

Despite their different courts and approaches to ruling, they have so much in common, and I love how subtly that's explored.

Yes! It's like one or two lines here and there, but there's so much packed into them.

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I sort of despise her. >.>;

*cough*

Disclaimer: I don't even mean this as an attack against the books or the people who love her. Love who you love! It's all awesome! These are just my own extremely subjective feelings.

It's not all hate. If KoA had been a standalone book - as in, everything to come before it did not exist - I'd quite like her. Her intelligence, her power, and her relationship with Gen. And in terms of her queenship and views on ruling and diplomacy - I quite appreciate all of that. I appreciate that she was under the thumb of the dicks in her court, that her own views on what was right and what was good for her country and for morality are strong.

But as it was? I saw nothing in The Thief - which I read not long after it came out, so I wasn't even double digits yet - to suggest she was anything more than A Very Bad Queen. I was 12 years old when I then read QoA, and well, my favorite character in the whole wide world had been tortured, dismembered, and then fallen in love with the person who did it to him. I cried for about half an hour, and felt sick for days - the entire relationship seemed so horribly unhealthy that I couldn't stand it. It was as if Harry Potter went and declared his love to Bellatrix Lestrange in the middle of a Cruciatus session.

So I sort of can't read about her without wishing someone would boot her off a cliff.

I'M SORRY. I'M SO SORRY. /o\

[seor1324333.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like that you're so aware in your likes and dislikes of the character, and in other people's opinions. It's obvious that your feelings are not based out of ignorance, that you understand Attolia as much as many of her fans do, and you have every right to dislike her as those who like her (how many likes in the sentence was that??). I wish I could remember how I reacted to all the events in QoA the first time I read it. I actually can't recall. I'm sure my jaw dropped figuratively or even literally when Gen was captured and subsequent things happened, and I wouldn't surprised if it kept dropping as the plot unfolded. I love Attolia now, and the last time I reread QoA, which was a week ago, I kinda sorta cried every other sentence, for Gen, for Irene, for everything I missed or didn't understand when I was younger. I just really regret not holding on to my first-time reactions.

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D I do try to be objective about my analysis of things.

I've thought on and off about rereading, but start feeling vaguely traumatized every time I try, haha. I'm glad you've moved past it!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you said this--I don't despise her but she terrifies me. I understand her, but still..

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

Not to worry bb, I totally get you. :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! And don't ever worry about posting too many questions, or ones that have been discussed before. We love talking about the books, no matter what.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

While READING before we get to really know her I absolutely hated her and yet I couldn't stop myself from feeling that she and Gen would end up together in TT, but I remember reading it thinking it's not possible but I still feel like they could have a connection and at the same time I thought why is so horrible. I think that was draw.

Now I absolutely love her! She's amazing and inspiring and challenges Gen! WHO DOES THAT?!

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

Here's an old post that talks about Attolia and Gen's relationship---lots of good insight :)

http://sounis.livejournal.com/442956.html#comments