Spoilers for everything.

[dira]

1. Incredibly minor, grumpy, literally first-page spoilers for The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

Okay, so my perceptions are irretrievably colored by the moment when iulia looked up wide-eyed from the end of Mockingjay and said, "Maybe you don't need to hurry up and read these," but, Suzanne Collins, I really do not think the phrase "cocooned in my mother's body" means what you think it means.

2. My totally spoilery CryoBurn reaction post from when I read it, in case that is now of interest to anyone who's just read it.

3. CONNIE WILLIS OWNS MY SOUL, is the thing. And you know why? You know exactly why? Because when we got the first view of Mike, lying in the street in Polly's arms, and you knew it was Mike but Polly didn't know and you thought, oh God, Mike's going to die, Mike's going to die trying and failing to warn Polly not to come to the Blitz--at that very moment I thought, Oh God, this book is one of her tragedies, I didn't realize it was a tragedy, they're all going to die--

And then three hundred pages later Sir Godfrey ASKS. IS IT A COMEDY OR A TRAGEDY.

AND IT'S A COMEDY.

MOSTLY.

And because she can meta-reference her own work like that and HAVE IT GODDAMN WORK, that is why Connie Willis OWNS MY SOUL. AMEN.

Also, I ship Polly/Sir Godfrey in the face of the text to the exact contrary, and I want logistically nigh-impossible Polly/Eileen/Mike, and post-Mike Polly/Eileen comfort, and Polly/Colin and how that even WORKS, Polly and Mr. Dunworthy being resurrected after a decade of absence and I want SO MUCH COLIN FIC. And Colin talking to Kivrin, during the Lost Years--I want Lost Years fic like crazy. And all kinds of fic about Eileeeeeeeen. (I would totally accept Eileen/Sir Godfrey Polly-substitution fic. That would be okay with me. Ohai, Yuletide, I am making a list.)

But mostly, oh my God, that was AMAZING.

And Mr. Dunworthy is the best dad and please JUST DON'T COMMENT IF YOU DON'T AGREE. My love for Mr. Dunworthy is not rational. I have exchanged a lot of text messages with Iulia in the last week that just said &MR. DUNWORTHY;.

And in light of that it was painful but brilliant to see him unable to save his historians this time--seeing him under their care, this time around--and not even really truly knowing what's going on any more than they do--less than they do, in fact, when Polly figures it out. I love that there is no one rescuer--it was Colin, but only because of Mike and Eileen, and Binnie, and the woman at the library who showed him the fake announcement and all occasions informing for everyone. Just this once.

Miiiiiiiiiiiike.

Comments

[missmollyetc]

but, Suzanne Collins, I really do not think the phrase "cocooned in my mother's body" means what you think it means.

...ew.

[dira]

This is what I am saying. I spent a lot of time at work thinking about it and it sort of works if the mother has her arms and legs wrapped around the child, but even then "my mother's body" is really just not the way you say that unless you are on Hoth.

[missmollyetc]

Oh God, I just don't know where to begin with the wrong.

[17catherines]

Hello! I followed you here from your gorgeous Cryoburn fic, and since I have been living in Blackout and All Clear for weeks now (I waited, and read them both together, and then had to go back to the start and read them both again more slowly as soon as I finished them the first time), I couldn't resist coming and raving about Sir Godfrey at someone who understands!

I don't think I've had such a crush on a fictional character since I fell in love with Mercutio when I was fourteen, but this is a crush of a whole other level. I fell for him in that wonderful scene where the bombs are falling above them and he starts declaiming speeches from The Tempest, and oh, his relationship with Polly is wonderful! To me, it is the emotional centre of the book. I particularly love the way Polly is completely transparent to Sir Godfrey - and that from the very start he understands who she is - and I love the way he reacts when she tries to send him away.

And oh, Mike. He really does become the hero of the book, and his death made me cry.

And Eileen! And the Hodbins!

Yes, she owns my soul, too. Willis has written some wonderful books in her time, but I think this is her best.

[dira]

Oh my God, I love Sir Godfrey SO HARD. SO HARD. And his relationship with Polly, and his understanding, is just. Yes. YES. ♥

And MIKE. HE WAS A HERO.

And, just--just--oh my God, yes, this is her masterpiece, absolutely.

[17catherines]

I was getting funny looks from people because I was going on and on and on about how wonderful the book was and how I had a massive crush on Sir Godfrey, and yes, he is seventy years old and also fictional, what's the problem with that...?

And Mike. That part where Colin finds him is absolutely heartbreaking. When we saw that scene from Polly's perspective, I realised that he had to be a time traveller but I had not, at that point, sorted out all the pseudonyms and realised there were only three central characters, so I didn't know who it was, and thought the fact that he disappeared meant that he had survived. I still need to read the book again, I think, because even on a second read through, having re-read some scenes a third or fourth time, I kept getting so caught up in the minds and emotions of the characters that I couldn't step back and work out exactly how all the pieces fit together (for example, I still haven't quite understood why Mike knew that he could never see Eileen and Polly again after he faked his death - this seems to assume knowledge on his part that he couldn't survive?).

And Eileen's vicar is rather awesome in his way. I love the way he is so quiet and unassuming, but that he actually can stop Theodore in mid-wail, and even the Hodbins when necessary.

[dira]

I am over here writing epic slash about Aral Vorkosigan ages 65 and up, so, yes. Seventy and fictional is A-OK! :D

And Miiiiiiiiike. It took me AGES to work out that there were only three of them, and that Merope was only there once and Polly three times. I'm not sure about Mike's knowledge--I think maybe it's just a combination of not-blowing-his-cover and fatalism, not actual foreknowledge that he wouldn't survive. And, oh God, Mike dying in Colin's arms, with rescue RIGHT THERE, just... OH MIKE.

And, yes! I adore Eileen's vicar, and I'm so glad they ended up together after all, and I want ALL THE FIC about what Eileen told him about herself, and when, and how. ♥

[17catherines]

I do like the way you think, and yes, Aral is my favourite in that series, too (though not *quite* as swoonworthy as Sir Godfrey - but then, they have very different kinds of charisma).

Was Polly there three times? I thought the D Day stuff was an extension of the V-2 bombs, because Paige was in both. That was one of the main reasons I had to read it a second time - to try to figure out Polly's actual arc in the order she experienced it. Though I spent a long time wondering if Willis had gotten mixed up, before I had an inspiration and googled 'Douglas Motorcycle' and discovered that Douglas was indeed a popular brand of motorbike at the time, as well as being a name from Shakespeare, thank you for the red herring Ms Willis! But I might have missed something. There is so damn *much* in that book!

Oh, and I want the Eileen / Rev. Goode fanfic too. I'm still trying to figure out if Colin's great-aunt Mary from Doomsday Book (yes, I went back and checked!) is their daughter Mary, though I think she must be a granddaughter or even great-granddaughter, given the timeline. Something of the sort seemed to be implied, anyway, which was a nice touch.

And I, too, want the Colin Lost Years fic. Because thirteen years is a long time. And I do love Ann's cameo - I'd like to see more of her.

Such a perfect book... I'm still finding nuances and subtleties I missed at first...

[dira]

Oh, I think you're right, the D Day thing eventually connected up with the ambulance driving. But still, Polly had three separate narrative threads running. :)

I agree that Mary would have had to be a granddaughter or great-granddaughter, though it's still delightful to think that, by way of a family tradition of Marys, she's probably indirectly named after Polly. ♥

Someday, when I have lots of time, I will reread the books, properly back to back this time. I mean, or sooner, depending on Yuletide assignments... *g*

[17catherines]

I know, I only thought of the Polly / Mary thing yesterday, after I'd posted my previous, and it does make me happy!

And yeah, the three separate narrative threads for Polly/Mary was confusing, though not as confusing to me as Ernest was... it took me a while to notice that they were all named after characters from The Importance of Being Ernest (oh dear, and that's another little bit of meta, isn't it? because if Mike had not become Ernest everything else would have fallen apart), and then I sat there trying to figure that one out for far too long. I was initially convinced that Ernest must be that other time traveller whose name I have forgotten - the one who Eileen finds insufferable.

And speaking of red herrings, don't you love the way she makes us think that it is Colin come to rescue Polly at the end of the first book?

(Drat, I've lent both books out to a friend, and now I want to read them again!)