--11 August 2023 FOUND FAMILY OF ALL TIME. doing ebooks for the series this reread so i can highlight 50% of the book for later comprehensive analysis --11 August 2023 FOUND FAMILY OF ALL TIME. doing ebooks for the series this reread so i can highlight 50% of the book for later comprehensive analysis (focus on jess and running, jess and brendan, jess and motives, and The Found Family because i'm a sucker for lines where characters Know Each Other). i know different people have different faves amongst the side characters and think jess is a little boring, but i love jess as a main character so completely.
also apparently i only ever read this book in august. according to goodreads it has happened the last four times.
--18 August 2021 i missed these kids so much and i'm so excited to keep rereading! i've meant to reread for a while and i was not disappointed now that i have finally started. something rly,, interesting (? not quite the right word) about rereading the first book is that you Know what they'll all go through together in the future but at the beginning they either don't know each other or don't like each other and then towards the end you see the very beginning of a strong found family and you Know it'll get EVEN STRONGER and that these kids'll risk it all for each other and understand each other so deeply and it's like "little do you know"
also you know about all the pain that is coming. little do they know. oops.
anyway this is far and away my favorite book found family ever and it only gets better from here
Merged review:
--11 August 2023 FOUND FAMILY OF ALL TIME. doing ebooks for the series this reread so i can highlight 50% of the book for later comprehensive analysis (focus on jess and running, jess and brendan, jess and motives, and The Found Family because i'm a sucker for lines where characters Know Each Other). i know different people have different faves amongst the side characters and think jess is a little boring, but i love jess as a main character so completely.
also apparently i only ever read this book in august. according to goodreads it has happened the last four times.
--18 August 2021 i missed these kids so much and i'm so excited to keep rereading! i've meant to reread for a while and i was not disappointed now that i have finally started. something rly,, interesting (? not quite the right word) about rereading the first book is that you Know what they'll all go through together in the future but at the beginning they either don't know each other or don't like each other and then towards the end you see the very beginning of a strong found family and you Know it'll get EVEN STRONGER and that these kids'll risk it all for each other and understand each other so deeply and it's like "little do you know"
also you know about all the pain that is coming. little do they know. oops.
anyway this is far and away my favorite book found family ever and it only gets better from here...more
losing my mind. ms munda how did you do this and also how COULD you do this. perfect conclusion 1000/10 no notes but also so much pain.
eta, second realosing my mind. ms munda how did you do this and also how COULD you do this. perfect conclusion 1000/10 no notes but also so much pain.
eta, second read: i actually have like 37493 notes but all of them are analysis and/or screaming (generally both) because this book is so so so good. the goodreads review box does not have the space to handle my notes. i could talk about this series forever.
fourth read: annotated this for sara! i'm incapable of sitting still while reading furysong - i was constantly up and pacing and waving my arms around and making small involuntary noises. god. there is so much going on this book and all of it is insane and fantastic and layered and i love it so much. the writing is gorgeous and so so many passages just hit me. this happens across the series but i do think it happens the most here, because these beautiful passages are also a culmination of themes and cycles and character arcs that have been building the entire series....more
--9 November 2023 the review below is still accurate about my emotions for this book but i am absolutely not at all speechless, am full of coherent tho--9 November 2023 the review below is still accurate about my emotions for this book but i am absolutely not at all speechless, am full of coherent thoughts, and in fact have thousands of words about it. i have so much analysis. someday i'll put some of it here.
--6 April 2021 i don't have any coherent thoughts. i have not FELT this much reading a book in ages. flamefall is dark and intense and the confusion of politics and morality gets even more complicated as characters are forced to make increasingly difficult choices and the consequences of their actions get more and more devastating. i was worried that i was hyping this book up too much in my head because of my love for fireborne but i should not have doubted because oh my god. i am speechless and all of my thoughts are inarticulate screams....more
--7 March 2024 the cluster of themes i've been tracking and turning over this time (to add to all the others i've dissected all the times before, becau--7 March 2024 the cluster of themes i've been tracking and turning over this time (to add to all the others i've dissected all the times before, because the themes and connections never end!) is around who has responsibility for actions, having a choice vs inevitability and if they’re lies you tell yourself, and justification, and also ofc how that relates to change. and particularly “saving” someone else comes up a lot, and i think that’s related to all of that. who decides if something is broken and how to fix it? how can you save someone who doesn't want or need to be saved, and should you? and justifying your actions by saying you're doing it for someone else's sake when that is not true.
also i am so predictable in what type of thing in books i like ...more
--6 Oct 2023 Every time I read this book I find new things to appreciate. I don't think I will ever get everything out of it that is in there, layered --6 Oct 2023 Every time I read this book I find new things to appreciate. I don't think I will ever get everything out of it that is in there, layered and nuanced and connected. This is my first time rereading this since Furysong, so this holds especially true - I can look at where these characters started compared to where they end, and trace themes that culminate in Furysong back to their subtle roots all the way in Fireborne. I have endless analysis that can't fit in this box and spans the whole series, so I'm going to keep this short.
This series is about cycles. It's called the aurelian cycle and it's about the cycles. This becomes clearest in Furysong; however, Fireborne has its own share of cycles, and some of Furysong's culminating cycles are a reflection of what has happened or what was established in Fireborne. Going back and reading now just emphasizes how thoughtful, detailed, layered, and smart this book is.
Specifically, this time I have been tracing a few central themes: cycles of violence; wanting and not getting what you want; staying, leaving, and coming back; and mercy. I will have to go back through my highlights, but there is so much there that I never even realized was significant in that way. (I realized they were significant because everything is significant, but they just gain more and more significance, and I don't know how Rosaria Munda DOES it.)
This is the book where the in-text Aurelian Cycle is the most important - the Aeneid influence is strongest - and it's how that cycle kicks off. This series is about Annie and Lee on their aurelians - the only major characters who ride aurelians - and their founding story for Callipolis. By calling this series the Aurelian Cycle, it indicates that Annie and Lee have the power to make this change and can make Callipolis new. And here in Fireborne we learn how they can do this. They CAN make history, and they are making history; they are also repeating it.
--10 June 2022 i adore this book so so much
--9 June 2021 look,
anyway this is just. my favorite it's so good. every time i read it i find new things to appreciate and admire i'm !!
also ty to my friends for letting me convince them to buddy read it with me <33
--5 March 2021 *screaming*
buddy read with enne and iris because i have finally succeeded in convincing people to read this >:)
I love how much Annie and Lee care for each other and how their past influences their present even when they don't explicitly bring it up and even when they don't mean it to. I love how the new regime is clearly portrayed as messed up and disturbing even as the characters take it for granted and think it's better and even as we're seeing it through these characters' eyes. The entirety of Fireborne is so intense in terms of both emotions and events and so much of it HURTS. There are these lines that are the cumulation of so many feelings and so much history and so many actions that just stop you cold and hit. I could write essays about this book.
--23 Feb 2021 I don't have anything new to add i just. aaaaaaaaah. flamefall is so close and i am not prepared but also i want it Badly.
oh actually i do have something new to add the audiobook was good
--17 Nov 2020 i love this book SO MUCH it is SO GOOD i would just like to scream about it forever
pls read it i am begging you
--8 May 2020 original review before i became obsessed: (view spoiler)[Ohhh this one had such a slow start and I almost put it down but I'm SO GLAD I didn't.
It's been a long time since I've loved a character as immediately and as completely as I love Annie. She's quiet, she's nervous, she's looked down on, and she tries so hard, and she has so much in her past, and though I liked her from the start, I absolutely adored her growth and how she gained confidence and both realized what she had all along and realized what she could be. She had to reconcile what she was doing now with her past, and the identity she'd believed herself to have her whole life versus the person she's now becoming. How she can keep her humanity and conscience while still being complicit in this regime and the questionable things they do.
Along with that, the nuances of the politics and especially the morality behind them - how no options are good, how a government with the power to protect your rights also has the power to take them away, and you have to choose the lesser of two evils no matter how idealist you are - were so well-written. The author apparently has a degree in political theory and was influenced by historical revolutions from a political standpoint, as well as classic political texts, and it was so evident. She didn't shield her characters from having to make hard choices and grapple with the very real consequences.
I LOVED the focus on Annie and Lee's friendship, how their history together grappled with the positions they came from in the shattered society of the past and overcame it. (At one point there was a line that went "almost like lovers, but more intimate" and I was so happy because I love Lee and Annie's friendship so much and I love that conceptualization so much bc it describes what's between them so well.) Annie says in the end that (view spoiler)[ they knew who they were with each other and it was the bond they had always shared and I love that so much. (hide spoiler)] I love them so much.
Power was perhaps the most interesting side character - he was a jerk and I loathed him, but he was also clearheaded and rational and knew what he wanted and I think I would put it this way: he's on his own side, not against anyone else's. It was fascinating. However, I also liked the other main side characters, especially Crissa and her friendship with Annie, and Duck is the actual sweetest person. The dragons, of course, were excellent, though I wish there had been more of them.
In summary, I adored this book, especially the complexity in the political morality as well as Annie and Lee's deep friendship. (hide spoiler)]...more
--11 May 2022 sani and i said "buddy reread" but apparently what we meant was "shouting garbled quotes into each other's dms bc we're both listening to--11 May 2022 sani and i said "buddy reread" but apparently what we meant was "shouting garbled quotes into each other's dms bc we're both listening to the audiobook but luckily we know what we're referring to" and i wouldn't have it any other way ...more
--4 Sept 2023 this has been my favorite of the series since the first time i read it. i'm not sure why - peak brightwell brothers book? first time we g--4 Sept 2023 this has been my favorite of the series since the first time i read it. i'm not sure why - peak brightwell brothers book? first time we get wolfe pov? The Plan? i could identify a reason for each other book in the series to be my favorite but not this one.
either way, it sure is peak brightwell brother! as per my last read i am indeed reading ebooks this time to highlight everything about them for analysis (including every time brendan appears on page or in jess's thoughts) but i'm also highlighting like 75% of the rest of the book too so who knows how much analysis i am actually doing!
the biggest thematic connection i made is actually between the brightwell brothers and the concepts of original and copy and how the great library treats them. is jess or brendan the original vs the copy? what does that mean about their relative power? or is it the fact that they are copies of each other, and it doesn't matter which is the original because the point is that there are two of them, and that is where their power comes from. (view spoiler)[and the great library has to kill one of them because the library needs to ensure that there can never be more than one - if there is more than one, they cannot control it. (hide spoiler)]
i still love getting the others' povs now, even though i remain most fond of jess as the narrator (from familiarity but also because he sees the world in such an interesting and unique way). honestly the best part of the other povs to me is not the insight it gives into them but how it casts light on what jess is missing about them/others, and especially what jess does not see about himself. i also just really like wolfe's pov because he is so so interesting and he is so like jess for thematic parallel reasons but also because the way he sees things is very different from how other people do but he doesn't always realize it (more (self-)aware than jess at least, though) (and yes ik most people don't realize how things that they take for granted look to others/have blind spots when it comes to themselves but for wolfe and jess are so interesting about it).
--25 March 2023 truly the book of all time. love the way hardinge uses words and love the worldbuilding and love the themes.
--18 Dec 2020 This year's re--25 March 2023 truly the book of all time. love the way hardinge uses words and love the worldbuilding and love the themes.
--18 Dec 2020 This year's reread was accompanied by ANNOTATIONS bc Enne is the best and even though I have reread this so many times and annotated it for other people I will never get tired of it and seeing someone else's reactions was super cool.
Anyway apart from that I would like to reaffirm my undying love for Clent and Mosca and Frances Hardinge
--3 Dec 2020 (reread like,, 4) I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
I'm forever impressed with the way Frances Hardinge uses words. Her metaphors and descriptions are excellent and she'll string words together in ways no one would have ever expected and they're delightfully surprising. I laughed aloud at parts even though I'd read this like three times before this current read.
The way the plot is so intricate and detailed and it all comes together (literally everything comes together in the end and it takes your breath away) and upon reread you see so much that was dropped that later comes back. This is mainly in terms of plot, but Hardinge will also bring back a specific phrase in a similar or different context to connect pieces of the book, and I'm in awe. I also really liked how Frances Hardinge somehow effortlessly manages to slip into an omniscient POV for just a few sentences at a time before coming back to Mosca, or whatever other temporary POV she's chosen for the scene. The readers know more than Mosca, yet we don't know everything at all? We're still so surprised when everything comes together at last? It's so good.
I did a close read this time and I caught so much of this. I was aware it existed and knew a lot of it, to an extent, but this time I paid extra special attention to the details and am somehow even more in love with this book than I was before. I aspire to use words like Frances Hardinge uses words. And her PLOT goodness gracious HOW DOES SHE DO THAT. HOW. And a close read also lent itself to so much irony in both events and wordings and dramatic irony and there was so much I'd never noticed before!
The characters! are excellent! I love how Mosca and Clent's relationship develops over the course of the book, and I especially love Mosca's own character arc and how she grows and changes and learns and realizes things about the world. It's achingly beautiful. And Mosca's way of seeing the world and her way of talking is just so distinct and Mosca.
Also Saracen is the true hero of the story, we all know this, and I hecking love (view spoiler)[Blythe's rise from highwayman to ruling the city. And just Blythe in general, like how he's convinced he's a ne'er-do-well who lives outside the law and is only roped into this "being noble and a hero" thing through Clent's ballad when really he IS a genuinely decent person. (hide spoiler)]
The worldbuilding is also incredible. There are innumerable little details thrown in there that make it seem so fleshed out and believable and like Hardinge has actually lived there and is using firsthand experience. She writes about this world better than many people write about the place where they actually live, tbh.
There are flashes of insight about really serious and abstract or deep concepts, put really well, and I love those moments. CHILLS. Especially when Mosca is the one realizing these things, because she has such a distinct voice and way of putting things.
Also this book contains what has to be probably my favorite quote of all time (no joke): "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story."
In summary: READ THIS BOOK please there's so much good stuff in here Frances Harding is truly a master I cannot stress this enough....more
--22 March 2024 this was immediately my favorite of the series the first time i read it, but then the past few years my favorite changed to being book --22 March 2024 this was immediately my favorite of the series the first time i read it, but then the past few years my favorite changed to being book 1. but now i think it's this one again.
--15 May 2022 OBSESSED i love charlotte and jamie So Much and i love their relationship So Much [insert endless screaming]
--17 Feb 2021 I was honestly scared to reread this book bc I'd been holding it in such high regard in my memory and I was worried it would let me down but be assured it did not. The character arcs were still incredible (especially Charlotte's) and aaaaah. I don't think I'm as completely obsessed with it to the same extent I was before, but I still really love this series and these characters.
--3 March 2019 Hello I just reread this (by audiobook this time because I like these audiobooks) in preparation for A Question of Holmes and it is still a lovely book and I still love how Charlotte is changing and maturing and her arc is so good here and I love.
(But in this audiobook Jamie's dad lost his fun accent apparently! So I had a hard time telling his voice from Jamie's! I was sad! It was a good accent! Not sure how accurate it was to wherever Jamie's dad was actually supposed to be from but it was easy to differentiate from all the others' voices nonetheless!)
I still like the main narrator/Jamie narrator the best, but I enjoy the Charlotte narrator as well.
(the review below doesn't do near justice to how achingly fantastic the character arcs of both of them but especially Charlotte and then their relationship and ugh it's SO. GOOD. March 2018 me did NOT manage to capture this. pls know this is literally one of my favorite books and it's because of the Jamie and Charlotte and their arcs and their relationship and I love it so much)
--March 2018 old review you shouldn't read lol (view spoiler)[I don't know why I was so struck by this book. Probably because we get lots of Charlotte POV and Charlotte has changed and Charlotte is changing and we actually get a look at what goes on in her head - but it's probably a very different 'what goes on in her head' than what we would've gotten had we had a lot of Charlotte chapters in, say, the first book, or even the second (I know we got some Charlotte POV before but not to this extent).
I really just like Charlotte and Jamie's relationship spanning all three books and how it evolves. I love how Jamie so so self-aware as to how he acted, and how Charlotte is now aware (more) of her actions, but mostly Jamie. I love that he knows their relationship was flawed and harmful for both of them but they still do it anyway, they're still best friends anyway, and they are kind of something more but then they're not. Their relationship and their awareness of it is the best part.
Okay there was less action in this one and a lot of internal contemplation on both main characters' parts and reflection and rumination on the events of The Last of August, so it's different from the previous books in that respect, but I liked it because I like that sort of stuff if it's written well (which it is). I suppose it's not for everyone, but it worked for me.
The words were good. The characters were good. The plot was good.
I just want more, you know?
Summary: Great characters, great writing of the relationship between the characters, and I like the writing style in general. (hide spoiler)]...more
--14 Aug 2023 i've read this book eight (8) times and every time i get something new out of it. i don't think i'll ever get everything out of it. basic--14 Aug 2023 i've read this book eight (8) times and every time i get something new out of it. i don't think i'll ever get everything out of it. basically, if you want a representative sampling of what i mean when i say my favorite genre of media is "insane layers", you just need to read in other lands and the aurelian cycle. if i tried to put all of my thoughts in this goodreads review box, i would run out of characters.
elliot is flawed and abrasive and mean and also he wants to be loved so badly and cares so deeply about the world around him. he is self-aware about his flaws but only to the first level. his history is so well-written that you can understand exactly why he engages with the world the way he does and it is never annoying. you can also see what is actually going on around him in a way he doesn't, especially when you reread (it becomes an entirely new book). he is so messy and his relationship with everyone (especially luke) is also so messy and complicated as a result. he is my absolute favorite forever and i will never stop analyzing him. there is so much there.
luke is also full of layers that i appreciate more on every reread, and the way he and elliot play off each other is so specific to their own personalities and backgrounds that it could never happen between any two other people. any miscommunication is so believable and understandable and explained so well with so much detail by their histories/personalities that it is never annoying. they fundamentally fail to understand each other. and the way elliot sees luke is so different from the way everyone else sees luke, and i love the dichotomy (and the way elliot barely understands it for how monumental it is for most of the book) so much.
and, of course, luke and serene and elliot's friendship is top tier. they're ride or die inseparable and everyone sees it except, perhaps, the three of them (at least not to the extent everyone else does). they know everything about each other (until they don't).
the writing is hilarious and beautiful in turn and everything is deeply connected and i'm just waving my arms around because it is so so so smart and so well written and i simply do not understand how the author does it. and at its core, this is a book about love.
this is inadequate summation of my feelings about this book but in conclusion: read in other lands.
--12 Sept 2022 it's me i'm back it's been [checks watch] not even three months since the last time i reread and i regret nothing.
first time with the audio! it was interesting because sometimes the narrator would give certain lines certain inflection/emphasis that changed their meaning from the way i read it (and i definitely have a certain way i read everything by this point) and while i disagreed bc i'm attached to my reading i still enjoyed it. i would also whisper-quote things out loud with the narrator but i didn't know the pauses and would always be slightly out of sync lol
anyway at this point i don't have anything new about the content itself to put in this box, as i said last time i have so much to say about that i end up not saying anything of substance at all (if i loved it less i would be able to talk about it more, etc). but i still adore it with my entire heart
(also i brought my shiny shiny new used paperback with me to school so i can read wings on demand >:) do i have time for this? no! will that stop me? also no!)
--23 June 2022 oh look i've finally made it through the entire book start to finish in order instead of reading random scenes out of order every few weeks as the desire arises and then poking around the author's tumblr for various analysis posts i have also already read! (would recommend poking around the author's tumblr for analysis posts they're so good i get so much more appreciation for the book from them and believe me i have very high amounts of appreciation for this book)
i can't read this book quickly i have to read every page like two times before moving on bc there's so much detail and even though i've reread it so much. told a friend the first half is a fun romp with a sarcastic narrator and lots of humor and little dropped bits of subtext and foreshadowing everywhere and then the second half is all of them coming home with hit after hit after hit.
reading through what i wrote in this review box about this book before and i can't believe the last time i read this full through was the time i learned about wings in the morning bc i've definitely checked that anthology out and read the short story several times since then as part of my quest to only read random iol scenes and never the entire book in order.
this is one of those books i have so much to say about that i end up not saying anything of substance at all but elliot as a character is the best and i LOVE his arc and his unreliability and his voice, and elliot and serene and luke are top tier friendship soulmates i adore them sm
--26 Dec 2020 o no it's getting emotional over elliot schafer hours again
anyway this book is hilarious and sarcastic and elliot's character development is a++ and it's just an indulgent comfort reread and exactly what i needed rn
also?? no one TOLD me there was a section of in other lands from luke’s pov?? which was actually the launching point for writing in other lands?? i am shocked and offended by the audacity of the world to withhold this from me until now
anyway wings in the morning is in the Monstrous Affections anthology and i checked out the entire anthology solely to read that One Story bc elliot and luke >>>
--16 June 2019 review from like? third read? i basically still agree with it but my review writing style was so bad (and also i still wouldn't touch anything with romance at this point): (view spoiler)[Honestly this is the most romantic book I own and I'm scandalized anew every time I read it.
BUT! I come for Elliot's snark and the incredibly deep, pensive lines that are just... in there like it's no big deal amidst the snark and everything else.
So you aren't here if you want plot. This book traces from ages thirteen to seventeen Elliot's life, from when he first crosses the Border to when he finishes Border school. There's plot that happens, but we're here for the characters and the social commentary and it delivers.
Elliot is an incredibly well-developed character. He's affection-starved and constantly blaming himself for everything that goes wrong in his life and he's been neglected and abandoned. This shows up in all aspects of his life; the way he braces as if expecting to be hit when someone moves towards him, the way he struggles with interpersonal relationships. It's not said but you can see it and that's really well done. He comes to know himself and I love to see how he grows and changes and recognizes his faults and his strengths and how he can use both of those.
I love how all of them change, actually. Serene, for example, matures incredibly over the course of the book, both in her own emotional and moral sensitivity but also in regards to different cultures.
The elven culture is basically an exact switch of the stereotypical male and female roles in our world, and the point, no matter what you read criticizing it, is not to say "this is how it should be; women are better." It's trying to reveal how ridiculous and toxic any dichotomy with one gender being superior over others by switching the typical roles completely and getting everyone to look at it with a new perspective. Elliot says it well:
"Maybe both our societies are messed up, and they each only think one type of person is really a person. And the type of person they think is really a person is allowed to show imperfections and age... whereas the type of person they think is an object should show no signs of being a person. We're socialized to see the imperfections in those objects."
Elliot, when interacting with elves, gets a definite firsthand experience with how Serene is treated in the human camp, and it kind of opens his eyes to all of this and I appreciate the commentary.
The friendship between Serene and Luke and Elliot is deep and touching and even with the romance aspect here. I think it was most defined when Serene and Luke went on their first campaign and Elliot didn't sleep for two days and then, as soon as they came back, Serene and Luke sprinted to Elliot and Elliot sprinted to them and they hugged and held each other and were so relieved and it was very touching.
Basically the way this book goes for me is: hysterical laughter over Elliot's snark, staring at the page for three straight minutes over an offhand line or paragraph expressing deep thoughts on the human condition, uncomfortable skimming through romance, admiration for character development/societal commentary, repeat.
In summary: 100% worth a read. Snark + deep lines w/ social commentary that makes you think is a great combination, and the character development of Elliot and others is very good. (hide spoiler)]...more
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