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wednesday_10_00) wrote2013-02-18 09:17 am
wednesday_10_00) wrote2013-02-18 09:17 am
Entry tags:
re: Flesh & Blood 17-19
[Ugh, LJ, why you gotta take away the old update page? ;_; ]
Flesh & Blood 17
Kazuya, Kazuya, Kazuya. He's been a total creeper and a jerk in this arc (Who would have ever expected anyone to be more gross than Vicente about his feelings for Kaito?), but I did feel sorta bad for him in the end.
Really liked Kaito's proactiveness in this book (though I'm really going to laugh if ends up he teaching yoga to Geoffrey as torture rehabilitation). He's growing up and getting mentally and physically stronger, which should serve him well in the 16th century (since I guess he's going to be staying there--I still sorta wish endgame for the series would be getting Geoffrey to the 21st century, but oh well).
Also, Alonso + Vincente = LOVE. I don't even care if it's platonic love, they are super cute.
Flesh & Blood 18
Argh, Nigel and Kit. JUST KISS. Every time I think "Maayyyyyybe this is actually becoming a possibility?" Nigel turns around and does (or just thinks) something that makes me go, "Nope, never gonna happen." Which....WHY? Why does she need to torture us like this? JUST KISS.
(Speaking of which...why do Raul and Juan have to be the only characters who get to have sex? Especially considering I would seriously rather see no sex than their hate sex.)
Two things I loved about this book: Nigel and Geoffrey's relationship. I love how focused and determined Nigel was about saving Geoffrey. ♥ ♥ ♥ Also, Lily having to tell Nigel and Kit the truth about where she and Kaito come from, mostly because her complaints that Geoffrey left all the hard work to her (since all he said to Nigel was "Lily knows where Kaito is, ask her") were hilarious. Though for a druggie who says she was so terrible in school, it was pretty ridiculous that she had memorized such a long quote from a Christopher Marlowe play. (I sort of felt the same way about the scene in 14 where she lists all the kings that come after Elizabeth I. 30 years after she's had any occasion to think about any of them, really?)
I am really slow: the end of this book was the first time it occurred to me that the reunion picture in 19 was just showing Kaito visiting Geoffrey in prison, not that they had gotten him out. CRAP.
Flesh & Blood 19
UGH, the Spanish military planning sections. Vicente and Alonso, I want to love you, so just...shut up about this already. It's just like...endless strings of katakana names and titles and military ranks and I have no clue what the crap they are talking about anymore. Terrible people are in charge (Kaito warned you!), everything that can go wrong does (Kaito warned you!), blah blah blah WE GET IT, SPAIN LOSES THE WAR. It's like if 80% of the screen time in Titanic had been devoted to characters harping on about how awful it would be for the ship to sink. Or a book about the World Trade Center that continually foreshadows 9/11...no, wait, that one was worse.
Anyway: I'm not sure the big reunion scene was worth the buildup? I mean, don't get me wrong, there were some really good moments, but...I sorta wanted to give Geoffrey a kick in the pants for thinking it would be better for him to die than to put Kaito in danger. Oh, please. "I couldn't stand to live without you but I want you to go on living after I'm gone" is just plain selfish. Also, hilariously, Kaito at one point says aishiteiru to Geoffrey, making a big deal about how he hasn't said it before (he's only used suki) because Japanese people rarely say it, which...A) does not work in English, at all B) come on, Kaito has lived almost his entire life in England C) totally ruins my translation from volume 4, poo. If I can separate myself from all this, it's a pretty cute moment, though. And I DID like how the scene showed how much Kaito has grown; he doesn't want to be babied or protected, he wants to be Geoffrey's equal. I don't want to get all gross and sappy like, um, every character in this series, but I do love Kaito, so it's nice to see this side of him more.
***
re: this arc in general
I appreciate the parallels here, that we have an arc to save Geoffrey after having an arc to save Kaito, but it's been really REALLY frustrating as a reader. At this point, Geoffrey and Kaito have spent more time apart than they have together, so I feel like once they are reunited for real (this BETTER be in the next book) they just CANNOT be separated any more. It would be too ridiculous otherwise.
I'm really glad I waited to read these all at once, because I was able to appreciate the symmetry of 17 being all about Kaito stuck in the 21st century trying to get "home" and 18 being all about trying to free Geoffrey. If I'd read 18 when it first came out, I would have thrown it against the wall as soon as I realized it ended with Kaito coming back. Reading it all at once was much more satisfying.
Kaito going back to the 21st century seems to be completely off the table now (since it takes a desire to leave to open the portal, and even dying of tuberculosis, Kaito found it unbearable to leave Geoffrey), so I guess the rest of the series will just be the war with Spain, and then end? Though this is hardly the first time near the end of an arc when I've been puzzled where the series was going to go, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Though, according to Matsuoka's twitter, she broke her arm at the end of the year and is now typing one-handed, so it, um, could be a while before we see the next book. :/
Catching up on this series made me realize I miss doing summaries for these books. I'm not sure if anyone is still interested in reading them, though.
Flesh & Blood 17
Kazuya, Kazuya, Kazuya. He's been a total creeper and a jerk in this arc (Who would have ever expected anyone to be more gross than Vicente about his feelings for Kaito?), but I did feel sorta bad for him in the end.
Really liked Kaito's proactiveness in this book (though I'm really going to laugh if ends up he teaching yoga to Geoffrey as torture rehabilitation). He's growing up and getting mentally and physically stronger, which should serve him well in the 16th century (since I guess he's going to be staying there--I still sorta wish endgame for the series would be getting Geoffrey to the 21st century, but oh well).
Also, Alonso + Vincente = LOVE. I don't even care if it's platonic love, they are super cute.
Flesh & Blood 18
Argh, Nigel and Kit. JUST KISS. Every time I think "Maayyyyyybe this is actually becoming a possibility?" Nigel turns around and does (or just thinks) something that makes me go, "Nope, never gonna happen." Which....WHY? Why does she need to torture us like this? JUST KISS.
(Speaking of which...why do Raul and Juan have to be the only characters who get to have sex? Especially considering I would seriously rather see no sex than their hate sex.)
Two things I loved about this book: Nigel and Geoffrey's relationship. I love how focused and determined Nigel was about saving Geoffrey. ♥ ♥ ♥ Also, Lily having to tell Nigel and Kit the truth about where she and Kaito come from, mostly because her complaints that Geoffrey left all the hard work to her (since all he said to Nigel was "Lily knows where Kaito is, ask her") were hilarious. Though for a druggie who says she was so terrible in school, it was pretty ridiculous that she had memorized such a long quote from a Christopher Marlowe play. (I sort of felt the same way about the scene in 14 where she lists all the kings that come after Elizabeth I. 30 years after she's had any occasion to think about any of them, really?)
I am really slow: the end of this book was the first time it occurred to me that the reunion picture in 19 was just showing Kaito visiting Geoffrey in prison, not that they had gotten him out. CRAP.
Flesh & Blood 19
UGH, the Spanish military planning sections. Vicente and Alonso, I want to love you, so just...shut up about this already. It's just like...endless strings of katakana names and titles and military ranks and I have no clue what the crap they are talking about anymore. Terrible people are in charge (Kaito warned you!), everything that can go wrong does (Kaito warned you!), blah blah blah WE GET IT, SPAIN LOSES THE WAR. It's like if 80% of the screen time in Titanic had been devoted to characters harping on about how awful it would be for the ship to sink. Or a book about the World Trade Center that continually foreshadows 9/11...no, wait, that one was worse.
Anyway: I'm not sure the big reunion scene was worth the buildup? I mean, don't get me wrong, there were some really good moments, but...I sorta wanted to give Geoffrey a kick in the pants for thinking it would be better for him to die than to put Kaito in danger. Oh, please. "I couldn't stand to live without you but I want you to go on living after I'm gone" is just plain selfish. Also, hilariously, Kaito at one point says aishiteiru to Geoffrey, making a big deal about how he hasn't said it before (he's only used suki) because Japanese people rarely say it, which...A) does not work in English, at all B) come on, Kaito has lived almost his entire life in England C) totally ruins my translation from volume 4, poo. If I can separate myself from all this, it's a pretty cute moment, though. And I DID like how the scene showed how much Kaito has grown; he doesn't want to be babied or protected, he wants to be Geoffrey's equal. I don't want to get all gross and sappy like, um, every character in this series, but I do love Kaito, so it's nice to see this side of him more.
***
re: this arc in general
I appreciate the parallels here, that we have an arc to save Geoffrey after having an arc to save Kaito, but it's been really REALLY frustrating as a reader. At this point, Geoffrey and Kaito have spent more time apart than they have together, so I feel like once they are reunited for real (this BETTER be in the next book) they just CANNOT be separated any more. It would be too ridiculous otherwise.
I'm really glad I waited to read these all at once, because I was able to appreciate the symmetry of 17 being all about Kaito stuck in the 21st century trying to get "home" and 18 being all about trying to free Geoffrey. If I'd read 18 when it first came out, I would have thrown it against the wall as soon as I realized it ended with Kaito coming back. Reading it all at once was much more satisfying.
Kaito going back to the 21st century seems to be completely off the table now (since it takes a desire to leave to open the portal, and even dying of tuberculosis, Kaito found it unbearable to leave Geoffrey), so I guess the rest of the series will just be the war with Spain, and then end? Though this is hardly the first time near the end of an arc when I've been puzzled where the series was going to go, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Though, according to Matsuoka's twitter, she broke her arm at the end of the year and is now typing one-handed, so it, um, could be a while before we see the next book. :/
Catching up on this series made me realize I miss doing summaries for these books. I'm not sure if anyone is still interested in reading them, though.