The Demon's Covenant (Sarah Rees Brennan)
May. 29th, 2010 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnI finished The Demon's Covenant this morning (when I should have been working) and I have been thinking about it and engaging with it all day (when I should have been working), and rereading lots of bits, and writing this when I should have been working, and I need to rave about it! Read Lexicon first, because this book totally and completely spoils Lexicon, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
julianyap should avoid it until the third book in the trilogy comes out (next year, I guess?) because while it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it is clearly setting up for something big.
That is to say, I adored this book with a great and adoring and italics-inducing love that I did not have for Lexicon (though I liked Lexicon quite a bit). I'm not even sure I can articulate why, because Covenant is the second book of a trilogy, with all the problems that implies (not anything against this book in particular, just endemic to the second-book breed), and it didn't make me cry like Lexicon did (although mostly because I was in shock, and also because I was pregnant and hormonal when I read the first book), and it didn't have a super reveal like Lexicon. I think the plot was significantly less tight than that of Lexicon (and more dependent on characters communicating or not), though I might be wrong about that -- I need to reread the whole thing again to see. Her style with the ultra-short paragraphs always distracts me for a while -- it was around a third of the way through when I found that I had ceased to notice it because the story had drawn me in that much. And due to someone's review -- I think maybe it waskate_nepveu -- Nick's sarcasm bothered me (which it didn't in Lexicon because I wasn't thinking about this problem), because he doesn't have the facility with language to lie but he can do sarcasm? Though it is sometimes howlingly funny, so I let it pass.
So why did I adore Covenant so much more than Lexicon? This book does have a huge advantage over Lexicon in that SRB isn't trying to juggle Nick's POV (Mae is a satisfyingly normal POV character), which was always a very delicate balancing act. (Having said that, I must also add that Nick's POV was crucial for that book, and for setting up this book.) Because of this POV switch it's hard to tell -- but -- I think, as well, the writing also improves a good deal in this book (although there was definitely the odd simile where I was all "uh, what?"). And it was in this book that I (finally) fell in love with all the characters. I love all of them! Including the villains. I think this is partially not being hampered by Nick's voice, and partially because SRB does much better with the long form, as I tend to get distracted by the distinctive style and the wit in the short term; even though she has particular characterizations in mind, it can take me a while to see them.
The other reason I adore this book may be that it explicitly and implicitly engages with the Great Questions of literature (according to the best teacher I ever had, who taught us Brit Lit and, tangentially, about life): what does it mean to be human? What is this thing called love? (Lexicon also mentioned these questions, but much more implicitly.) One character is explicitly looking for this answer; the other characters provide different perspectives. One character, we come to see, is the epitome of what it means to be human and to retain your humanity in the face of disaster. Another character is the epitome of how one's humanity can be sucked away, little by little, by one's choices and by what one becomes accustomed to, while one retains the habits of a human being (and one who seems pretty nice, at that). Yet another character has one single thread of humanity, with everything else subsumed to that single thread to such an extent that it is twisted out of human provenance. The character who has explicit claims to be the least human is not in fact the least human character in the story, though he may appear so, and I think this is a deliberate shading by SRB.
Oh, and then love. Romantic love is discussed, both between the YA characters and between adults (two sets of estranged spouses -- both these romances happen way before the time of the book and are mostly just alluded to). And more than that, familial love (yay!! I despise how most YA books focus on romance, as if the majority of people you knew paired up as teenagers). What is love? Does love die? Yes; sometimes you fall in love with something on a pedestal, something that's not a real person, and that love may die. But also love does not die. (I must confess that although I enjoyed the scene where Mae explains how love dies, I don't see what the point of it was -- it doesn't seem like it serves any purpose, or that the person who was listening to her uses that information at all. Unless I missed it -- I was reading the last bits pretty quickly because I was so engrossed.)
The really interesting thing about Nick is that his takes on things are not as inhuman as he thinks they are. They are messed up, and a little psychotic even, but not so much inhuman as they are very human responses, taken to an extreme point. For example, when Nick talks about Alan's relatives rejecting him: "Anyone who wasn't a monster would be sorry, wouldn't they? ...I was so glad.. I don't want anyone to have a claim on him but me." Okay, so, maybe I'm psychotic too, but this struck a chord with me, because I have had those feelings before. I have been jealous when a close friend, or my sister, had a friend/boyfriend that she told things to that she didn't tell me, because I didn't want them to have a closer claim than I did. (I am thankful to report that this was mostly an adolescent thing that I grew out of, but it did take years of consciously working on this tendency.) I think it is actually very human failing to be jealous, to be possessive, and Nick's conclusion that this makes him a monster makes him, actually... more mature than Gerald, who is a monster who has lost the capacity even to admit it.
Other random stuff!
-I love Gerald. Love him! He is so plausible, and so evil. I kid you not, I cheered when he reappeared.
-Oh, Jamie. Oh Jamie. Okay, so, people have said that Jamie reminds them of the Draco SRB used to write in the olden days when she used to write fanfic. After this book I think anyone who says that must be on crack. Jamie is cuddly marshmallow on the outside and, and, unyielding shiny diamond integrity on the inside. Totally opposite of Draco in every way, really. (However. Both of them are the characters in their respective works who channelsarahtales's personal voice (as evidenced in her LJ entries) most distinctly, and I suspect that is why people tend to associate them.)
-Annabel! What a terrific character. I was so in shock when she died that I didn't even believe it ("surely she can't have actually DIED?!"), and have only just begun to grieve for her.
-Oh Alan. Alan just keeps giving everything of his away, up to his chances for love and his integrity, until there's nothing left but Nick. Alan needs... I don't know what he needs. He needs a girl, to begin with, but I don't think I'd wish any girl on him.
-Mae/Nick is doomed to go down in flaming flames of flame. In a lesser writer Teh Twu Luv might work out, but I think SRB is too good to gloss over all the problems this pairing implies. That being said, I am rooting for them! Perhaps she will pull a rabbit and a working relationship out of a hat! Anyway, I was SO relieved when Mae did not end up with Alan, because although I love his character, he is a lying liar. Who lies.
-What I really hope.. is that Mae goes off to college (or the Goblin Market, whatever) and finds a nice boy without major issues from a loving family who has never met the Ryves brothers, dates him for three years, and then marries him. I know you can't really write a YA where this happens, though.
julianyap should avoid it until the third book in the trilogy comes out (next year, I guess?) because while it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it is clearly setting up for something big.That is to say, I adored this book with a great and adoring and italics-inducing love that I did not have for Lexicon (though I liked Lexicon quite a bit). I'm not even sure I can articulate why, because Covenant is the second book of a trilogy, with all the problems that implies (not anything against this book in particular, just endemic to the second-book breed), and it didn't make me cry like Lexicon did (although mostly because I was in shock, and also because I was pregnant and hormonal when I read the first book), and it didn't have a super reveal like Lexicon. I think the plot was significantly less tight than that of Lexicon (and more dependent on characters communicating or not), though I might be wrong about that -- I need to reread the whole thing again to see. Her style with the ultra-short paragraphs always distracts me for a while -- it was around a third of the way through when I found that I had ceased to notice it because the story had drawn me in that much. And due to someone's review -- I think maybe it was
kate_nepveu -- Nick's sarcasm bothered me (which it didn't in Lexicon because I wasn't thinking about this problem), because he doesn't have the facility with language to lie but he can do sarcasm? Though it is sometimes howlingly funny, so I let it pass.So why did I adore Covenant so much more than Lexicon? This book does have a huge advantage over Lexicon in that SRB isn't trying to juggle Nick's POV (Mae is a satisfyingly normal POV character), which was always a very delicate balancing act. (Having said that, I must also add that Nick's POV was crucial for that book, and for setting up this book.) Because of this POV switch it's hard to tell -- but -- I think, as well, the writing also improves a good deal in this book (although there was definitely the odd simile where I was all "uh, what?"). And it was in this book that I (finally) fell in love with all the characters. I love all of them! Including the villains. I think this is partially not being hampered by Nick's voice, and partially because SRB does much better with the long form, as I tend to get distracted by the distinctive style and the wit in the short term; even though she has particular characterizations in mind, it can take me a while to see them.
The other reason I adore this book may be that it explicitly and implicitly engages with the Great Questions of literature (according to the best teacher I ever had, who taught us Brit Lit and, tangentially, about life): what does it mean to be human? What is this thing called love? (Lexicon also mentioned these questions, but much more implicitly.) One character is explicitly looking for this answer; the other characters provide different perspectives. One character, we come to see, is the epitome of what it means to be human and to retain your humanity in the face of disaster. Another character is the epitome of how one's humanity can be sucked away, little by little, by one's choices and by what one becomes accustomed to, while one retains the habits of a human being (and one who seems pretty nice, at that). Yet another character has one single thread of humanity, with everything else subsumed to that single thread to such an extent that it is twisted out of human provenance. The character who has explicit claims to be the least human is not in fact the least human character in the story, though he may appear so, and I think this is a deliberate shading by SRB.
Oh, and then love. Romantic love is discussed, both between the YA characters and between adults (two sets of estranged spouses -- both these romances happen way before the time of the book and are mostly just alluded to). And more than that, familial love (yay!! I despise how most YA books focus on romance, as if the majority of people you knew paired up as teenagers). What is love? Does love die? Yes; sometimes you fall in love with something on a pedestal, something that's not a real person, and that love may die. But also love does not die. (I must confess that although I enjoyed the scene where Mae explains how love dies, I don't see what the point of it was -- it doesn't seem like it serves any purpose, or that the person who was listening to her uses that information at all. Unless I missed it -- I was reading the last bits pretty quickly because I was so engrossed.)
The really interesting thing about Nick is that his takes on things are not as inhuman as he thinks they are. They are messed up, and a little psychotic even, but not so much inhuman as they are very human responses, taken to an extreme point. For example, when Nick talks about Alan's relatives rejecting him: "Anyone who wasn't a monster would be sorry, wouldn't they? ...I was so glad.. I don't want anyone to have a claim on him but me." Okay, so, maybe I'm psychotic too, but this struck a chord with me, because I have had those feelings before. I have been jealous when a close friend, or my sister, had a friend/boyfriend that she told things to that she didn't tell me, because I didn't want them to have a closer claim than I did. (I am thankful to report that this was mostly an adolescent thing that I grew out of, but it did take years of consciously working on this tendency.) I think it is actually very human failing to be jealous, to be possessive, and Nick's conclusion that this makes him a monster makes him, actually... more mature than Gerald, who is a monster who has lost the capacity even to admit it.
Other random stuff!
-I love Gerald. Love him! He is so plausible, and so evil. I kid you not, I cheered when he reappeared.
-Oh, Jamie. Oh Jamie. Okay, so, people have said that Jamie reminds them of the Draco SRB used to write in the olden days when she used to write fanfic. After this book I think anyone who says that must be on crack. Jamie is cuddly marshmallow on the outside and, and, unyielding shiny diamond integrity on the inside. Totally opposite of Draco in every way, really. (However. Both of them are the characters in their respective works who channel
sarahtales's personal voice (as evidenced in her LJ entries) most distinctly, and I suspect that is why people tend to associate them.)-Annabel! What a terrific character. I was so in shock when she died that I didn't even believe it ("surely she can't have actually DIED?!"), and have only just begun to grieve for her.
-Oh Alan. Alan just keeps giving everything of his away, up to his chances for love and his integrity, until there's nothing left but Nick. Alan needs... I don't know what he needs. He needs a girl, to begin with, but I don't think I'd wish any girl on him.
-Mae/Nick is doomed to go down in flaming flames of flame. In a lesser writer Teh Twu Luv might work out, but I think SRB is too good to gloss over all the problems this pairing implies. That being said, I am rooting for them! Perhaps she will pull a rabbit and a working relationship out of a hat! Anyway, I was SO relieved when Mae did not end up with Alan, because although I love his character, he is a lying liar. Who lies.
-What I really hope.. is that Mae goes off to college (or the Goblin Market, whatever) and finds a nice boy without major issues from a loving family who has never met the Ryves brothers, dates him for three years, and then marries him. I know you can't really write a YA where this happens, though.
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