#demon's surrender

[taiey]

get to know me ‘meme’:  relationships [2-5]

morally ambiguous power couples who are brilliant and liars and passionately in love; I have a Type.

In the order I think I met them; River Song and the Doctor, Alixana and Valerius, Sin Davies and Alan Ryves, Jeanne and Kurt Wynn; “morally ambiguous” is a term here meaning anything from “teenagers trying to survive and help people” to “I could avoid a war by getting divorced but no”.

Image description [A strip of cloth wound around two pairs of hands, drawing together; opposite the words “You and me. Time and space. You watch us run.”  Three lines of dialogue: “"I am married, and I do not think in terms of otherwise." "Not even to lie easy with the god after you die?" "Not even for that." opposite a yellowing mosaic of two dolphins above the waves. A heavily filtered image of a brown-skinned girl and a red-haired boy, their faces close together; the words “You don’t have to be honest. If you lie, I’ll know what you mean.” A paragraph: “If people are reduced to numbers on a spreadsheet here, it’s because we have to work on that scale, we’re doing it in the best ways we can, for their benefit.” next to a Damascus steel ring inset with a yellow diamond.]

[nimblermortal]

The Demon’s Surrender

Gerald, Archvillain: All right, the problem has consistently been our opponent’s master planner; so we will capture the planner, possess him, and have the possessing demon read his mind for us. While incidentally providing emotional torture to the opposing force.

Alan: Joke’s on you, I planned for this! I’m the only one who doesn’t know the plan! But there’s got to be one, right?

Meanwhile, in the Good Guy Camp:

Mae: We need a plan.

Nick: Charge in guns blazing.

Mae: No, that won’t do. We need a plan.

Nick: You’re right. Guns don’t always work. New plan: Charge in, swords flashing.

[taiey]

90 WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU: A STUDY IN WAYS SRB BREAKS MY HEART

Sometimes I want to be human for you. But only sometimes.

I don't lie to you, I lie with you.

I won't leave you. I don't want to.

I will not destroy the world, because it has you in it.

I'm a social worker.

Hey Bambi.

Hey Clive.

I could maybe draw you with a hook.

We can do whatever boring thing you want.

Do whatever you think you need to do, I do not care. But don't leave.

I'm going to lie and scheme and kill to keep you anyway.

I want you to have many goals.

He doesn't like being left alone.

The most interesting girl I know.

You don't have to be honest. If you lie, I'll know what you mean.

Anything I can do, I will.

If I had a soul to trade, I would trade it for his.

You're not taking him.

Where did you learn to dance?

If you wish me to turn away this client for your peace of mind, I will.

I wasn't trying to hurt you.

Next to those two choices what happens to me doesn't matter.

It matters.

I was glad to do it.

I hope that boy wastes his chance.

I want you to teach me how to be human.

I didn't mean for you to take that laughing thing the wrong way.

He's ours.

[You said you were interested] I was being polite.

You are so much more trouble than you're worth.

When losing isn't an option, it doesn't matter what you have to do to win.

Would you grab the first-aid kit anyway?

Stay away from my brother!

That's my brother.

You were willing to defend me with a kettle?

I was hoping you would come back.

I think we could manage to tempt a demon or two together.

I'm on your side.

She's kind of amazing. And beautiful.

I thought it would please you.

I don't mind it as much when some people touch me. Because I'd let them hurt me.

Hi, Nick. Did you miss me?

I had a nightmare. I need you to come and sleep in my bed.

Why can't you stay out of trouble?

You manage that all right. You're just learning.

Maybe sometimes I could read the assigned books to you.

I can trust you enough for anything.

Which demon am I calling?

That bookshop manager thinks she can run him into the ground. Don't wake him.

He was coming to look for me.

Get up and go to bed.

We toil not, nor do we jog.

They can't have him. He's my friend.

Knife work at night is something you're going to have to learn.

No, you should stay.

Sit down. I'll make you something to eat.

Put your shirt back on right now.

I'm going to save you.

You are my friend.

Your hair is the colour of flamingos!

Sometimes when you are not being psychotic, you are quite funny.

Then Gerald's a fool, and so are you.

You're right. I am warning you.

This is how you help me.

I'm - sorry. That's the way it is. I don't know how to make it any different.

You're right, I'm an idiot.

You'll feel better when you start running.

Get away from my son.

I know I never did it right.

I thought you'd be happy.

We used to play dolls together for hours when we were little.

Jamie. Come here.

You don't know my brother.

We're going to go home.

It won't happen to you. I won't let it.

I'll protect you.

I'm counting on it.

I'll sit with you in case you need help.

And you're not a monster.

You're brave.

I put you first. I always have.

(How many times have you lied to me?) I've lost count.

Don't leave me.

I didn't want you to - feel any diffferently about me.

I'm sorry.

I understood being brothers, I understood that word, but now I don't understand anything.

All right. I'll put down my weapons.

Kill them all.

I set you free.

In two worlds there is nothing I love half so much as you

Also a study in 'this makes way more sense in context'. (okay, some of them are I love him/her)

[ravelqueen]

So basically what this teaches me is that I should not re-read and finally finish a book series when I have stuff to do.

Because what apparently happens is that I read three books in 5 days.

[ravelqueen]

I'm finally finishing the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy. I'm in the last chapters of "Demon's Surrender"

I do not know why Sarah Rees Brennan sees the need to hurt me so.

[jujutherubberduckie]

Reading Demon's Surrender

Oh Hell, Gerald, you had one job. There was one rule to this enterprise and you can't act like you didn't know it. I have no sympathy for you. Go on, Nicky baby, kill 'em all.

[linovadraws]

Quick, before-bed-omg-why-can't-I-fall-asleep doodle of Jamie and Nick. Full image behind a cut because kinda spoilers for Demon's Surrender?

THE FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS GUYS. THEY HAVE TO BE A THING THAT THEN ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT BECAUSE IT'S ALL I THINK ABOUT. THIS FRIENDSHIP = THE BEST

Also, I couldn't remember which hand Jamie was missing, so apologies if that is wrong. I'm planning on buying Kindle copies to make my brother read the books, but until then I have to rely on memorrrrry.

[aplusnormalhuman]

I have a lot of feelings about this book.

I've been reading Sarah Rees Brennan's stuff since late 2006, I think, back in the days when she posted it on the internet. And she retains the ability she had then to put her characters in these extremely heartwrenching situations yet mix it up with glorious humor and wit, making it all the more heartbreaking and all the more lovely. But (obviously) in the five years since her Harry Potter fanfiction juvenilia, this ability has increased and gained nuance. So, hence the feelings, which I have outlined for you here in list form.

1) Alan and Sin together forever!

2) Alan has a special voice for quoting things! Could I possibly love him any more! (The answer: probably yes, but then we'd be getting into even more disturbing territories of fictional character love.)

3) I was (a tiny bit) skeptical when I first heard that Sin was the narrator of this final volume of the trilogy, but now I think it couldn't possibly have been anyone else. Sin is great, and I felt that a greater balance between action-relation narration and observation was struck in this than in Demon's Covenant; for large swaths of that, it felt like Mae's only purpose was to be a pair of eyes and report on what the rest of the characters were up to.

4) It's nice to read about girls who pursue boys (sometimes even multiple boys in the same span of time!) and aren't punished for it.

5) Mostly because I also have complicated feelings for Shakespeare and Hamlet, I also love the underlying theme in Surrender of playacting, and the idea that our lies are just as important as our truths in understanding ourselves.

6) I love the dual meaning that possession is given in a book about demon's, and the way emotional possession is dealt with in the context of literal possession. Both Nick and Alan make declarations about the other being "mine," there is a sense of belonging to between Alan and Sin, and let's not forget that one time that Nick actually did possess Mae. Because love--any kind of love--is scary if it's deep enough. It changes you, maybe not in quite the same way having your free will stripped of you by a demon would be, but there is change nonetheless. These are bonds that can't be broken.

7) So this whole time I've been reading this series, I've been thinking of the eponymous demon of the books' titles as being Nick. Nick's lexicon, Nick's covenant, Nick's surrender. And it does work that way. He gains a lexicon; he makes a covenant; he does surrender. But I had this thought, also: what if the "demon" in Demon's X referred to a different demon each time? Because if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense and is actually less of a stretch to think of it that way. Nick is the demon of Demon's Lexicon: he struggles and finally begins to learn to use his words/accept his (in)humanity. Liannon is the is the demon of Demon's Covenant: she makes that whole body-sharing agreement with Merris. And in Demon's Surrender, I would argue that Anzu's surrender is ultimately the one that means the most. (I have a lot of feelings about Anzu as well.)

8) I've come to expect a twist with Sarah Rees Brennan's books, and to look for what they might be, so there was never a moment of shock and awe for me in that way. But the book never lost my interest or failed to twist in a way that was at least satisfying if it wasn't surprising. And it was a work with extraordinary metaphorical resonance. So it doesn't really matter, in the end, that some things seemed to resolve themselves just a bit too easily, that I thought the "Circle of my Circle" demon possession should have been built up more and didn't quite make sense, that Alan should have gotten off a little less scot-free. Because it all works on a metaphorical level, if not a literal one. It's not happily ever after, as Mae's t-shirt reminds us, but even if it's not perfect, it's all wrapped up in the heartbreaking, heartfilling moment of Alan's "I'm here." This whole book, it's making the metaphorical literal, and it's also making the literal metaphorical. That's what fantasy's all about (as SRB herself has pointed out on occasion): finding the resonance between magic and our real life stuff. And that's why I love it.