#indigo cloud

[aposematic-jessica]

okay it’s been a hot second since I’ve read the books last (probably like six months) but ive been thinking about Frost of Indigo Cloud like. oh my god. like i know we all talk about how traumatized she and the rest of the clutch are but also she’s such a good girl?? she’s such a responsible and protective young woman? and that one scene where she’s like “fuck this we need more queens for this diplomatic discussion (read: fight)” and just shows up and sits down and is just so responsible and ready to do her part for the court? I’m fully projecting onto her btw but i just. I mean her socialization has to be shit just like:

the rest of Sky Copper fucking kicked it + being briefly kidnapped by Fell + no other children in Indigo Cloud + fleeing their new decaying home + entire court in panic about the NEW new decaying home + their adoptive father and his wife have to go on numerous perilous journeys

like yeah Frost is probably going to be a more prickly queen than anyone really wants. but like what is her other option?? it’s not like she has any great role models. moon: most feral consort ever. stone: truly ancient line grandfather. pearl: Like That. jade: actually probably the most normal. Like child psychology and development is a pet interest of mine, right? And looking at Frost and her (remarkably well adjusted) brothers i simply cannot stop myself from musing about how they would be as adults!! What kind of daughter queen would Frost be? How would she handle Thorn and Bitter growing up as consorts and being claimed by various queens? Also like her adoptive father is Moon her understanding of consort behavior is gonna be FUCKED.

but god I just really love rolling around Frost in my head. Her and all the other queens are so fascinating!! i wanna see her with the new clutches and new kids and see her really become a queen!! got 2 know everything about that girl. may be worth rereading & writing shorts about it. I fucking love these dragon bee people they’re soooo insane in my brain.

[rjalker]

"you're just mad that my lion dragon bee people don't have human morality"

except you didn't fucking write a horror story, now did you? You don't want your audience to be horrified by the slavery, rape, eugenics, pedophilia, or anything else the "lion dragon bee people" do, do you? You literally want us to nod along and be fine with it all. You literally want us to agree it's okay for them to keep slaves, or treat men the excact same way women are treated in real life including as sexual property for whoever can "breed" with them first, or else you wouldn't have written in a character that exists for no other purpose except to mock the members of the audience who have pointed out to you that this is kind of fucked up.

You can write about "lion dragon bee people" who don't have human morals without. Telling everyone that we should be okay with the things they do. But the only characters who ever have a problem with their behavior, you go out of your way to demonize and paint as fucking stupid or a literal "scarily mentally ill serial killer who kills people"

You don't get to pretend it's just fiction and they're "just aliens" and are ~supposed~ to be scary when you fucking do not want anyone to actually have a problem with what they're doing.

You didn't write a horror story. You don't want anyone to actually be horrified by what they're doing. You don't get to defend your shitty bigotry by claiming it's supposed to be bad WHEN YOU INSULT ANYONE WHO TALKS ABOUT WHY IT'S BAD

[kuruoshiku]

I love these books so much.

[hug-your-face]

Re-reading The Cloud Roads, the first of the Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells.

Do NOT fuck around with a Raksuran queen’s consort.

[rjalker]

There's a difference between the author really wanting me to believe that these characters think something, and the author actually convincing me that they do, in fact, think that thing. You can't just tell us that they do. You have to convince us that they do.

Yes, author, you very clearly believe that the characters believe XYZ. But you haven't actually convinced me. You just keep telling me like if you repeat it often enough it'll be true, without actually putting the work in to make it unquestionably true.

You can't just rely on the existence of tropes to prove you're successfully writing those tropes.

[rjalker]

Either:

The things the Raksura do (slavery, rape, pedophilia, castism, actual real misandry) are horrific and we should be horrified

or:

The things the Raksura do (slavery, rape, pedophilia, castism, actual real misandry) are perfectly fine and normal and no one should be upset

You can't have it both ways.

And if you're getting mad at people who are saying the first, you clearly *do* believe the latter.

[rjalker]

Moon literally only being there to make babies for Jade [handshake] Murderbot literally being programmed to protect humans

things we're supposed to just pretend we don't notice

She absolutely failed to convincingly prove that Moon is with Indigo Cloud because they actually like him as a person, and not just because he can make babies for Jade.

It's not even difficult to accomplish. She brought Ember in to ~prove~ that they like Moon, but as Chime literally pointed out literally immediately, Ember is a literal child. He's absolutely no threat to Moon's position. So like. Yeah, that's...not doing anything to convince me that Moon's there because they like him.

There were so many opportunities to show us this but they're never taken, because that would be too much effort I guess.

She's leaning so heavily on the trope of found family for The Books of the Raksura that she forgot that that relationship actually needs to be tested in a way that will prove, without a shred of doubt, that Moon is there because they want him, specifically, as a person, to be a part of their family. Especially with all the abandonment issues she's saddled him with. But we just never get it. And it's such a waste.

And like, Murderbot literally does not want to do anything except protect humans. Which is the exact thing it was created to do. But she doesn't want to write stories about robot rebellions against slavery because that's too cliche, so instead Murderbot's just gonna keep performing its intended role and this is supposed to be revolutionary. With no introspection ever at any point to show that Murderbot is questioning if this is what it really wants, or if this is just what it was programmed to want.

The laziness and refusal to think deeply about the issues at hand weakens the characters and their relationships once you think about it for more than five seconds.

[rjalker]

Delin casually recommending eugenics to make the Fell stop being evil sure does fucking throw a much more ominous shade on the Raksura's baby-making practices.

[ID: The Anakin and Padme meme, with new dialogue:

Anakin: "The Raksura keep very close track of who is allowed to have kids with who."

Padme, smiling: "So they can make sure no one's having kids with their own cousin by accident, right?"

Anakin stares at her silently.

Padme, in dread: "So they can make sure no one's having kids with their own cousin by accident, right?"

End ID.]

yet more examples of why the traditional colony structure needs to be fucking exploded.

Literally why the fuck did Martha Wells decide to have Delin casually recommend using eugenics against the Fell like this is the obvious and normal answer and not like,,,,,,,,just teach your kids to respect other people???? Form a fucking revolution and overthrow the abusive and fascist assholes who are enslaving the rest of you????? Why the fuck is eugenics presented as the solution to this problem????

I mean, there's already shit tons of biological essentialism and racism in this series, this just makes it even worse.