How did you get into reviewing TRR? Do you write for a living? Your insight is incredible, and I appreciate it. I wish you’d do it for TRH, but I understand why you don’t 🥴
I wouldn't say I write for a living...but I definitely am a writer and I hope to get published independently at some point. Currently I've just come out of a looong episode of writer's block and have been writing some original stuff as well.
I'm certain I did it for TRH1, but yeah...doing it for that book alone was hell.
I think I got into it at the start of TRR2? It was extremely casual back then...and I called them quick thoughts coz it really only took me two minutes to write and hit post back then 🤣🤣🤣 It also helped that I did essays for certain characters separately at the time, so I was able to keep my longer meta there and concentrate on just a couple points here. Book 3 was...not great esp in terms of its individual diamond scenes, so by then I was incorporating my thoughts on those in the QT as well rather than writing separate essays for those. Plus divergent plays began in a big way with that book, so I started checking playthroughs as well. By the end of it all I was like
At some point I do hope to finish off TRR1. I still have some insights to give on that book!
• So…umm…I LOVE this chapter! More in hindsight than when I was actually playing it because back then it just sounded like a jealous woman trying to sabotage the MC and failing. But now having played through this chapter and even written a fic about it…I have to say there’s a lot going on in this one.
• I’ve often found the 8th chapter in the series pretty interesting. This was the first chapter in the series to feature diamond scenes from all three of the original LIs in a single chapter. This would happen again in Book 2, but by Book 2 the imbalance was a lot more tangible. I will speak more about this later…but suffice to say that back when we had just two books in the series, I would call the 8th chapter The Magical Number Eight.
• A common misconception that seems to stem from this chapter (and others, often by Kiara-haters) is that Kiara “agrees to be our friend” this chapter, and then jumps ship to Madeleine in Book 2. That’s bullshit. Kiara never mentions the word friend. She says ally. And she delivers.
• THIS is also where you get the first little inkling that Maxwell could be romanced, though we would only know for sure by the middle of Book 2. This chapter is also where you also get the first of many Drake’s plot related scenes. Which meant that sometimes, even if a fan did not like him, they would end up buying his scenes anyway for some crumb of information on their LI. Drake was already getting popular, but dropping hints of plot into his scenes gave him an added edge and often encouraged fans of other LIs who didn’t like him, to buy his scenes.
• Anyway, since the buildup took an entire chapter, the book pushes us straight into the dressing room for this one!
• Title: A Waltz to Remember.
Alternative Title: Lizzy Turns This QT into a Kiara Gush-fest And Does Not Regret It (Even If It Gave Her Hand-Cramps).
I love how over the course of three books, this particular dance form of Cordonia has gained the importance it has. And it’s lovely how - even though we’re not meant to like Olivia at this point - our first glimpse of Cordonian culture through this dance, is in her estate.
• Hana’s silver dress makes its debut here! Honestly, I kinda would’ve liked this one a LOT better as a gown than as the bodycon it eventually became. That pleated bodice really needed a long, flowy skirt to work. I’m always going to be a little sore they made it a short bodycon instead 😑
• Okay I love both our options for the ball, okay. They’re both big, and glamorous, and make a real statement. Which is necessary, because the plan is to show Olivia up at her own home.
Winter Goddess is gorgeous - it has that vintage Hollywood feel to me, and the caption for it sounds pretty romantic (“will capture the winter moonlight”). Snowflake Sweetheart is very on-point for the whole snow/ice theme Lythikos itself has going on. I’m very fond of the crystals and the illusion sleeves on the second one….but I have to say that silk-satin one with the fur stole is the winner for me 😅
Me Back Then (on one of my million replays): If I really have to take a diamond option, I’m taking the second one. I’m cheap.
Me Now: Still cheap. I’m not spending 25 whole diamonds on another gown when there’s already a cute one free in my closet.
• Maxwell is trying hard to channel Bertrand 2.0, and is badgered enough by 1.0 over the phone to almost succeed.
• One of the formal phrases he uses is “a diamond of the first water”, a phrase you’d see very commonly in the Regency era…which kind of solidifies my belief that Regency England was one of their world building inspirations even back then.
• We don’t fully understand the kind of power the hostess can wield in her homeplace, until this sequence. On principle, Olivia is not exactly answerable to anyone, not even the royals visiting her in Lythikos - she can decide on seat arrangements, she can give instructions to the staff on who gets the best portions of the meals and who gets the worst, she can monopolize on the Prince’s time with her if she wants. And she takes full advantage of that.
• However, her being the hostess doesn’t always leave her completely free to do what she wants, without consequences. Lythikos is not just a turning point for us - it’s one for her as well. And not exactly in a good way.
• Here’s what Olivia does to sabotage us at the ball:
- seats us away from our sponsor, and away from the head table. In fact this is something she does to all the suitors - Maxwell tells us that not a single one has a place at the head table.
- seats us way back, next to a commoner who is also constantly given the same treatment - which Hana points out is meant to be viewed in the court as an insult. To an MC who is still learning the ways of the nobility, this move is pretty much a miss…but it does give us a very clear idea of how hypocritical the nobility and royalty can be. Hana is not immune to the prejudice either (seen as she does not censor the statement when she says it in front of Drake, a commoner), but she eventually grows to fiercely guard him and defend him from those kind of attitudes later on… and you can see a lot of that growth in TRH’s Walker Ranch chapters.
- has her servers give us ice-cold lobster bisque on purpose, thirty minutes after serving has begun. With no lobster in it. Remember, we’re in a wintry region where you require piping hot, creamy, fattening foods to stay warm. This isn’t just ruining a meal: Olivia is sending a clear message about how unwelcome they are, by giving them cold food devoid of the main protein, in the freezing cold of Lythikos.
- given the timing of her kiss on Liam during the waltz, she probably did that to send a message to us as well. It happens shortly after our dance with him, and from her reaction (angry, immediately establishing claim on him) to Liam’s dance with the MC, we can tell she’s more affected than she’d like to admit, and that’s what informs her actions during her second dance with him.
• Me Back Then: There is a nice option and a rude option. It’s Drake, but he’s Liam’s bff and I want to be nice.
(+ romance point)
Me Back Then:
Me Now: Romance points in Lythikos fall from Drake the way pee falls from someone with weak kegels. One tiny laugh and pssssshhhh.
• From the rude option you find out that Drake plays chess and often wins in his matches with Liam, so that’s a nice touch.
• The MC can acquire the fresh bisque for herself and her friends if she dramatically faints in front of a server. I quite like this (optional) moment because it shows her thinking on her feet and quickly ensuring she gets her way. The other options are pretty hilarious too, though, the obnoxious “do you know who I am” option comes with a Game of Thrones reference 😂
•
Me Back Then: …someone should leave Drake hungry at a party till the wee hours of the morning with access to only whiskey bottles. Whiskey for entrèe, whiskey for main, maybe we’ll be kind and give him brandy for dessert. Let’s see how far his love for whiskey goes then 😈
Me Now: Holy shit, Me Back Then, you just predicted the best scene in Book 3 🤣.
• One of my favourite TRR Tumblr posts ever, was the one where someone took a screenshot of Drake saying “I’m not one to complain about food” from this chapter, and placed a gif of Nicholas Fraser’s “Why You Always Lying” lyrics just beneath it 😄 If that isn’t the truth idk what is.
• Most of the chapter after this will focus on the Cordonian Waltz, Olivia’s little stunt and getting allies, so the buildup to Drake’s scene will happen now (and Hana’s just before we meet Drake). Hana will be dancing with Tariq, and then other partners in the meantime, so no opportunities to dance with her there.
I loved this dialogue option when I first saw it, but now that I know how much in love with dancing Maxwell is, this scene is ten times more fun! 😃
• On first playthrough…this didn’t seem like that big a problem. Maxwell was fun, and seemed to genuinely like us, and was berated a great deal by Bertrand - so it was easier then to perhaps forgive his gaffes and want to comfort him instead. But when you approach his character as someone who brought a complete foreigner to his country and then didn’t make much of an effort to educate her with what little time they both had…I wind up finding his character a lot less endearing. I’m honestly more irritated by his carelessness. There was a lot he could have done even if he forgot or didn’t know what to do. He could have asked around! Hana was right in front of him! He could have found out what to prepare for if he didn’t know or if Bertrand didn’t handhold him (which Bertrand himself isn’t exactly doing a good job of in the first place). The other LIs shouldn’t have to constantly step in and do his job as sponsor and guide!
• It’s only when we’re dancing that Maxwell realizes he’s not taught us the dance. Of course, if you bought Hana’s waltz scene, she whispers her advice just before you dance with him, and you give her credit for teaching you. If not, you go into it knowing very little (but because the options are easy to choose from, so you can still manage). Maxwell does explain its uniqueness in terms of the flirting potential and the fact that it’s a courtship dance…but the true beauty of that description only comes with Hana.
• Istg, if Hana weren’t around to repeatedly save our ungrateful asses…
• So THIS is the first opportunity you get to ‘romance’ Maxwell. He looks sad and tells you that you should only be here for the Prince, but it’s also that vague kind of sadness that you can interpret differently and write detailed fanfics about! I think a huge part of Maxwell’s appeal (besides the overall sparkling personality, and the fact that he was so different from both Liam and Drake) was the “will-he-won’t-he” nature of the LI question itself.
• We now move on to Liam, who is fighting a losing battle with his desire to favour the MC exclusively, but wants her to know that she is special to him. Notably he does say this in the “courtship” part of the dance.
• How do you know that the Cordonian Waltz was a strategic choice? Because Olivia chose to dance with Liam twice! And because she’s the hostess, it’s harder for Liam to refuse.
I remember being pretty uncomfortable with this scene the first time I saw it, I still am, and often I wonder if I’m the only one who feels that way. Whenever I see this scene being referenced, it’s often referenced in the most flippant ways. And it baffles me.
• Honestly, Olivia was clearly overstepping her boundaries here and didn’t even bother to ask Liam before doing it (Liam himself mentions he was “caught by surprise” and calls it an “unexpected advance”). Was Olivia doing it out of complex, understandable reasons? Like jealousy or frustration or showing the MC up? Well, sure I guess. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that her doing so was nonconsensual and downright wrong.
The funny thing is often this incident is either downplayed or erased completely, especially in contexts where people try to argue that Olivia “deserves better” than Liam, or sympathize with her for loving a man who “does not care about her”.
Does Olivia deserve to be loved back by a person she loves? Absolutely.
Is Liam a lesser person for not loving her back? No, and he shouldn’t have to be penalized or judged by a fandom for not doing so.
Is the fact that most people who uphold this “penalizing/blaming Liam for not returning Olivia’s feelings” argument, also tend to forget/downplay this particular incident…particularly disturbing? Well, yeah, definitely.
• Even the narrative fails with regard to this, actually. It is written in a comical style, with a couple of out-there dialogue options (like screaming loud enough of break poor Maxwell’s eardrums) and the MC is given a chance to lash out at Liam for not reacting fast enough or throwing Olivia off of him. And guess what his reaction is. Sad, contrite, trying to explain his position. It’s almost like it’s okay for him to feel guilty about something that was done TO him, that he was never asked permission for.
Olivia does suffer consequences, but more for her “power play” than for anything else. Her move isn’t viewed as negative for what it may do to Liam, it is negative because it is seen as a direct “fuck you” she is delivering to her competitors. The scene itself is written for laughs…which I’m surprised more people don’t find even a little uncomfortable.
• The reactions from the other suitors is pretty on point for their character types at this point. Madeleine is smug and condescending, confident that she will never be “unrefined or insecure” enough for such “ostentatious displays” (says the woman who will bully her entire court, run around Italy roaring drunk and name a drink after herself in Book 2). Penelope doesn’t exactly have a personality at this point, she merely comments that the kiss was a bold play. It is Kiara who points out the power dynamics involved and views it as the last straw in her waning support for Olivia.
Remember - the ladies of the court weren’t treated half as badly as we were, but they were probably more aware (than us) that they were being denied a seat at the head table, and had to put up with Olivia monopolizing Prince Liam’s time. While Kiara’s suspicions that Olivia is “mad with power” here probably aren’t too far off the mark (even though her feelings of jealousy and confusion may be involved, we can’t deny that there is a clear sense of “I’m the hostess here, I can do what I want”), it’s not just an assumption that simply stems out of nowhere.
• Maxwell sees and opportunity to gain allies, and encourages us to capitalize on it. The wrong options are pretty interesting: if you mention “slapping the smirk off Olivia’s face”, Maxwell tells you that the political equivalent would be to “attack her alliances”. If you suggest making out with Liam in public, Maxwell exclaims that doing so would lead to people gunning after you. Which is telling, because in Book 1 PDA is mostly shown as being frowned upon in Cordonian society in general. So Olivia’s very public kiss isn’t just brazen and bold to the courtly ladies, but also viewed as inappropriate and a jab at their own lack of power in this situation.
• I love that Maxwell gets the opportunity to encourage us to play politics. Love it. He is the first one to notice the change in Kiara’s attitude towards Olivia, and he recognizes that the time is ripe for us to captialize on it. While Bertrand, or Bertrand-and-Maxwell, are the ones who tell us the importance of gaining support from the press and the royals, getting the court to support us is wholly Maxwell’s idea. This added another layer to the way he was built in the story, and I’m not happy that we didn’t see a lot of that perceptiveness and skill around court later on. By Books 2 and 3, he was mostly relegated to the funny guy, the court jester. Book 1 Maxwell may make a lot of mistakes but you bet he’d be too smart to toss brushettas in the face of dignitaries at the UN. It was like his own writers forgot Maxwell was capable of more.
• OKAY SO THE KIARA SECTION IS A FAVOURITE OF MINE OKAY. And it only wound up being a favourite when I realized there were changes in her dialogue between my Esther playthrough and my Persephone one. I mean if I weren’t already a fan of her…this definitely would have converted me.
Before I get into the actual gushing…I’ll just summarize what the MC has to do to gain her approval:
- Language: Kiara is known for her proficiency with languages - it is the skill that defines her in court (to the point that you barely notice her other qualities). Her home language is French, and if you know how to respond to comment ça va she is cheerful and more willing to hear you out (if you choose the fromage answer she’ll a bit surprised but not too hostile, and if you say voulez-vous coucher avec moi, well…of course she’ll be pissed off because you just accidentally asked her to sleep with you). In any case, to gain her approval you need to respond in French.
In fact even Kiara’s goodbyes vary based on whether she becomes your ally or not. If she’s your ally, she says à bientôt before leaving (which is “see you soon”). If she’s not convinced by your arguments, she says adieu, which has more of a sense of finality to it and is often said when you don’t expect to meet again (in fact I’m surprised they had her say it) and is different from au revior (which means “until we see each other again”).
- Olivia’s Actions: Kiara reiterates to you what she’d just told the others - Olivia is on a power trip, and while Kiki is well aware that she’s not a top contender in this competition, she is not going to stand for being treated like she is lesser than the ones who do have power. Interestingly, in both Chapter 7 of Book 2 and this chapter, Kiara’s first visible signs of discontent/frustration come when both Olivia/Madeleine go on massive power trips (“she even named a drink after herself. Quelle narcissique”, Kiara says about Madeleine in the next book).
I feel like Kiara’s frustration may have already been there with Olivia’s treatment of the ladies of the court at the start of the Ball (but perhaps she may have been brushed it aside as a strategy you could expect from a noblewoman in her own estate) but it is Olivia kissing Liam and trying to establish a claim on him that is seen as the tipping point for her.
However, she’s also pretty pragmatic and is lowkey impressed with Olivia if you state that she went too far. She is irritated by the message Olivia is sending, but acknowledges that not many would have dared to do that in her place. A more neutral response works well with Kiara’s train of thought, because to her the important thing is seeing what works in the long run, and the MC has to convince her that she is a good alternative.
- Alliance: Kiara already anticipates this, since she is the one who straight-out asks this question. At this point Kiara is not exactly aiming to be Queen - she knows she is up against more powerful people, people who have more access to the royal family (perhaps her dad Hakim would have had a similar amount of access if Constantine wasn’t such a dick). She is not going to waste her time wishing for what she won’t get, when she can easily network instead. The answer that works best with her is the one where the MC speaks of Olivia’s friendship as being a one-way street where she always gets her way, which is ironic considering how the MC behaves in a likely worse manner towards Kiara in Book 3.
• One of my favourite Kiara lines is from the wrong option (“I’m nicer than Olivia”) for the Alliance segment: “Nice? Nothing about being here is nice. If I wanted nice I’d buy a teacup pig. 😡”
• Back in Books 6’s QT, I mentioned Queen Regina and Duke Bertrand as being the two people in the first book who watch out and keep track on our progress. Bertrand does it because he is our sponsor, Regina does it because after all we are one of the candidates for her stepson’s hand in marriage, and we’re the one he eventually shows the most interest in. But there is one other person who seems to be taking notice of our good performance as well:
On my fail run, where Persy doesn’t gain approval either from the press, or from the royals, those last two lines simply do not appear. She asks us about whether we’re looking for an alliance, and we immediately answer her. She will still join hands with you if you convince her (I did a test run where Persy said all the right things) but those words will not feature anywhere. Because the dialogue is coded such that it will only appear if you’ve done well in your previous two tasks.
That is fascinating to me, because Kiara is the only lady of the court who is written as noticing these things at such an early stage in the competition (the Lythikos Ball is only the third event in the social season, and the maximum approvals come from the Derby, which was the event just preceding it). She is the only person, besides Bertrand and Regina, who keeps track of our progress (even if that is only uptil this point, because if you win her support here, it stays that way until the Coronation). Even Madeleine, who has been part of a social season before and is viewed as having a lot of experience in the court, compared to the other ladies, spends most of her time simply underestimating the MC. It isn’t until Applewood and Ramsford that Madeleine even begins to think there might be more to this person.
Kiara, on the other hand, is observant. She is competitive but she knows when other people have the upper hand, and she will honestly acknowledge that you have an edge if you have proven yourself to the press and the Queen. For someone who would be seen as just a lady of the court….that level of foresight, observation skills and pragmatism is pretty phenomenal to me.
• I’ve said this many times and I will say it again: Kiara has always been upfront about what she’s bringing to the table in an alliance. She isn’t your friend and she won’t pretend to be your friend either. She mentions she will put in a good word and support you in becoming Queen, and she keeps her promise.
She keeps her distance from you otherwise, so you can’t dub her a ‘friend’ even then, but she will do her work as an ally. She doesn’t get involved in smearing your name while supporting you to your face. At the end of the day, she is a woman in the court trying to thrive and carve a space of her own, but she won’t dirty her hands to do that - and I don’t think she gets enough recognition for that.
• Alright I’ll stop gushing about Kiki otherwise this QT will never end 😂
• We now meet Liam, who tells us about the hot tub in his room, and invites us there. The intent is clearly romantic (the MC specifies as such, smiling, and Liam winks at you before he leaves).
• This chapter also marks the second time you see Penelope with Liam, after which you will only see her directly interact with him at his Coronation. Funny how Kiara doesn’t get even one opportunity in the narrative to talk to him.
• It’s the end of our big night in Lythikos, and we’ve got three invitations to spend time with an LI! Liam’s setting up candles near the hot tub, Hana is playing exquisite melodies on the piano, and Drake is drinking whiskey in Olivia’s wine cellar. Maxwell is…doing Maxwell things that we are not privy to yet. Or taking a nap.
• I won’t be going too much into detail esp for Liam and Hana’s scenes - because I have essays written on both! Both will be under the “Liam: Diamond Scenes” and “Hana: Diamond Scenes” sections of my essay masterlist if anyone is interested 😃 They will be titled “Hot Tub at Lythikos” and “Piano at the Parlour”, respectively. (another recommended read is “Exploring Hana in Her Context” where I talk about this scene, and her characterization. It’s a little further down on the masterlist).
•
(Screenshots for Drake from the HIMEME YouTube channel)
Liam: This is undoubtedly meant to be a romantic scene, and is hinted as much in the lead-up to it while still giving the MC the space to not go (since she says “I won’t make any promises”). He puts candles around the tub, and the tub itself is situated in an area where you can get a wonderful view of the mountains.
This scene is divided into two parts: the first where Liam gets to sincerely tell the MC he trusts her (optionally) and where they lightly flirt, and the second where he admits to feeling conflicted between giving in to his feelings and being fair to the other women. At this point he knows his feelings for the MC are stronger, implicitly trusts her (“I thoroughly believe that if you thought I was a pompous ass, you wouldn’t hesitate to tell me. I trust you, MC. Anything you say”), doesn’t want to call it love just yet but is well on his way to doing so. He tells us about his brother Leo, hinting at the events of the RoE series and explaining that seeing how love affected him made Liam think more about it. It’s not one of Liam’s absolute best scenes…but it is a sweet one where Liam tentatively explores his growing love for her - in some ways leading to his “almost-declaration” of love at the Forgotten Falls. In each scene of Liam’s, he takes a step further, and another, and another, to admitting his love for her and growing less guilty about his desire to be with her. He is still torn between his duty and his desire at this point, but you can already see him slowly inching towards the prospect of keeping what he wants first, for once.
Hana: This, in my mind, is Hana’s most powerful scene. As many adjectives as I can use to describe her in this scene would be inadequate, because it’s that good, that layered, that rich with nuance and detail. But I do think I can sum a bit of it up with a quote from a Book 3 Liam scene that instantly took me back to this one:
“Hana’s a tough one. She’s clearly had the kind of lessons I’m giving you now, and then some. Her posture is almost always polite and attentive…but when she feels strongly about something, you can sense her real feelings even before she speaks up. Her eyes grow darker and more serious.”
Compare the scenes from last chapter where she speaks about ice-skating, or even waltzing, to this one. In both those scenes, her expression is mostly neutral (or joyful when she is imparting her knowledge), speaking of it in a way that makes you understand that her heart isn’t truly in doing those things. But in this one, she is lost in her music when she plays it, she is feeling its melody in her bones, she speaks of guarding her most precious skill fiercely against her parents’ control because it’s the one thing she wants for herself. She is fierce and passionate and absolutely beautiful in the way she expresses her love for music.
In an essay I did on exploring Hana’s character in her larger context, I spoke at length about how this scene is important because it highlights that her struggle for her own autonomy began at a very young age - she recognized her art as sacred to her and had the foresight to understand that parading it around the way her parents wanted her to, would make her love it less. This scene is amazing because Young Hana is described as pushing back in the only way she knew how, so she could keep what was hers, on her terms.
The other thing this scene explores is her childhood loneliness and lack of friends, and how music helped her in those difficult times too. At this point we now know how deep that loneliness was, and how damaging to her, but back then this scene gave a wonderful insight to Childhood Hana.
So for her to trust us with her art - with the art she fought to keep her own…that’s a tremendous leap in that relationship - whether the MC is a friend or a potential lover. Romantically, she is at the point where she is slowly…slowly getting comfortable with the MC’s touch, allowing it to linger before she pulls away from her. She’s a bit like a butterfly who doesn’t know yet if she’s ready to leave her cocoon.
Drake: The picture presented to us of Drake here is the diamond-in-the-rough, the underdog, the one who views court and palace differently from everyone around him. He is there to remind us that this is not the charmed place we think it is, that even friends can stick knives in our backs. He speaks of the forced politeness of the nobility, the fact that he’s here only to protect Liam, that the MC is an innocent woman who doesn’t know what she is getting into and needs protection as well.
This scene comes with what was regarded as an important plot point at the time: who almost sold pictures of Liam’s bachelor party to the press? Drake and Bastien managed to get hold of them and prevent them from being published, knowing that having those printed before the social season would cast Liam in a more negative light, and make things harder for him. At this point, Drake is sure that someone he knows and possibly considers a friend is involved (close enough, but not quite there yet), but can’t yet figure out who (because, yknow, Olivia was the brains between the two, she cracked that mystery in under five minutes or something).
If you don’t buy this scene, you only get to know about the pictures in Book 2 Chapter 4. A lot of Drake’s scenes involve important plot points - some of which we won’t even hear the same way - or at all - if we don’t buy the scene (eg. the flashback scenes about Hana’s return and the Italian restaurant scene about Liam’s assassination). I recall buying quite a few of his scenes in the latter half of Book 1 and most of Book 2 just to find out stuff about other LIs.
The scene is pretty sweet - it highlights his now-famous whiskey obsession, has Drake openly show his protectiveness towards her minus the jaded sarcastic veneer, and has him warn her about the nature of this court. It has a line that I quite liked when I first saw the scene, but that fandom has pretty much ruined for me - “the moments in between”. Where he speaks of how the nobility are so busy schmoozing and being superficial that they miss the really important parts. It’s a beautiful thought, but the fact is I’m still paying like 17 diamonds to get it, which makes it a…pretty expensive moment.
But overall…it’s a nice scene. The look and feel of it is different from the other two, and so is the purpose.
• The focus of all these three scenes is clearly trust.
Liam completely trusts her opinion of him and confesses openly his desire to let go of all that is holding him back, even though he is still confused and conflicted about his own feelings.
Hana trusts her so much, that she will share piano pieces that she lovingly composed to the MC, even though she never performs for people. It is a measure of how much Hana values the MC that she will share such a secret part of herself with her.
Drake, who once came this close to calling the MC a crown chaser, now views the same woman as an innocent who doesn’t know what she is getting into. He will later tell her that that aspect of her journey reminds him of Savannah. He trusts the MC enough to give her important information about something he still views as a possible plot targeted at Liam, and tells her their moments mean something to him.
Chapter 8 of the second book took this theme forward for the initial three LIs, by showing us trust in other forms. Liam’s firm belief in his father’s dedication to his nation (which will crumble soon). Drake’s being convinced by the MC to stay on and hear out his sister, to give her a chance to explain what really happened to her, and his emotional reunion with her. Hana’s scene…was more about gaining someone’s trust - particularly Penelope’s. (it is also one of the worst scenes the series has ever given an LI, whoever wrote that one can fall on a cactus).
We are approaching a midpoint in the story, so at this point the narrative is progressing each of these relationships towards the point where they trust this woman, view her as a valuable person in their lives, and inch ever-so-slightly towards that eventual realization that they are in love with her.
•
Another point in the Tariq shoe tally!! I wonder if this ‘ghost’ deals with 'future misdeeds’ as well…
• We spend a few more days in Lythikos before we move back to the Capitol for the Royal Regatta, and both Esther and Persy are like “YOU HAD A FEW DAYS TO ASK IF I KNEW WHAT A FUCKING REGATTA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MAXWELL”.
• So…a lot happens this chapter. The MC begins to rope in (or not) her first allies in the court, she has a strong foothold by now and is beginning to get noticed as more than just a random contender who wouldn’t last, she gains the trust of the people she is growing close to.
But most of all…Lythikos is where Olivia begins to lose the hold she once had on the court, and this is never more apparent than if you are losing supporters rather than gaining them (if you are more popular, it won’t be that apparent, since you will move far ahead of the competition). There will be times when the press may not pay attention to her, there will be ladies who club the MC and Olivia both together as “not a proper fit for becoming a queen”. She is still very much a frontrunner, she may win the Regatta if you fail all the steps to the boat race, but after this it will be harder for her to gain support whether or not the MC succeeds.
Shortly after this point, Olivia also doesn’t antagonize the MC as blatantly as she did in Lythikos, save for a snide remark to the MC (with a life jacket of all things) if you choose to go to her yacht in the next chapter. She will eventually begin to thaw towards you in Applewood.
• Constantine and Regina are conspicuous by their absence this chapter, and Constantine announces that he is stepping down the next. Which probably means he found out sometime between the Masque and this event that he was ill (since we don’t see him at the Derby). I’m headcanoning that they visited Leo around this time (optionally with the RoE MC, since the housewarming party in Newlyweds seems to happen sometime around the social season (it could be earlier or later too…but humour me 😂)
• So…Regatta in Chapter 9! Lots of sun, fun and (Persephone-willing) PLENTY of mess.
• Before I sign of, here is Persy’s Share of Mess this chapter (except for the bloodcurdling scream she gives when Olivia kisses Liam, I forgot to screenshot that 🙈 How on earth did Maxwell’s poor ears survive??):
• Until next week, folks!
–
• Tally Counts:
Number of Times Drake has Called Esther/Persy by Their First Names: 5
Number of Times Tariq Has Mentioned His Shoes: 3
Number of Times Drake Has Taken An Alcoholic Drink that’s Not Whiskey: 1
Number of Times Someone Has Called A Reigning Monarch 'Your Highness’: 2
Number of Times You Can Leave Hana Shook. SHOOK I TELLS YA: 4
• I'm back! I missed doing these. It's fun taking a look at the beginning of this series knowing what lies ahead, especially when you can recall exactly what it felt like when you first read it.
• In the time it took for me to get back to doing this series, I decided to do a fail-play to answer a few questions I had about the series. I was dying guys I was dying. The secondhand embarrassment level was off the roof. Oh God. I hope I NEVER EVER have to do that again 😭
•
So you guys have already met my MC, Esther (If you haven't, she's the one on the left! She has a new hairstyle now though, she has the long hair with the braids on top. The big cream flower was clashing with everything). On the right is my Disaster!MC, Persephone. She romances Hana and when I say her crush is painfully obvious, I mean painfully.
• The last chapter I did a Book 1 QT for was Chapter 4, where a Liam stan could FINALLY dance with their Prince (and maybe sneak a kiss in the hedge maze if you spent the diamonds), and then meet Bertrand just minutes before he loses his shit completely and almost drags the name of his own House in the mud (why you so stupid, Bertrand)
• We're attending a horse race, so obvious title will be obvious. It's Off To the Races.
• A Day At The Races would have been better, because Queen xD
• So apparently it's now the day of the Derby, and we either go for the press-friendly runway-worthy gown, the modern one that'll catch the eye of Queen Regina, or...uniboob (yes, uniboob. I have painfully huge ones and I get even more conscious of them in outfits like that one 😣).
It's kinda interesting that Drake-dislike is the default for the MC at this point. But I also think it's also a good strategy to ease the reader (and their MC) into this association with him. You have this best friend who has a painful insider/outsider relationship to Court, has a massive chip over his shoulder, is trying really hard not to soften to this strange woman his best friend likes, has this painful past he's reluctant to share with anyone.
• While Hana's and Liam's first diamond scenes emerge very early and from a place of concern (because they have already established themselves in the narrative as likeable to this MC) Drake is the kind of person that takes some getting used to. If you tried to sell me a sob story about his sister shortly after he made sexist, classist comments about me on a plane, my first instinct would be to flip the bird at him and save my diamonds.
So instead he's given a bodyguard-type role with you, then you can choose to tease him mercilessly during that cronut excursion, then he thaws a little more towards you at Lythikos...leaving that field open to him finally opening up to you (via diamonds) when his Savannah-related wounds are reopened. The reader gets a chance to feel differently about him, ergo invested enough in him to pay diamonds for that scene.
• Esther will drag Bertrand mercilessly behind his back since Bertrand has no qualms doing the same. Sauce for goose, sauce for gander. So yes she responds to "how will you address Bertrand?" with "Hey you".
•
Unless he's around Savannah, then he has one at the moments he least intends to.
• NOW Maxwell tells us what the house and duchy name is. Now! You had enough time to tell me this last night dude!
• Bertrand comes to us to figure out our progress in terms of learning etiquette, and Maxwell and the MC prove to him that they've covered the basics. Which Bertrand brushes off as protocol that can be brushed off as stuff you can get on an internet search.
Me Back Then: Oh sorry I can't process information in the speed of light, bro 😒
Me Now: You know, Bertrand, if you'd just spent less time poring over Maxwell's scrapbook for the raciest photos...and actually spent more time sitting down and teaching me protocol, you wouldn't be grinding your teeth at me today.
•
So Persephone fell for Olivia's little lie and kissed King Constantine's shoe. Looks like the court had a field day with that because it gets mentioned to her twice. Once from Maxwell before she goes to see Liam, and once now, from Bertrand, who has just heard about her disaster of a performance and now cannot trust Maxwell with coaching her.
• Bertrand decides to test exactly how prepared we are with a small test. After a round of greeting, he takes our hand with his right hand, and gives it a courtly kiss (in this universe, the proper way is to take the lady's offered hand with your left hand, otherwise it is viewed as an insult). We're supposed to figure out what he did wrong. If we do give him the right answer, he is happy about our observational skills but demands that the MC not become too complacent since she's "ever only one mistake away from a scandal".
What does interest me are the exchanges that come out of the wrong responses:
"Didn't Bow" brings into play the hierarchy that the nobility maintains. Bowing here is viewed as a sign of respect to someone of a higher rank, and though the MC is now a lady by virtue of her sponsors, she is still regarded as a commoner. There is the joke response, "Didn't Address Me As Your Highness", which Bertrand hardly graces with a response besides highlighting the MC's 'arrogance'. The common thread is this exchange, though:
I think this gives us a tiny insight into how much ground the MC has to cover in understanding the society she is trying to become a part of. The last two chapters we had Liam and the other competitors, to help us understand exactly what we were up against - this time we're grappling with the reality of all the people we will need to please (in one day, we have to pretty much win the favour of both the Queen and the press). The MC has to not only familiarize herself with how she should behave but also be aware of the signals other people send. And she isn't exactly going to get a lot of help at this stage, not when the men sponsoring her have their own problems and are viewing her experience from the eyes of people who have grown up in Cordonia.
•
LMAO @ the MC's shit-eating grin the minute they say "limo" 😂
• So we're on our way to Honeyhill Downs on a limo, and since we need to deal with the press the moment I get out, the Beaumonts now try to convince us to impress the press.
• Book 1 is about this commoner woman schmoozing among the elite and trying to fit in, so really the only people who are seen (unless they're Drake) are the nobles. This is understandable in the first two books, where MC is kind of the underdog - not so much in the later books. You never get to see actual commoners who live in houses and walk on the streets until Book 3, and even then it is a fleeting glimpse. Anyway, the narrative attempts to bridge this gap by making the press the representative of the people.
• Bertrand and Maxwell now give us advice on tackling the press: we'll be asked easy questions (basically to figure out who we are and create a story around us accordingly), and then hardball questions about the country, how you'll be as a potential royal, and most importantly - Cordonian apples. The MC is confused at first but agrees to roll with it.
• The moment the MC mentions that the Derby area looks like a fair, Bertrand says "this isn't a county fair where you weigh pigs and eat pie". Between this and the Downton Abbey reference the next chapter, I'm pretty sure Bertrand was created initially to lend the image of Cordonia a bit of an "old world" appeal - given that he and Maxwell are the nobles we most regularly interact with in the first two books.
• Now comes the part I'm most excited about! Our actual first press interview. It's separated into two categories: easy questions (Donnie Brine) and hardball ones (Ana de Luca)
•
Donnie Brine: You know how in reality shows you hear about the importance of spinning a 'story'? How to get the audience's sympathy, sometimes your 'story' can get you where your talent may not (in fact, a few weeks ago Fiona Syed was saying just that to the MC when they were auditioning for "One in A Million" in Platinum!). Well, that's why we have Donnie Brine of the CBC (Cordonia Broadcasting Center). He's here so we can choose and carve our own narrative. So depending on our answers, we will get a moniker that will be carried forward throughout this book, and briefly referenced in the next:
1. The Mystery Woman: The answers suited for this option are 'A mystery' (when asked who you are) and optionally 'Liam couldn't figure me out' (when asked why you're the Prince's favourite). She is literally someone who emerged out of nowhere, and apparently sets herself apart from the other suitors by not being too open about her background.
2. The American: She can call herself the "lone American wolf", and optionally also mention that Liam and she shared a love for the Statue of Liberty. This spin on the MC's story highlights her "difference" in terms of foreignness and unfamiliarity with the country, which can be a challenge but also could wound up making her eventual triumph that much sweeter. In a very good playthrough especially, she will be the foreigner that embraced the customs and traditions, and fit in perfectly despite the odds.
3. The Everywoman: Now for a very long time I thought the responses in this one would yield a negative reaction from Donnie, but turns out thankfully it doesn't!! You need to choose both "just a regular woman, like many out there" and "I was his waitress". I also noticed an interesting difference about this that I will expand on later. But the point is that The Everywoman is as good a choice as any tbh, refers to her commoner origins and positions her as someone who can connect with the people.
Ana de Luca: Throughout the series, and for a half of Book 2, she's the tougher interviewer. She works with Trend, a fashion and celeb news magazine - and because of her already-established fashion credentials (introduced in MW as fashion designer) - becomes the mediaperson that compliments you on wearing the dress Olivia recommended.
Besides this, a lot of the political, country-related questions esp in Book 1, tend to come from her. She asks you your thoughts on Cordonia as a newcomer, how you would fare as a ruler and the inevitable question on apples. This is the interview that could affect your early popularity if you fail it, because any response you choose for Donnie Brine's (including showing the silly face for his photo), will work out alright. If you fail this one, the press largely ignore you to focus on the next candidate before you can even say "goodbye".
Me Back Then (hovering over options for the press photo): OMG OMG OMG don't press silly face don't press silly face don't -
Me Now (shamelessly clicking over aforementioned silly face): So Donnie doesn't mind my silly face at the Derby but will suddenly be ZOMG SCANDALIZED by it at the Regatta? HMM 🤔
• We now move towards the tents, except that Maxwell told us the wrong colour. Was he so distracted by the pinkness of the (optional) diamond outfits that he blurted out that colour instead?
• We end up in a stable with a horse that's as scared of us as we are of her.
• Drake jumps into temporary-bodyguard duty and saves...the horse.
• There are two ways you can respond to this: either focus on the fact that Drake saved you from the horse, or on the fact that he might have been following you. Interestingly he comes out with the truth of the matter faster if you're more suspicious of him - probably because that's a response he's expecting. On the other hand with the nicer response, he falls back on snark - thus annoying even the MC that wants to be nice to him. Either way, Drake eventually spills out the truth: he's here because Liam asked him to look out for the MC. And it won't be the last time Liam thinks ahead and takes measures to either protect or guide her.
• The option to either join Drake to Liam's private tent, or go ahead to where the other ladies are, comes with a price. Spend the diamonds and you'll see Hypervigilant Liam, pushups and at least a few minutes less to worry about a couple suitors roasting you for not fitting in the NANOSECOND you arrive. It also features this bombshell of a line from the MC:
Fun Fact: When this chapter first came out, I was at a point where I'd regularly panic about getting options wrong, and going through an entire chapter before a replay. To make sure that didn't happen too often, I'd watch a non-diamond playthrough on YouTube, and figure out the correct answers that way. It was fun.
So imagine the amount of cringing I did at Olivia and Kiara making smartass comments about the MC, which led me to believe that maybe the other option would save me from that kind of roasting.
Ladies, gents, non-binary people - THAT is how I ended up buying my first scene this book. To escape from the ladies of the court 🙈 (which didn't happen but at least I got a nice Liam scene out of it. Teehee. Teehee)
• The Private Tent diamond scene has the following:
- proof that Liam can and will pounce on someone for fear of attack. this is part-defense-training and part (IMO) trauma response because he's been the target of a number of assassinations
- you get to confront Liam about having Drake look out for you, and if you don't like the gesture, Liam is contrite BUT tells you the Derby atmosphere can be chaotic and scary for a newcomer, and since he couldn't directly watch over her he needed to ensure she'd be okay somehow. This is something he keeps doing for the MC in small, easy-to-miss ways throughout the social season, actually.
- this conversation about horses, which took a symbolic turn I wasn't exactly expecting if you choose "trapped". But it killed me. Killed me guys 😭
That last line. "Nothing like a little gilding to make a cage bearable", Liam says and you can TELL that's most of his life captured in a single sentence.
- shirtless Liam
- Drake-Liam banter, and I mean genuine good-natured Drake-Liam banter that isn't Drake "calling out" Liam on being privileged while never admitting his own privileges (though Drake does say that his presence in Liam's life is to keep him humble, which...eh).
- one more blue star point from Drake if you're nice to him, and overall the MC and Drake leave on better terms (although, the second thing already happens even if you walk straight to the suitors' tent).
- a kiss if you're romantically involved.
• Me Back Then: So if I take the diamond scene, the mean ladies won't @ me for tardiness, right? Right?? 👀 👀
Me Now: WRONG. But at least you got to sit on Liam while he was doing push-ups.
Me Back Then: Well. When you put it that way...
• Whether or not you choose this diamond option, you'll be called out on being late anyway. It's mostly Olivia and Kiara: Olivia stresses on how "fashionably late you are", and Kiara comments on how it's only Day 2 and you can't keep up (...she'll eat those words in Lythikos, I think), with Hana being the only support and defending the MC, pointing out (like Liam) how chaotic things get after the press interviews are done. The only difference is that in the diamond option, these dialogues occur after the race is over, and in the free option it's before. Esther gets roasted by them after the race is over, poor Persy gets it before the race has even begun 😭
• What interested me about this scene were the brief parallels between the race portions of the Liam/Drake scene, and the free scene. Two of my current favourite characters in this book take their place in the free version 😁
In each version of the scene, a character viewed as more 'friendly' (to the MC) pins their hopes on Twilight Dash. A more distant character will however guess correctly that Marabelle's Dream has the edge. Kiara doesn't exactly give us a reason why, but Drake tells Liam he's been looking at the stats and seems regardless to have pretty extensive knowledge about horses.
The funny thing obviously is that the fun element in Liam's scene (the bet), is hinted at in Hana's scene when she tells the MC that she was fortunate they couldn't bet anything.
Me Back Then: Liam didn't exactly lose anything!
Me Now: He lost...his shirt 👀👀
Esther: 👀 👀 👀 👀
Persephone: (Blissfully unaware that any of this ever happened, too busy making heart eyes at Hana. I would too, Persy, I would too)
• The ladies - mainly Olivia and Penelope - are disappointed about not seeing Liam (hah! says Esther) but hope to meet him at the tea party where his step mother Queen Regina is also in attendance. Our last scene is with Hana, building up to the first scene next chapter where she tells us about the tea party!
• I made some pretty interesting observations about how Donnie's end of the interview was coded, based on what I played in the game + what I observed from the other YouTube playthroughs. Here it is:
- as you already know, there are three monikers, all of which apply to this MC - the Mystery Woman, the American and the Everywoman.
- Each moniker emphasizes on her differences. She is different from the rest of the court in her penchant for mystery, she is a foreigner in a country where foreigners may not always be viewed in the best light if they don't fit in, and she is a commoner by birth to the Cordonian nobility here. All of which serve to either make her eventual success in assimilating even more impressive than usual, or in emphasizing why she would be wrong for the position if she doesn't do well.
- In the case of "Mystery Woman" and "The American", if you choose the first option, THAT is what will be coded as your moniker regardless of what your second option is. So if I chose "American Lone Wolf" in my first option, but mentioned "Liam couldn't figure me out" (mystery option) in my second one, I would still be called The American.
- The twist is that this is completely different if when you go for a first "Everywoman" option. If I choose "just a regular woman out there" for my first option, but the "fascination for Statue of Liberty" (American option) for the second...it will default to The American anyway.
- Only if you choose the option to tell Donnie that the MC was a waitress, does she get the "Everywoman" moniker. It's like the writers would really, really much rather you picked one of the other two!
• I enjoyed the diamond scene, I think. It was fun, cute and fluffy the first time I played, your MC and Drake got the chance to slightly thaw towards each other, and when you came back to the "Liam's reaction to you scaring him" scene later on, there was so much you could gain out of it! (an essay of mine "Trauma and Triggers", explores that part of this scene in detail, if anyone would like to read it. I'll probably give the link in the comments).
• I find it interesting, in the overall scheme of things in the books, how Kiara's comments seem to revolve around settling in to the court. (In her first scene if you choose to ask the women why they're okay with Olivia speaking of them as 'harpies', Kiara's first response is that they all knew what they were getting into, and surprise that the MC didn't - and her second comment is about fitting in. Her third actual scene with us, she compliments us on the same if we do gain support by the time we reach Lythikos). When you do actually do well, she's more ready to support you. It makes me more interested in the dynamics of the scene we have with her at Lythikos.
• Me Back Then, however, hates her guts right now. Don't worry, Me Back Then, you'll get there, you'll get there 😂
• The thawing towards Drake sets the stage for the cronut scene next chapter, I think, which further sets the stage for the bonding with him in Lythikos.
• I find it interesting how the press is viewed as "a window to the people" in the initial books, but it's disheartening to think about now. Especially when we don't really get to see a lot of commoners outside of someone like Drake, at least not one with a full fledged role yet.
• I'm hoping I can make a regular thing out of this!! 😁 It's been fun to do.
--
Tally Counts:
Number of Times Drake has Called Esther/Persy by Their First Names: 2 (I forgot he called her that again at the Masquerade Ball)
Number of Times Tariq Has Mentioned His Shoes: 1
Number of Times Drake Has Taken A Drink that’s Not Whiskey: 1
Number of Times Someone Has Called A Reigning Monarch 'Your Highness’: 2
Number of Times You Can Leave Hana Shook. SHOOK I TELLS YA: 2
• So! Chapter 7. So little yet so much happens in this chapter.
• I usually don't place a General Thoughts section on my TRR QTs, but there's enough, I think, to warrant one on both this one and the next for now.
• It's very well-constructed, there are all sorts of interesting contrasts and dynamics to it. In hindsight seeing as Olivia and Drake are such popular characters now, it's nice to see the beginnings of those shifts here.
• Hana also has a very important role in this chapter, and there are shifts here too. Not a lot will be said about this here, because I've got a full essay on her Cordonian Waltz scene that deals with a lot of its major themes. This scene is not my favourite Hana scene though - that honour will always belong to the piano scene in Chapter 8 😍
• THIS CHAPTER, my friends, is also where Drake's use of our surname begins. So I'm guessing our little tally for his use of our first name may just stop at 4 (he does say your first name sometime in the meteor shower scene, so that should be 5).
• Title: Fire and Ice.
Kinda fitting, no? We're staying in Olivia's wintry home, but there are a whole bunch of tensions bubbling under the surface.
I mean, look at the lines of the Robert Frost poem they borrowed this title from:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
I mean you have Olivia, who loves the cold and admires the frozen splendor of the Alps, and whose mockery of Savannah included claiming she was "the sensitive sort" who wouldn't "last long here". And who hates the MC enough at this point that the moment she gets the tiniest amount of power, she will leave no stone unturned to let the her know she is not welcome.
And then you have Drake, who has begun to thaw towards the MC, and Hana, who is now opening up to her. Both experience the first stirrings of desire for her in these chapters. You get romance points for just being nice to Drake in both this chapter and the next one, and Hana is flustered by the attention you could optionally give her during the waltz.
• The narrative describes Lythikos as being situated at the Alps, and Maxwell tells us that Olivia is primarily at "Lythikos Hall, which is further south" but she will be hosting the court at her chateau instead. Hana tells us that since Lythikos is her domain, Olivia would have the upper hand, but we will really only understand the importance of that advantage at the ball in the next chapter.
• Bertrand is missing, and on one of his many trips to figure out estate stuff. Drake complains about the others discussing Bertrand, and Hana (like a normal person) complains about the cold. Which leads us to our OOTD!
• Our rooms are pretty much a modified, simpler version of the Lykos Castle bedroom, where Val once reluctantly pretended to be Zenobia's handmaiden, and where Annelyse and Kenna could sneak in for a rendezvous at the end of Book 2. I like it. It's purple 😁
Me Back Then: That outfit is terrible! It's the ugliest fucking thing I've ever seen and I've seen Bluebelle. The other option must be a basic sweater or something right? Right??
Me Back Then (after seeing the second option):
Me Now: If our MC needs more motivation to freeze to death in Lythikos, the ugly coat opens up to a free Drake scene.
Me Back Then: Okay. Okay. I guess I feel better about turning into an icicle now.
• This, and the Beach Bae outfit, are the only ones in this book that unlock extra scenes with the outfit purchase alone in Book 1. Buying Marabelle's Dream in Chapter 13 also works on a similar principle, but as far as outfits go these two are the only ones this book.
• If there are two basic things canon will give us about our MC this chapter, it's that she's learned ice-skating before (how good she is at it depends on you), and she's gone for soccer and basketball practice as a child.
• Maxwell plays matchmaker by distracting Olivia to buy us time with Liam. Kinda reminds me of that scene in the Fox Hunt chapter where he tries showing Constantine dance videos so we get extra time with Liam at the stables 😂
• These dialogues below get unlocked only if you show interest in hearing more about Olivia from him:
Liam and Olivia were such cute fucking friends and I find it sad that we rarely get to see much of that. Liam is protective of her, trusts her to the point of believing she is innocent when (optionally) no one else might in Book 3, concerned when she looks distressed and respects her.
• One thing that changed along the way in Olivia's story was who Lucretia was in relation to her. In this scene Liam calls Lucretia her great-aunt (although she isn't mentioned by name here), in Book 3 she is confirmed to be her mother's sister.
• I think the most heartbreaking bit is where Liam speaks about walking into the sight of Olivia crying into her mother's gown, and holding her until she cries herself to sleep. To think...that's the child Constantine was so desperate to leave broken and powerless.
• This tender backstory informs your choice to be good to her. You get to compliment her duchy, which, again, takes her by surprise.
• Hana comes up next, skating circles around every person in that court. Kiara, Penelope and Tariq are shown as struggling with skating - first as a set up to speaking about Hana's talent in this area, and second to show us just how much her parents had prepared her for a life in the nobility. Not only is she made to learn the life and rules and negotiations that govern noble/royal life - they've also pushed her into learning (and being good at) skills that would either help her in domestic/court life, or would make her desirable to her suitors. The courtly ladies who have grown up here know what's needed and know their strengths (at least some of them). A foreigner like Hana probably has to jump through more hoops to be seen, so her parents sent her to learn everything possible thing they could think of.
• Tariq is shown complaining about how his fancy skates are too expensive for skating...so yeah, another point on the "Tariq's Shoe Obsession" tally.
• Here is Hana speaking about ice skating with the same lack of interest Drake employs around fancy wine and good food.
That last line. It killed me. There's such a sense of resignation in the way she says it.
• This may seem like a slight build up to Hana's Cordonian Waltz scene (and that scene does reference this dialogue), but I honestly believe it's meant to be more of precursor to her Piano Parlour scene in Chapter 8.
That scene was all about something she loved and enjoyed, ruined by her parents' desire to reduce it to just another skill for them to parade around. There is a real fire and anger about the way she speaks of how she fiercely guarded it, and I believe this scene - where she talks of ice skating with such a lack of interest that even a stranger can see it - is the perfect contrast.
• We now meet Drake, who has suddenly and without cause begun to call us by our surnames. We will only get to find out why towards the end of Book 2.
• There's also a funny dialogue the MC makes about wanting to see Drake in a tutu, to which he replies that some images aren't worth the effort - back from the good ol' days of his macho posturing. It's even more funny given that the writers are trying really really hard now to retcon that completely, by having him claim in TRH he would dress up in a tutu if his wife claimed to have a thing for the sugar fairy 🤣
(Screenshots for the first option from the Parvez Kanok YouTube Channel)
More relationship points opportunities for Drake! You get to choose where your MC stands in her relationship with Drake now - does she like him? Is she friendly but cautious? Is she upfront that she can't stand him? The last option doesn't yield relationship points obviously, but he tells that MC that it's a good thing she refuses to trust him ("you shouldn't have faith in anyone out here, and certainly not me").
• We now have a skiing race down the slopes with Drake, where you can beat him at his own game and maybe show off to Liam and Olivia while they're on the slopes (Liam very adorably cries "Go MC!" in this option 😂). Orrr you can land on your butt while Drake laughs at you.
• Drake tries really hard to argue that he's won even in the option where you do everything right, which is another earlier indicator (besides the betting scene at the Derby) of his competitive spirit.
• Okay so this confuses me - Drake is the first one to tell you about the Cordonian Waltz being the main dance at the ball, has probably heard about it even with his lack of interest in all things courtly. But Maxwell is our sponsor, and in Bertrand's absence he should have at least been asking around if he had forgotten the message. I like Maxwell but the lack of forethought and concern for a foreigner that he's brought here is...not a great look on him on replays.
• We're now back at Olivia's lodge, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate (with marshmallows that Drake is pretending not to fanboy over)
• It feels so strange now to be in Lythijos and have something that's not Lythikos Nog.
• So here is where Olivia mentions Savannah, to get back at Drake for being Not Impressed™ (careful Drake the Leona side of your genetics is showing) with her "spectacular hosting". IDK Olivia if you're the only one patting yourself on the back for the hosting...then you're probably not that good at hosting.
• In any case, she pushes every possible button marked sensitive on Drake, and you can tell she knows how much Savannah's departure affected him ("wait, Drake, dear! Come back! I wasn't finished with you!") and is enjoying sinking that knife into him. From her we get to know that Savannah worked hard on fitting in, was a sensitive girl, and struggled to fit in. She also remarks on the suddenness of Savannah's departure.
• What baffles me though is that either Olivia was decent to Savannah's face during her time in court, or they simply retconned the fact that Olivia looked down on her. Because by Book 3, Olivia acts pretty normal around her and is even planning a gift for her in TRH in the middle of really important work. There is a possibility that she probably resorted to these tactics only during the social season but didn't have to do so once she'd withdrawn...but still. You'd think there would be some reference to her attitude in the first book. My guess is they backtracked with that part of the story because they were invested in making Olivia look better.
• The options to respond to Olivia include threatening to slap her, being dismissive about his pain, and simply asking about Savannah. The second one was way too insensitive for me and the third one seemed pretty invasive (why tf would I ask Olivia about Savannah when I could simply ask Drake), so I tried the first one...only to get a romance point. That's not going to be the last time I get a romance point just for being nice to Drake.
•
Me Back Then: Aww Maxwell. Such a good friend.
Me After Book 2: This is so sad Alexa play Liar by Queen
Me After TRH: When was the last time you met her Maxwell? Two months ago??
• Drake's Meteor Shower scene is actually pretty short, and there's not a lot going on in hindsight. But because it comes from a character who is already so closed off - the amount of information is just right. It's just enough to create a shift.
- You start off by surprising Drake with your arrival. Now for most of Book 1, Drake is pretty talented at shoving his foot in his mouth, which is exactly what he does in this sequence if you're concerned about him. He's also apparently not a very easy scare.
- As with the scene that built this one up, Drake proves to be far more comfortable when you show a lack of trust in him than when you show concern - for it is the second option that sparks a knee-jerk, defensive reaction that he needs to then apologize for (rather similar in fact to the scene at the stables, where he gets straight to the point if you're suspicious, and makes smart-alec comments if you're grateful). You get a couple chances here and there to figure out how your MC will respond to him.
- It...kinda makes sense, because mistrust and suspicion is something he seems to expect. Genuine kindness and concern isn't.
- The other interesting thing are the parallels the story creates between the MC and the perception of Savannah especially in this book. Right from the MC's first special moment with Drake watching the shooting stars, the way Savannah used to when they were kids. The image Drake conjures of the MC being an innocent gazelle walking into a trap. The fact that if you're romantically involved with him, you share your first kiss in the same office where Bertrand and Savannah...I'm not finishing that sentence. The comparisons he makes between Savannah on her last day in Cordonia, and the MC at the Coronation Ball - right before events that will change their futures.
-
(Screenshots taken from the Parvez Kanok YouTube Channel)
I still wonder if things changed along the way, because the tone of Drake's early scenes about Savannah sounded so...ominous, so scary. I think many of us (before they started dropping heavy hints about the Beaumont connection) suspected her departure was plot-related and she'd discovered something terrifying...except it all turned out to be one big misunderstanding between two people who would anyway be awful together.
- I think Drake makes a pretty huge leap in terms of trust here: at the end of the scene if you ask him whether he trusts you, he tells you that if he ever had to start trusting anyone, he would start with you.
- For the Drake stan there are a couple cute moments: him asking you if you trust him before shoving you to the ground so you can stargaze, the actual stargazing, and holding his hand on the way back to the Chateau.
• Poor Hana (if you've gone with him) is up all night waiting for the MC and Drake to return, worried sick about them being in the middle of a possible storm.
• Hana's Cordonian Waltz scene. Now that one I've played numerous times - maybe too often to count. I've written an essay about it too, so I won't be going into a lot of detail here. (for anyone interested in reading it, just search for #cordonian waltz on my blog. The essay on the Cordonian Waltz scene should be the first thing you see on that tag in my blog). I will talk about two things though - the personal impact of this scene, and Hana being valued for her skills more than for who she is.
- This scene is in a lot of ways the followup to our first scene with her, where we comfort her and give her advice on dealing with people like Olivia. If you bought that scene...she returns this favour as a gesture of gratitude (if not she does it is only because she's a marvellous human being and way too good for us). It also gives us more insight into why her engagement broke, why winning Prince Liam's hand matters so much even though she only sees him as a friend.
- Let's be honest - without Hana this story would look...quite different. She is our guide, our protector, someone who eases us into the routine of the court. She is also someone who is aware of Cordonia's ways and traditions, but in her own way is still a foreigner, still someone who might have to work far harder for the same amount of respect. She is someone with a foot each in both worlds.
- In a way, her knowledge is important to us, but her foreignness makes her relatable. It makes her acutely aware of our struggles in a way that a Liam or a Maxwell or even another lady of the court wouldn't, since they spent their lives in Cordonia and therefore may not fully understand the nuances of the MC's assimilation or exactly how much she may have to adjust to fit in.
- And I think this is exactly where the writers failed her. They made her the foreign woman with Cordonian heritage, who knew a lot about Cordonia...and then refused to explore the heritage and life she grew up with when the chance was clearly there. In Book 2, we wound up spending more time in Shanghai with the guys than we ever really did with her.
- Hana's skill based scenes often tend to go beyond the immediate task at hand and delve into the nuances - so that we can see the beauty of what she is teaching. Take this scene for example. Can we perform the Cordonian Waltz without a hitch if we don't buy this scene? Sure we can! But the beauty of this waltz, its value as a courtship dance, is only barely apparant if you don't buy it.
- Hana's general attitude to teaching a bad dancer an intricate waltz is "bitch if I can teach my dad's favourite hunting dog to learn a box step on his hind legs then I can do anything. Don't try me." But said, like, super super politely.
- The Cordonian Waltz seems to have the elements of a traditional waltz, I think, with the 'Cordonian' element being the courtship aspect of it. From what I can make of Book 1's exploration of social mores, the expectation seems to be to pursue whatever relationships you want to, but to keep those displays of affection largely private. A courtship dance giving the noble/royal a small leeway to flirt kind of works with that general logic.
-
A little story here: this sequence was in some ways the reason I started taking interest in Hana at first. Part of that was because I related so heavily to a lot of what she was saying in this sequence.
I've lived with controlling parents. I've had family who insisted their way of thinking was the best, and who wouldn't even realize at times that they were not giving me a chance to voice my opinion. There's a lot of messages within that kind of upbringing that you absorb when you're young - the biggest of them being that they're all you have, and even genuine frustration at their worst behaviour can be wrong and will result in them reminding you of every single thing you've done for them.
It's not all doom and gloom...it's not either all subservience or all I-hate-my-parents either. It's often a very complicated, messy mix of things. There's good stuff and happy memories, but there are also things that seem normal and then niggle at you, before they explode and you see them for the big problems that they are. You value and respect those parents, but at the same time you can't always place what is it about their behaviour that makes you feel strange and stifled. You want to rebel sometimes, but some of that rebellion comes with a creeping sense of guilt, like you're doing something wrong. You know sometimes that staying away is healthier for you and them than staying with...but you can't bear to break off that relationship yet. And in a lot of ways Hana encapsulates - within the miniscule space the writers chose to give her - a lot of the mess that comes with complicated, controlling relationships like that.
I've seen people call Hana weak and passive, see her only for her tragedies, stay blind to the individuality that she does possess, stay blind to all the small ways she does push back. I've seen people who will without a moment's hesitation put her down to praise an Olivia - never mind that even an Olivia had some support somewhere, never mind that her homeplace Lythikos has vastly different rules and norms that she upholds, that she has grown up learning and still follows. Context matters.
- The other thing that is so striking is how she compares what she has grown up with to what Peter had grown up with:
When you're brought up believing that you don't exactly have a say in who you marry, even romance of the kind Peter seemed to be envisioning seems like a privilege to you. Even on the basic level of 'I have a say in the kind of person I want to spend the rest of my life with'. Sometimes you just know when what you want doesn't exactly count (I mean...we are talking about the woman who had 200 PinStop boards on her future wedding yet believed she didn't have a say in how it would look).
This is further complicated by the fact that the narrative alludes to her upbringing by placing an emphasis on heteronormativity - her parents constantly push her towards men, a lot of the skills they have her pick up (including fringe ones like fainting to show how fragile she is???) are openly mentioned as being there to appeal to men, Xinghai is shocked when Hana tells him that she cares for the MC romantically. It's not said in so many words, but the overall impression you get is that she's never really had the opportunity to discover what she wants, probably never had the space to even think about it. I kinda really feel that on some level.
I grew up in an environment where a lot of things were taboo - including discussions on sexuality or even sex itself. Our parents were tight lipped, other adults skirted around it, and in our churches and schools kids had the most skewed ideas of a gay/lesbian/bi/trans/nonbinary people. I spent almost a decade in the closet, half of which involved me being in very very deep denial.
It's only in retrospect that I recognize that a number of relationships that I saw as 'very close friendships" were actually crushes - it didn't even occur to me to call it anything else. It took me until after I got married to fully come out and understand who I was.
(Screenshots from Abhirio's YouTube channel)
Hana's clumsy fumblings towards expressing her feelings must stem from a similar place. What she is feeling is so different from everything she has learned and experienced so far that she takes the entire social season to emotionally adjust. But doing the romantic, sensual Cordonian Waltz with a woman she's beginning to feel more than friendship for? That's a good start.
- There's also the factor of her parents convincing her to maintain her friendship for personal gain (Hana also briefly speaks of this kind of strategy in her Book 3 Snow Angel scene at Lythikos), but at this point she is so devoted and invested in the MC that she doesn't mind going above and beyond to make her succeed. She pretty much saves our asses for two whole books.
- Gosh I spent a lot of time on this scene didn't I (esp for someone who has done an entire essay on it before). But I've gone through two books since, and a lot of people tend to forget/dismiss/minimize Hana's particular set of situations in their desire to push forward a more shallow view of her.
- This scene is a good example of the mix between skill-teaching and personal history for Hana. As the story progresses, the writers will focus far less on the personal, on the struggles of her own journey, and more on the skills she can impart to the MC. And that's the tragedy of her writing: that the writers are some point were only willing to give her space, when the MC had something to benefit from it, when it was centered around the MC rather than her. When the MC either got the advantage of Hana's expertise, or when there is an opportunity that centers around the MC and places her in a pedestal. Towards the end of this series, Hana's friendship with the MC seemed very imbalanced - mostly because any opportunity to expand on what Hana was going through or feeling was often taken by other characters, or overshadowed by the MC's needs at the time.
General Thoughts:
• So...the next chapter is one of my favourites - because it is the dynamics of this chapter increased and expanded tenfold. The tension between Liam and Olivia as grownups who were childhood friends, Olivia's fear of losing him to the MC, Drake and Hana's trust in her, Liam's confusion over his feelings for her, how the ladies view this situation. There's so much going on next chapter, and this chapter is pretty good buildup to that.
• The 8th chapter esp in Books 1 and 2 of the series tended to provide significant changes in terms of relationship dynamics - and their dynamics in those chapters were often based on the theme of trust. But more on that in that chapter.
• Ngl, I'm also excited about that chapter because there's a spotlight on Kiara AND my all-time favourite Hana scene xD
• Admittedly...there's not a lot of Persephone (the MC of my failplay) in this QT - partly because I have only a ten-pic limit, and mostly because this chapter is pretty much like a short holiday from the court and the events.
• This is the kind of chapter that is light on the events and activities but heavy on the personal relationships. Plus, even though I wanted her to dance with Hana, I didn't want her to have any advantages going in to the ball - and even though you could still screw up it could still come with its own set of advantages. Besides, I knew a really good scene was coming up the next chapter.
• I found it easier as a Hana romancer to choose like this in Book 1, because even if I didn't take a scene I knew there would be a good one coming up in the next chapter, or in a couple chapters at least. By Book 2, I had very few good options (that didn't come with an automatic advantage) to choose from, so Persephone ended up taking crappy ones like the fashion show scene in Paris because I knew the next good Hana scene would take a while. It's...not a good feeling.
• What especially worked for this chapter were the contrasts. You have a gruff, guarded Drake who takes the chance to open up to you if you give it to him, and you have the vulnerable child-Olivia, juxtaposed with the very tough, very aggressive adult-Olivia.
• You were confronted with a very different Olivia in Liam's memories, to the one you see now, but at the same time reminded that she is indeed a very different person in the present. It was like you'd be tempted to thaw a little but the narrative would say "no, not yet".
• And it worked. Because you were eased into the nuances of that character, not having the better parts of her pushed in your face while you were still wary.
• Olivia's scene with Drake has a few parallels with a scene in a corresponding chapter in Book 2: Madeleine's treatment of Hana. Not on the scale of what they did (you can't really even compare Olivia's mockery of Savannah to Madeleine's obvious abuse of power), but on the setup the narrative was giving you. Here are the similarities:
1. Both chapters begin with the MC viewing Olivia/Madeleine as a rival of sorts, and her initial views on them are largely negative.
2. The MC witnesses moments of nuance that allow her to see that character in a different light. (Liam's story of Olivia's parents' deaths/Madeleine calling out the press on their sexism re: the Tariq situation, then the MC discovering to her surprise that Madeleine was never involved in the conspiracy against her).
3. While the MC is still attempting to take in this new information, the character does something that will confirm her initial thoughts about them. It will take a while before she manages to change her mind.
For me, the differences lie both in scale, and in the way the LI is treated. Olivia is cruel, she enjoys insulting Savannah and upsetting Drake - but the space isn't one where his position or his staying at the court is threatened. Besides this, the MC is allowed to push back at Olivia (aggressively, if she chooses to) and support Drake, as do Hana and Maxwell when Olivia leaves. Drake has the space to be upset about it, he has the space to lash out. His pain is validated and he is allowed his mistrust and anger at Olivia even into Book 2 when she is offering help.
Madeleine on the other hand threatens Hana's place at court and uses her newfound authority to harm her - and fully intends to continue doing so until she breaks. Hana is pushed by the narrative into a position of powerlessness - one that wasn't even necessary (she isn't even allowed to know about Madeleine's plan to break her nor is she given the space to push back against her). Even the diamond scene following Madeleine's threats revolved around every other character besides her.
I personally feel like the writing team chose this route for Madeleine in Book 2, because it seemed to work well enough with Olivia...but they'd gone too far, and in a way that Madeleine couldn't exactly come back from as easily as Olivia could. The strategy worked for Olivia, and backfired quite a bit for Madeleine.
• The irony of this chapter is that in TRH 7, Savannah herself speaks about not being able to fit in, and being happy she has friends among the ladies of the court now, and Olivia seems pretty alright with her by then. As I mentioned earlier this could be because the Olivia we're seeing now is doing everything she can to hold on to Liam, and it's making her act in ways that would only defeat her purpose, rather than help her.
• Drake's diamond scene in a lot of ways is necessary buildup for his whiskey scene in the next chapter. He spends a lot of time talking about what it's like to be in court there, but with our knowledge that his sister has disappeared and the (optional) assumption that the court was a poisonous place that drove her away from Cordonia altogether - he can (in his Whiskey diamond scene) expand on why it's better to not trust anyone, and warn her at the same time. The fact that he has now reached the point of wanting to tell her these things (even the things he says about Savannah in the meteor shower scene, are things he admits not having told anyone) is pretty major at this point.
• That's it for this week folks! Sorry for the longer-than-usual post 😅 I feel like the next one might be wayyy longer because I love that chapter.
--
• Tally Counts:
Number of Times Drake has Called Esther/Persy by Their First Names: 5
Number of Times Tariq Has Mentioned His Shoes: 2
Number of Times Drake Has Taken An Alcoholic Drink that’s Not Whiskey: 1
Number of Times Someone Has Called A Reigning Monarch 'Your Highness’: 2
Number of Times You Can Leave Hana Shook. SHOOK I TELLS YA: 3
• Two things happen this chapter: you meet the Queen and (optionally) eat cronuts.
• That's it. That's the chapter.
• Title: The Queen of Hearts.
Alternative Title: The Regina Roast. She can and will roast you if you have even a hair out of place. You will be burned to a crisp by the time she is done.
• Fortunately you'll get the opportunity to roast if you decide to walk back with Drake after cronuts. Even reading it on the YouTube playthroughs was quite satisfying 😅
• You also get cronuts if you pay. Nomnom.
• Me Back Then: Cronuts sounds like a cross between a crow and a nut.
Me Now:..Please stop.
• Throughout Book 1, you have characters who will appreciate you no matter what (the LIs definitely fall into this category), people who will ally with you mainly because you convince them you're worth forging an alliance with, in their individual scenes (the ladies of the court and the press)...and people who keep track of your progress over the course of the book.
• The last category is especially important because it alerts you, the player, to how your MC has performed thus far. Now I have two MCs who interact with everyone in very different ways, so I can actually see this in action and compare notes. The characters that keep track of your overall performance, will not hesitate to point out how you've done in previous occasions (like the first press interview, or the impression you left on King Constantine) and their dialogue will be coded accordingly. At least two people fulfill this role in the first book.
Who are those two people, you may ask? Well, see for yourself:
(The top two screenshots are from my Esther playthrough, and the bottom two from my Persephone one).
Bertrand: In his case, it really comes as no surprise that he takes note of how we've done. He's our sponsor and mentor, after all. And we are representing his house - so if we perform badly it ends up reflecting on their house as well. So if he doesn't keep track of how we're doing, then who will? However, as the social season moves forward and his stress over the house's financial situation takes precedence, he steps back a little in terms of this. By the end of the book he expresses his support and belief for the MC regardless.
Queen Regina: Regina is known for being the torchbearer of stoicism and for destroying you with her snark (as can be seen in her responses to the 'hat' options). But some of the truly interesting insights you can get about her come from a failplay. She also is shown keeping track of the MC's progress. A scene like this one shows her being dismissive of you if you don't impress her...but in the course of the story, this will change. Overall...I find the fact that some of her scenes are coded to reflect the MC's progress in the social season a lot more interesting, because that's something we would expect from Bertrand who is directly guiding us, rather than her.
• So this chapter begins where we left off, with Hana and the MC talking about the upcoming event. A dainty little tea party, where we will meet and talk to the Queen for the first time. You have a choice between stating you love tea parties, or telling Hana tea parties aren't your thing. I highly recommend the second one coz Hana calls a tea cozy "a sweater for your teapot", proving that she can be insanely funny when PB and this fandom actually choose to remember 😂
•
At this juncture, Hana - who loves tea parties - tells us about her childhood experiences with a tea set (there will be a callback to this in her childhood scene in TRH, and it looks and sounds a hundred times more disturbing than what an adult Hana says now. Understandable, because at this point Hana cannot even begin to contemplate how messed up these aspects of her upbringing and childhood was (she is not completely blind to the damage - as can be seen from her piano scene - but she does show signs of normalizing her parents' controlling behaviour and attitude towards her).
• In the limo, Bertrand enquires about our blossoming friendship about Hana - thereby keeping tabs on those we ally with - before moving on to the important business of the day - impressing the Queen.
• Whether you ask what she likes or what she hates, the responses state similar things:
- a great sense of style and fashion
- she favours ladies from Cordonia, and is wary of foreigners (but somehow not 'wary' enough that she will do disgusting things like her husband does).
- has a high regard for protocol and can be very angry when it's disregarded (ergo correct use of titles and positioning yourself behind her are a must)
- doesn't like funny people (in fact, if you do choose the funnier hat options, she stresses that "fools use laughter to cover up their own ignorance")
- is pretty competitive, and the implication is that she likes to put up a good fight with a worthy opponent
• We get down at the venue, which the MC can either call a million dollar picnic (mentioning money and costs like that! classless! says Bertrand) or like something out of the set of Downton Abbey (television! such a travesty! says Bertrand). In any case, we wait alongside the other ladies, arriving just before Regina makes her appearance.
• Since RoE was the series that introduced Cordonia to the Choices audience, there's often going to be that one chapter where you'll find more than one reference to that series. We associate the royal family and Madeleine with the TRR series now, obviously, but back then these were side characters only briefly from RoE. So we obviously had our impressions of them set in stone, and to view them differently, we'd need a completely different lens (more on this later).
• Me Back Then (on seeing Regina): This person yapping about stoicism. Wasn't she the one who threw a hissy fit over her stepson wanting to marry an American in RoE?
Me Now: ...Leo existing is a good enough reason for anyone to have a hissy fit.
• Me Back Then AND Me Now @ Madeleine:
• It's also interesting to see the reactions to Madeleine before and after the announcement of her joining the social season has been made. Before this, Olivia demands we speak of her with respect, using her title and insisting we know her importance, and Kiara and Penelope speak of her in tones of pity. So long as she is not their rival, they look up to her as someone who has been in their place, and won the season. But once it's made clear that she is a suitor as well, Olivia shows the strongest reaction (naturally). The other two express surprise at the news, but are mostly neutral towards her as can be seen from the fact that they casually chat with her in Lythikos.
• Madeleine and Regina were clearly gossiping about us before they came here 🤭
• Regina gets introduced to all the suitors then finally turns to us, and between the Derby and the car ride to here, has learned quite a bit about us - including our first impression from the press and the moniker they've given us:
(Screenshots for 'The American' from the assyrianprincess YouTube channel)
I kinda like this bit because it shows us the flip sides to how we navigate this society, the way we might be expected to please different people whose needs and interests go in opposite directions. If the press, the representative of the people, finds these monikers exciting, interesting and relatable, then Regina makes it clear there is a flip side to those same monikers as well. As I've said earlier, the MC's identity as an anomaly, a foreigner and non-nobolity (yet) is what makes her stand out amongst her competitors, but those same things may also contribute to her struggle to be a part of this country and be accepted by these people.
• The Queen's questions range from discussions on what makes a great leader, the importance of stoicism, and governance. Fairly simple questions, and the answers that she loves the most are the ones that subscribe to both her and the royal family's ideas of 'putting on a brave face for the country'. The alternatives that displease her, are either to crack (hat) jokes, or to subscribe to a worldview that places emphasis on being relatable (charisma, and showing the people that their rulers can be human). So while Regina's not entirely wrong about her ideas of ruling and governance, there is a clear distance between the monarchy and the people that Regina and Liam would genuinely want to serve. This is a distance that Liam will later acknowledge in his portion of the cronut scene.
• The irony is also that eventually, Regina herself will crumble under the weight of all these lofty principles, and discover for herself exactly how impossible they are, once she witnesses Constantine die in front of her own eyes. I find the sequence where the MC comforts Regina in Valtoria to be an inverse of this one, because she blames herself for not living up to her own principles, and the MC has the option to validate her pain and encourage her to let it out. There (especially if you will be Queen soon) the roles are reversed, and the MC's relatability - even if she's done terribly - wins out in the end.
(And she wears the mother of all hats).
• If you don't take two steps back while the Queen is walking, Olivia and Penelope make fun of you, Hana comforts you, and Kiara doesn't say a word. Now this could be because she already had a go at us the last chapter, but I feel like it could also be because she is stepping back and taking note. She recognizes early on that her energies are better focused on networking than on trying to catch the attention of a Prince who already prefers someone else and a court that won't choose her. Remember, the next time we interact with her, we're trying to gain an alliance.
• Liam joins his stepmother and the suitors for a croquet match, where he chooses the MC regardless over any other suitor. Olivia is shocked, and Penelope is the one to speak sensibly about how the Prince has made his choice.
It's a small moment, but what follows two chapters after is Olivia secretly targeting us during her time hosting the court in her estate, and her increasing desperation. Plus Kiara and Penelope being ready to become allies rather than competitors.
There's been news that highlights the MC as a suitor Liam has a preference for, but this is probably the first time the ladies of the court must be openly confronted with it. And of course, Olivia is the hardest hit, and works the most at undermining the MC because her hurt and fears get the better of her.
• The croquet match takes place in two segments: one where Liam gives the MC a run-down of what the game will be like, and the second, where she can actually choose to take the win or allow herself to lose so the Queen will look like the victor. In the middle of these two plays, the Queen gets to slip in another question about governance.
Uh huh, uh huh, so when I make jokes I'm an ignorant fool, and when your niece does it suddenly she's Cordonia's Next Top Stand-up Comedian. Uh huh, sure.
• Either that or maybe she's had to put up with Adeleide's 18+ humour for so long that she's almost grateful that it's her uppity niece delivering the gags instead 💀 💀 At least she can be assume the humour would be PG-13 (provided Madeleine's not drunk, and even then she's not been as risque as Adelaide is when she's sober).
• The Queen purposefully opts to lose the match just to see if the MC is the kind that will play to win, and hates it if you decide to let her win. If you do win, she will alert you that things will only get more complicated for you from here, and she may not hold back next time. Back then it read as perhaps a bit antagonistic back then, but now it reads a little differently to me - more as a reminder to the MC that this social season won't be an easy one for her.
• Regina was definitely testing her in a couple places to see how she handled herself in a couple situations.
• If you win her approval, she praises you for standing out among the rest ("you've proved yourself to be unlike the other ladies in the court, which is no small feat in my eyes"). If not you're...tolerable. But she will still watch out for your progress!
• Here's one of the rare times Liam gets to tell you to your face you performed badly (besides the option at the ball if you offend Penelope), even if he still does make excuses for you. From here on out, he and every other LI will be mostly making excuses for your failures whatever they may be:
• Now that our first meeting with Queen Regina is over, we can now kick back and relax with the rest of the group!
• Drake complains about the finger foods laid out for a tea party (it's a TEA PARTY, Drake. They're not going to be serving cheeseburgers and hotdogs at a TEA PARTY), and two of the MC's three dialogue options come with relationship points ("you WOULD complain about free food" and agreeing with him). The first option seems to be the one I'd imagine a Drake stan would love because there's a slight bit of teasing there, plus Drake shakes his head, smiling, which is a nice shift from the grumpiness and snark of the previous chapters to his attempted friendliness of the Lythikos chapters. It's also a bit of a teaser to the MC's (optional) teasing of Drake later on in the cronut scene.
• ...I could have happily lived out the rest of my life not seeing 'escargot' and 'aioli' side by side in the same sentence.
• The poor MC's mind is blown from the sheer number of people who don't know what a cronut is (Me Back Then was still like WTF is a cronut).
• The highlight for TRR - besides the LIs themselves - are the group scenes. The group had three men who grew up together - or at least in some proximity to each other - and two women who were outsiders. There was a familiarity to their interactions that you wouldn't find so easily in, say, a book like TF where the relationships among the LIs grew alongside their relationship with the MC. I still recall how often people who didn't like the series would mention that the group interactions were a big plus for TRR. The cronut scene really does show you why. Even though it's very centered around whoever the MC wants to be romancing, we get a glimpse of their shared experiences at the palace, coupled with their mutual joy when trying out this new treat. We even get hints from Liam and Maxwell about the old, not-so-stressed-out Bertrand!
• The scenes meant just for the LIs are split into two portions - the first is the romantic one inside the bakery, where the MC can choose who she wants to sit next to and subsequently flirt with (no Maxwell, sorry. Though some of the subtle hints for him becoming an LI will emerge after Chapter 8!):
(Screenshots for Drake's scene from the Ashley Barrus-Gardner YouTube channel)
Each one has a different vibe to it. Liam is clearly smitten and not ashamed of showing it, draping his arm behind her chair. Hana is shy and confused, feeling those first stirrings of love for this woman, unsure of what it could all mean. Drake's is sarcastic and witty, and the MC is at her sparkling, biting best in both Drake portions of this scene.
• Our third RoE reference! Bestien appears at the end of our cronut trip, and when Liam apologizes he smiles and reminds him that his brother has done worse.
• The second LI centric portion allows you to build relationship points rather than romance ones. The MC chooses who to walk back to the palace with, and the LI tells her what has begun to shift for them, thanks to her presence:
Liam: Speaks about this experience as an eye-opener to regular life in Cordonia, is baffled by how little he knows of his own country and people, having lived such a restricted life in the palace. In one option, he openly calls his world the "statesman's bubble". As a commoner, the MC has shown him in this scene glimpses of life outside of his "princely world". He begins to let go of some of his preoccupation with protocol here, telling the MC that perhaps it's not too bad an idea for him to spend more time with her outside of the social season events. This is good buildup to his hot tub scene in Lythikos.
Hana: Is largely very grateful to the MC for keeping her company and sharing this experience with her, as she is lonely and has very few people she knows personally enough to invite her. Both she and the MC speak of their identities as outsiders who stick together because both of them know the pain of assimilating into a culture that you didn't grow up living. I kinda wish more of that aspect was explored, it would have been an exciting route to take for the story!
Drake: Drake doesn't openly speak of what he's learned from the MC or what she's given him like the others do, but the advantage in this scene is that he's begun to thaw towards her. She can choose to tease him relentlessly through the walk back, and he responds positively to it, telling her she is more fun when she's "not pretending to be a princess". As I have mentioned earlier, this helps to set the stage eventually for his friendliess to the MC in Lythikos.
• Overall, you can see why this scene is so popular and remembered so well. Others that are more detailed and extensive and fun have emerged since, but this bit was lovely to read just for those first few sparks between the friends. I knew I wasn't expecting that when I first saw this scene.
• It's now time for Lythikos! The chapters in Olivia's duchy (only 2 really) are fun and packed with a lot of interesting stuff, character development and plot details. I honestly can't wait to jump in.
• It's been at least two years since this series first came out, I think, and what's intriguing to me is how the lens of this whole story, and our view of some of the characters, has changed. I remember coming into this story straight from RoE and TCaTF, and back then I was still looking at everything from a very Leo perspective. Remember, in RoE Leo was the only Cordonian our MC had regular contact with, and therefore we saw this country from his point of view. So Constantine was stuffy but more supportive, Regina was ridiculous in her expectations for protocol, Liam was remembered as "thinking he's smarter" when Leo is away from him but extremely supportive of his decisions when he needs that support. Madeleine was the jealous angry fiancée getting in the way of true love.
Our perspectives have taken such drastic shifts since. When Leo stopped becoming the center of the story and we actually GOT to see and experience Cordonia as readers - suddenly a lot of things made sense. Regina's insistence on stoicism. Liam's pressures and burdens. The fear in the country once Leo abdicates. The stress that Liam, as new Crown Prince, would have to go through transitioning into that kind of role. Suddenly Leo's abdication wasn't a brave thing he did "for love" or "for honesty", but an irresponsible (though necessary) act that had repercussions.
In a perspective that does not center Leo, we see all that Leo misses. Constantine is no longer benign, he is capable of doing the worst things to a suitor under his protection if it means he can get her out of the way. Regina is still uppity and stoic, but can also be someone with incredible foresight, who can read the signs and embrace the change the best she can once she realizes it's coming her way. Liam is a man who was built to love and lead this country, even if he sometimes doubts his own potential. Madeleine is still a horrible human being, BUT not in the "jealous fiancée" way we witnessed in RoE Book 2. In fact, I know those who deeply dislike her, and still feel that she deserved better than what Leo was doing it her, and the rejection she faced from both brothers.
• Regina definitely comes across as cold, distant (and in an initial fail play, even rude) and not exactly interested in you. But she does keep tabs on your progress, and often highlights it before the activity itself can start.
• As I've mentioned earlier, Bertrand and Regina are specifically coded to make us aware of how we're doing. Does anyone else in the book get to do this? One more person, and I will speak of them somewhere along the line.
• Failplays are incredible because there are so many things you see SO DIFFERENTLY until much later. There's a lot you can figure out from the responses to the wrong answers alone.
• ...I need a cronut now.
• Until next time folks!
• The TRR MC and The Saga of Hats - A Short Summary in Nine Pictures:
Persephone was the one saying it, but you can bet Esther was the one thinking it!! 😁😁
• Also thank you Your Majesty for noticing how lovely my head is 😁😁😁
• That's all for this week folks! Hope you're as excited as I am to explore Lythikos!
--
• Tally Counts:
Number of Times Drake has Called Esther/Persy by Their First Names: 4 (I missed one scene at the stables in Chapter 5, and this time while challenging the MC to a race back to the palace)
Number of Times Tariq Has Mentioned His Shoes: 1
Number of Times Drake Has Taken A Drink that’s Not Whiskey: 1
Number of Times Someone Has Called A Reigning Monarch 'Your Highness’: 2
Number of Times You Can Leave Hana Shook. SHOOK I TELLS YA: 2
i do like reading your thoughts but i dont have time. they may be qts but they are very long. i wish you also had a podcast so i can listen to them.
Aww man, I'm sorry! I know the long posts can be a difficult experience for some (to put it lightly) and irritating for others - I may not understand what it feels like but I do know that it can make for uncomfortable viewing sometimes.
A podcast would sound awesome! The only problem is - as elaborate as I am in my writing, I'm probably as jumbled and inarticulate with my speaking skills. As a speaker I just come across as very confused. I need to rehearse and rehearse and rehearse before I actually say something in public (which is why I love doing spoken word: I know I can sound natural but at the end of the day they're words I've WRITTEN). I probably wouldn't have it in me to do a good podcast because I'm just not very confident about my speaking abilities 😔
The funny thing was that they were called Quick Thoughts first because they were maybe a couple short paragraphs at most? Like look at this one, one of my earliest QTs. Their initial purpose was really just a simple basic chapter review with a few observations thrown in (back then I also had the advantage of leaving my actual meta for the character essays, but I stopped writing them sometime mid book 3 - so the QTs ended up with me focusing on scenes as well!). What I wanted to do with them back then was different, and their feel, mood and length were different as well. Now the title's become more ironic than anything else! 😅😅
I'm pretty elaborate as a writer and tend to expand on a point and break it down when I do reviews like these. That's a style or a way of writing that I probably might not be able to change because I feel it best represents me. But I DO want to think of alternatives for people who can't find the time to read or have trouble with the format, so I'll definitely try and figure out alternatives, okay? Thank you so much for sending me this ask, Nonny.💜
• So. This is going to be our last TRR chapter...for a while, unless they decide to do a spin-off of sorts. All the issues have been (somewhat) resolved, the MC and her friends + LI are triumphant, we've broken our beds on our wedding night, now it's time to explore the aftermath. (So sorry it took me this long, guys, I've spent a full week struggling to save whole paragraphs).
• Many thanks to @kennaxval and @boneandfur for all the screenshots and help on the Hana x MC and Maxwell x MC scenes! I used my own screenshots for Liam's playthrough, the above two + the "All the Stories Girl" YouTube channel for Hana's and Maxwell's, and the HIMEME YouTube channel for Drake's.
• So we start with waking up in our LI's arms, and it's all sweet and adorable and we're all basking in the afterglow of our first wedding night. But the LI has a surprise.
• The beach!!
• Since we'll be going on our honeymoon sometime later, the LI basically wants us to have a little fun and alone time on a private beach.
• All the LIs give us three choices of drinks (mimosas, infused water, tropical drink), and three choices of food (fruit-and-cheese-platter, french pastry and bread rolls).
• FINAL CHANCE TO SHARE AN INTIMATE MOMENT WITH THE LI!! For 15 diamonds!! That's quite a steal.
• Now...who am I to say no to a Sparkly Liam?? 😀
• So the pre-fucking activities are obviously different for each LI. It's meant to suit each of their personalities and while I loved the sex part...I really enjoyed this.
Liam takes his wife swimming (you can either splash him or take him underwater for a kiss) and then proceeds to write a love note for her in the sand. When she points out that it might get washed away in the sand, he states that the message will live on in the waves that will carry it. Gaww.
Hana's activity is SO HANA istg. Both she and the MC build a sand castle and you get a rare glimpse of "Hana-getting-carried-away-talking-about-things-she-loves" if you choose the fairytale option xD They build a castle and a moat, and it's pretty obvious that Hana loves her fairytales ("there's no such thing as too many castles") and that the activity is so representative of her wildly romantic spirit.
Maxwell agrees to get buried in the sand, and the MC can choose what form it should take (Valtoria's sigil, a sea monster or a lot of muscles). @boneandfur tells that if you choose the sea monster option you get the first mention of "unleash the kraken" if you are married to him (the first one was in the fling scene, which you obviously won't get if he's your fiancé). It's all sorts of adorable 😂
Drake has a swimming race with you, in a rather nice callback to his first beach scene (diamond-option) in Book 1 Chapter 10. Back then the race was between Drake and the MC, Hana acting as referee and producing a shell for her and a sand dollar for him later on as prizes. Here, the MC has the option of gifting Drake a beautiful conch shell, and Drake is the one who gives the MC a sand dollar.
• Guh. That's all I'll say about what follows. Guuuuuuh.
• I made Esther wear her hugeass hat just to see if she'd keep it on during sex. She didn't and now I'm very sad 😟
• It's now a few weeks later, and we're being called for a special secret ceremony that Liam has gotten planned, and that apparently only Madeleine knows (very very few) details of. You get to tell your friends (in your fiancé/e's presence if you're not married to Liam) how married life is going for you, and there's either some good natured teasing or "ugh, spare me the details" from them. Madeleine then enters, having found the perfect excuse to wear the white dress I pettily didn't allow her to wear to my wedding.
I bet my note said "pay diamonds or it's the LBD for you, bitch".
• I also love how Madeleine knows that asking Olivia not to bring daggers is a lost cause, so she might as well put a limit of the number of weapons she brings instead 😂😂
• Out of the four, two already decide on their outfits (Drake on his grey suit and Olivia on her Costume Gala Nevrakis gown), and two ask you for your opinion.
• For Hana, you can choose between the handmade cheongsam that is so precious and personal to her, and the godess-of-spring gown she wore for the Costume Gala. If you were married to her, or chose another dress for Hana to wear, the cheongsam would be perfect!! Imagine, when she finally receives honours for her contributions to her country, she will be wearing this lovely dress that has so much personal history for it and possibly may also be representing her roots as well. But I chose the spring gown, because the cheongsam she'd worn for my wedding. If I ever wind up replaying maybe I'll switch it all around a little.
• For Maxwell, you either choose between his smart black suit, or the squid suit. OF FUCKING COURSE I'm going to choose the latter. When he goes up to get his honour as Guardian, I want everyone to know that this Beaumont Boy is the Pride of His Home and His Family 😍 Same with why I'm happy that Olivia is wearing her Nevrakis gown because this event is further proof that she is redefining what it means to be a Nevrakis. (also if you choose his squid suit, he exclaims in squiggly letters about how the "cephalopod rises again". 10/10).
• For Drake, I like the full-circle enforced by the fact that this suit was what he wore on the night of Liam's Coronation. That night was the first time Drake didn't try to reject his feelings for the MC, didn't allow his guilt re: Liam to come between them, instead accepted that he felt that way and approached her (in his diamond scene). Given that this epilogue features a throwback to the Coronation...I like this extra touch.
• My corgi Joy DuPont of Valtoria/Cordonia gets his own suit too.
• Aaaaand now it's time for the finale gown!
Pretty faithful rendition of the gown on the cover, and I think it has elements of both sigils just to keep us covered either way. The gown is a rich wine/burgundy colour, gold swirls at the skirt and jewelled gold belt (phoenix sigil) white/silver-ish coloured elements on the neckline and cuffs (dove sigil). Madeleine tells us that the gown was made keeping our house colours in mind. The LI - if they're in the boutique - gets to gush, and Olivia is the only friend who gets to comment by default - very possibly because she shares a common house colour with the MC, and either woman will get to be his Consort. Alongside the Coronation Ball parallels, you can see parallels to the Costume Ball as well!
• If you're married to Liam, and therefore Queen of Cordonia, you get an extra (and free!) selection to make: your tiara! The book gives us four options:
I honestly don't know what they're supposed to symbolize really, and I don't think they would actually symbolize anything. They're just pretty headpieces meant for the country's new queen. But Ima list down what these tiaras remind me of!
Royal Rose. The "Romantic Love" pink ballgown option for the Homecoming Ball, which was Hana's choice of outfit back then and comes in her favourite colour, pink. It also reminds me of Liam, because in the beginning especially he was often associated with roses.
Gilded Grace. A gold tiara with gems embedded. The design is exquisite and intricate. Kinda reminds me of that nice gold watch Drake gifted us, but also the top half of it reminds me of the flare of a peacock's tail, so I'm also reminded of Maxwell 😄
Petal Perfect. I think it's called so because of the flower motif in the centre, surrounded by serrated edges which seem to me like leaves. I would definitely be reminded of Hana, who is associated with flowers in general!
Pearlescent. There is only one person I can think of who this tiara would remind me of: Liam! The pearl plays such a poignant part in their story if you chose that scene, because Liam found it at the Blue Grotto before he had ever met the MC, and showed it to her when their relationship was going through rough times in Capri. Back then, there was the option of rejecting it, keeping it or asking him to keep it safe until they were free to pursue their relationship.
• I had a headcanon that Esther asked Liam to keep the pearl, and that he had it placed in a tiara of hers to show her how far they had come together, and how much hope she had instilled in him. So OF COURSE I would choose the pearl tiara xD The writers seem to have forgotten about that Blue Grotto pearl, but I haven't!
•
Liam's outfit at this ceremony mirrors the MC's: burgundy with gold designs and leaf motifs. I see this as parallel to two events: the Costume Gala, where his "King Fabian" outfit matches both Olivia's and the MC's (that one mirrors Olivia's better though, because it's a bright red and not saffron-with-red-notes like the MC's avian gown). I also see this as parallel to the Beaumont Bash: where you can persuade Liam to show his support for you by wearing the Ramsford Duchy house colours of blue and white. Here, the ceremony itself seems centered largely around the MC - what with her being given the country's highest honour - so it could either be a show of unity (as a couple) or solidarity (as Liam showing his support to the MC). I also wonder if this is why Olivia is automatically given the red gown to wear, since they seem to be at least close to dating now if you're not married to Liam.
•
Interestingly the group receives honours based on their defining characteristics, which seemed to have helped in various ways in the fight against Anton. It's also a nice way to finally wrap up all their individual arcs, and validate them in the face of all the doubts they'd had about themselves throughout the series. Maxwell needs to see himself as good for being who he is, not have to transform into someone else altogether, to be seen as a person with something valuable to contribute. Hana still needs to navigate who she would like to be, and how she would like to live her life, and this title is an incredible step forward. Drake has had the most to prove in this book, making it clear that as a commoner he is important and that the nobility need to change their outlook towards commoners in general. Olivia is still redefining what it means to be a Nevrakis and to prove that her family name can be one that stands for loyalty and honour, not treachery.
• The Champion of the Realm title is given to the MC regardless. Even in a fail playthrough she gets it, and I think that's mostly on the basis of the very last scene, since Anton is vanquished by default. Does it ring false? Hell yeah it does. On one level that's the way the story goes, on another - it makes everything EVERY member of our core group says about her sound absolutely weird.
• Why does she get a higher honour above the others? You actually get the chance to ask Liam that. And he does respond - both in his speech during the ceremony, and later on.
Speech: He mentions her position as an outsider in this country and how she has embraced Cordonia as her home, but also speaks of having fought for Cordonia and unified it as a country. The second definitely seems to be the overriding theme when it comes to her: the ability to unite people to a cause.
Do I Deserve This? This is a question the MC has the option of asking Liam after the ceremony, and he stresses again on her working as a unifier. Her quality is not as much intelligence, or bravery, or strength - it's the ability to inspire people to reach their highest potential. He speaks of it as "You don't just make Cordonia better, you inspire us to become better ourselves". Which, if your MC is just all-round horrible to everyone and doesn't even have people come for her wedding, is a load of horseshit. Stop being nice to her Liam.
• Ana de Luca referring to our social season moniker in Book 1 (Mystery Woman/The American) was a nice touch.
• Liam also (finally!) addresses in public the vast imbalance between the nobility and the common populace, and how he would like to change that. I've seen complaints that he has basically "placed his buddies" in the Council, so he is essentially making the same mistake - but I can only see that argument as valid if a. those "buddies" weren't involved in the eventual takedown of Anton, and b. you ignore what he says about getting a roster of candidates ready for the council itself. It's still an ongoing process, so us jumping to criticize something that's just been announced is a little premature.
• Ana says we haven't ever had a council...which makes me question how much of Book 1 the writers have forgotten, honestly. Because...like...
Both screenshots are from the initial chapters of Book 1, mind you. They're possibly not the same as the Council Liam is planning on, but they're definitely there - just that they're invisible! Like the Cordonian populace for most of this series.
• Time for a Ball!!
• Since this is the epilogue, the Honour Ball (which is what I choose to call it rn) harks back both to Liam's Coronation Ball, and to the Masquerade Ball that introduced the MC to the nobility in the first place. The first half is a conversation between the MC, Olivia and Hana (parallel to our very first scene in Book 1, which is Hana congratulating the MC and Olivia maintaining that no matter how attractive she may seem to the Prince, she doesn't have what it takes to be chosen). Hana was sad about the prospect then, but happier for their friendship now. Olivia jealously dismissed the MC as not worthy of Liam then, but accepts that she is worthy of the honours bestowed on her now. Even the MC's responses now parallel the Coronation Ball: a gracious response, a threatening response, and a response that implies closeness ("I would rather date you"/"Just shut up and give me a hug").
• The second half of the Honour Ball scene is the LI dancing with the MC. At the Coronation Ball, this moment was our introduction to Liam, but now our respective LIs come forward for our first dance. In those playthroughs, Liam immediately asks Olivia to his first dance instead. The conversation then turns to their first Ball (Masquerade) and explores the LIs' initial thoughts on the MC.
Liam speaks about how there was a mixture of concern and love in his feelings for the MC. Hana speaks of how the MC transformed the way she looked at herself. Maxwell speaks of wanting the MC from the very beginning but withdrawing because he believed she was meant for Liam, not him. Drake speaks of how wrong he was in believing the MC didn't have what it took to survive, and how proud he is that she doesn't need a protector. All in all, toothachingly sweet 😊
• "I'm ready to do a lot more than dance". Esther is thirsty, from her first scene to her last 😂
• Alright so we now go a whole bunch of extra scenes meant to wrap up everyone's story, and I'll begin with the animals and Olivia before moving forward to the LIs.
Pets: Joy (the corgi) is found raiding the kitchens and making a mess, and in a very fun scene, the MC gets to set a few (very funny) ground rules. The first set deal with house behaviour, the second deal with their interactions with the non-royal LIs, and the last deal with some funny rules about the dog in Cordonia, including not getting involved with cults or overthrowing Liam. It ends with the caption "12/10 The Goodest Boy" (I'm inclined to agree 😄). There's a tiny scene involving Celestia (the horse), Hansel and Gretel (the red pandas), where the MC steals a moment and makes them lovely promises of pampering. All of these scenes are included if you buy all these pets - a little bit like that bonus scene involving Bubbles and the Mechawolf in TCaTF.
What I Think: These are not meant to be very deep - they're just fun, playful little bonus scenes meant to bring a smile to your face, and these scenes definitely succeed in that.
Olivia: This scene involves Olivia regaling Kiara and Penelope's families with the tale of Anton's defeat, and I believe it's the first time we see both families together (they've shared the same spaces but not exactly been shown talking to each other). The futures of all the three ladies are outlined: with Zeke disinheriting himself to become a vet, Kiara now gets to be next in line for running Castelsarreillan after Hakim, as well as the diplomatic liaison on the Royal Council. Penelope will now be a dog fashion designer with plenty support from Joelle, and possibly marrying Ezekiel. Olivia will be meeting Liam to discuss the dissolution of her marriage to Anton, and if you married someone else she will be doing it over dinner, which suggests the beginnings of a romantic relationship. She also plans to tour Lythikos in the aftermath of what Anton and Lucretia have done, and make sure that there are no more rules and stipulations from Lythikos that will pose a problem for Cordonia itself.
What I Think: I like how this wraps up several things at once and brings back that initial conflict of what Zeke's decision to be a vet (even though, frankly speaking, I kinda wish he didn't exist). The highlight was the sincerity and passion with which Olivia plans her next steps for her duchy and country. This scene neatly ties up all the women's stories with satisfying resolutions: the most satisfying of all being that Kiara is justly rewarded for all her hard work. I do take issue, however, with how the writers use Kiara to sugarcoat how terrible the MC and her friends were to her, in front of her mother Joelle. Then again it's not like the MC was particularly honest about her motives for talking to Kiara in Lythikos but...the last thing I want to see is Kiara giving credit where it is not due.
Drake: You begin by talking to several people: Gladys if you took her diamond scene and set her free, Mara, and Drake. Bastien is present, but he speaks more to Drake than to you. Gladys gives you an update on her life and thanks you for giving her a second chance. You get to either thank Mara for "risking her life" or tell her she sucks at her job. Drake talks to a number of people: Bastien, Neville and Rashad. Bastien reveals to Drake that his father was also once Guardian of the Realm (why was his family almost cast out so cruelly then, if what Jackson did was so phenomenal that he got this honour for it?) and would have been proud of Drake today. Neville apologizes to both Drake and the MC, and depending on the MC's response either walks away on good terms or acts like the spoilt brat that he is. Drake then reveals to the MC that she was his inspiration for taking up the Council Seat and that he wants to do more for the common people of Cordonia. Just seconds later, he gets his chance to make a change when Rashad comes forward with a proposal to use unused lands in the duchies to make public spaces for the people, a proposal Drake is only too happy to be involved in.
If you are married to Drake, there is acknowledgement all round of his new position, one extra dialogue from Neville if you respond positively to him, and it changes his dialogue with the MC just a wee bit.
What I Think: What makes Drake's scene so special is the fact that it, by far, most effectively shows the change in nobles' attitudes towards commoners. It is also symbolically important that it happens at the place where the MC sees the palace for the first time with both Maxwell and Drake, AND where Neville and Drake once duelled (and Neville acknowledges this). This is where Gladys - the representative commoner - chooses to thank us and assure us of her support. This is also where we have the chance to take our security detail to task if we so choose (we all thought she was going to be proven as shady and as a traitor...turns out she was just inefficient). The cherry on top is Rashad - the rebel heir - approaching Drake with something that will benefit both nobles and commoners. It kind of shows us the true triumph lies here, in giving to the common populace before unscrupulous elements can sway them. Could this have been done earlier? Of course! But I feel like narratively this is more effective.
Maxwell: For one, thank God Maxwell isn't a surgeon!! This scene includes BertVannah, Bartie and Maxwell, and delves into the upcoming wedding, Bertrand recognizing that he doesn't need to be as hard on himself and his brother as he was in the past, and Maxwell revealing that he's going to write a book about the MC's rags-to-royalty tale. Bertrand is now happy to be honest about the state of his financial affairs and his determination to keep Savannah and Bartie happy. He also gives Maxwell the chance to handle his own finances independently.
If you're married to Maxwell, you get to refer to Savannah as your sister-in-law, Maxwell speaks about your love "changing along the way" if you married someone besides Liam. In his playthrough he speaks of the book as their love story.
What I Think: Overall the Beaumont Brothers storyline got some amount of buildup but very little resolution. We don't know what pushed the House into financial ruin, we don't know the history behind them as we should considering we're an honorary family member, we're never told the secret things that Maxwell hinted at in the Shanghai Night Market group scene in Book 2. The book and its proceeds is said to be the key to restoring their House to its former glory financially, but that's just a very odd way of ending that arc. On one hand I'm glad there is a resolution, on the other it seems a little weak to me.
Hana: Hana is seated at a piano in front of her parents, Madeleine, and Madeleine's parents. Lorelai repeats the mistakes she'd made in Hana's childhood, trying to push Hana into parading her skills in front of guests. Hana refuses without much success, but Lorelai doesn't seem to be really listening to her. At this point, the MC gets to intervene and Xinghai agrees, leading Hana to open up about wanting to share her skills by choice rather than being forced to do so, and Lorelai apologizes...yet again. There is some talk about parenting from Adeleide and Godfrey who are watching this exchange, and we find out that Madeleine is now Royal Communications Director. Once the parents have left, Madeleine stays behind to apologize to Hana for the bullying she meted out to the latter during the Engagement Tour, and Hana tells her that Madeleine will have to earn her forgiveness. Madeleine then promises to ensure that no one harms Hana in court (hah). Once she leaves, Hana joyfully plays piano for the MC herself.
If you're married to Hana, the end of the scene has a few changes. Instead of jokily throwing pillows at each other, they jokily argue over who the best wife is instead (for each, it's the other). The tune Hana plays for the MC as her wife is different from what she plays as her friend. The friend version has her play the upbeat TRR theme tune, and the LI version has Hana play what the narrative calls a "slow, sultry tune"...which turns out to be the mournful TRR theme tune. What, is being married to Hana supposed to be an occasion for sadness now?? Because you're definitely succeeding in making it look like that.
What I Think: I guess I should be happy that Madeleine's behaviour was addressed at all, though it was clearly a rushed, last-minute job that happened because of some amount of arm-twisting. It's also nice that they bring us full-cirlce by referencing Hana's piano scene in Book 1, and showing that rebuilding her relationship with her parents (she shouldn't have to, but this is clearly the way the writers WANT to go) is going to be an agonizing, painful process. They show the parallels between Hana's upbringing and Madeleine's upbringing as well - it's not a parallel I'm happy seeing, but I was aware they were going to take that route way back in Book 2.
That said, there are things that won't let me enjoy the scene. One is that at this point, I'm not seeing Lorelai learning or growing enough. I know this might be an attempt to show that these things take time, but the Lorelai scenes are honestly getting repetitive and exhausting. And as someone who has been where Hana has been? Right down to family members who accept they need to be better but don't actually? I can tell you it's fucking exhausting to have to deal with that again and again and again. For Hana's sake at least I wish I could actually see her LEARN from what she's done and ACTIVELY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Now we go to my biggest problem with this scene. Madeleine.
It's good that she confesses to her motives and accepts Hana's decision. It's good that Hana gets to be firm about not forgiving her until SHE is comfortable doing so. It's good that Hana sees her own forgiveness as something that should be earned - not by a paltry two-minute apology but through genuine effort. But the problem for me lies in two areas:
1. Madeleine's Excuses: That's exactly what they are - excuses. Madeleine claims that she wanted to "break" Hana in an effort to get her to shed her "nice act". Which is bullshit. Even if Hana's kindness was an act...was she hurting anyone? Was her "act" actually causing harm? Madeleine's actions exceeding even Hana's perceived crime. What business was it of Madeleine's to rip this woman apart based on her own assumptions? And if she recognized that Hana was genuinely good, why was she okay with minimizing what she did to her? We can bring a thousand excuses about her sexuality and her upbringing and how hard all of this was - it doesn't make the gravity of what was done to Hana and the ridiculousness of Madeleine's claims any less.
2. The MC's Fake Self-Righteousness: This bit was perhaps the most jarring part of the entire exchange. By default, when Madeleine speaks about wanting to break Hana, the MC seems furious. But it's more than that. The MC sounds like she's hearing these words for the first time.
The only good thing about it is that Madeleine calls her out on it. But besides that, it just...makes all the MC's claims about being there for Hana and having Hana's back ring so false. One of my biggest problems with this whole series of events was how much the MC herself minimized and diluted what Hana went through at Madeleine's hands. How little she seemed to care about arming her friend with the entire, unvarnished truth. To have her act all protective in front of Hana now, to pretend like she'd never heard those poisonous words...that's just a whole other level of shady. It reflects even worse on the MC if they're married, because dafaq kind of wife are you if you couldn't arm your wife emotionally against this snake of a human being? That would be a major disservice to Hana-romancers who hated the way Madeleine treated her, and Hana stans in general because they weren't given a fair chance to properly protect and support Hana. Instead for the most part they'd be forced to choose the least worst options, rather than ones they were truly happy with. It sucks.
Liam: A short but significant scene. You find Liam in conversation with his stepmother Regina, and greet them. She is happy and proud of Liam and the MC, and everything they have achieved. She thanks you, and you can choose to either respond positively or maintain that she should have trusted you in the first place. Either way, she responds with grace, and then leaves. You speak about not having seen the throne room much, and Liam opens up to you about not being able to come here without being haunted by his memories of his father. He confesses to struggling with moving on from Constantine's death, understandably, and for the first time, feels safe enough emotionally to cry in the MC's presence.
If you're married to Liam, Regina speaks about how you two as a couple remind her of herself and Constantine, and expresses happiness in the changes you have brought about in Liam. Furthermore, the conversation about Constantine is extended to involve Liam and the MC's own plans for a family, and how they will strive not to repeat Constantine's mistakes. This is a fitting throwback especially to the date scene with Liam, where he speaks about how he wants a family where everyone is open to each other.
What I Think: I'd been silent for a long time about things in Liam's storyline that have disappointed me, mostly because I felt that given my LI was the central LI I fared better than most (and it's true - I did). But it doesn't change the fact that I am disappointed they didn't explore his potential. Neither his fiancée nor his friends nor his family paid enough attention to his own emotional state, and where the narrative could have had us tackle his demons they failed in creating opportunities for us to do so. A single tear slipping down his cheek is something, but to me it presents similar issues to Hana's last scene - that it is a rushed job of a journey that could have been resolved step by step, that could have been given some attention. I'm happy we got to see the statesman behind the lover, but doesn't mean it should be one or the other. There was enough room to balance out both and actually address his trauma and his health, yet it was ignored for the most part.
That said, this scene was poignant on its own, and I always love it when there are little moments of bonding between Liam and Regina, because I think that relationship itself is quite underrated.
• Now that we have finished checking up on everyone, we take one last look at the ballroom that held so many memories - sweet and horrific - for us, before Mara tells us it's time to get into the carriage for our honeymoon.
• We say goodbye to all our allies first (and get to hug Olivia if we want), and then to our friends who are waiting at the carriage. There's a lovely little group hug, and if you bought the horse she will be the one drawing the carriage. If you've bought the corgi, he also gives you a fond goodbye before you leave. As do the Cordonian citizens by default.
• The carriage scene is a beautiful private moment, because each LI gets to explore the moment they first met the MC, and how incredibly fortunate they are to have been on this journey together. All of them speak of the incredible odds they faced together, and how they will be willing to face them all over again if it meant a lifetime with the MC. It's a touching emotional moment, and all the four scenes have been written lovingly. The final lines of this book are the kind that stay with you, long after the book is finished:
LI: Is this moment everything you wanted it to be? (or some such variation, depending on your LI)
MC: No...it's better.
General Thoughts:
• Even if you choose every single wrong option possible, the story ends well for you. You don't get people to support you and very few people besides the ladies of the court and your immediate friends and LI's family make it to the wedding, but somehow they magically appear at the reception. Regardless of how badly you performed, your final actions fighting Anton earn you the Champion of the Realm title anyway, and in this case it's an unfair advantage to give. But the thing is this: every single LI in this group showers praises over you no matter what you do. That's the way this particular story goes, and it's written such that it won't go any other way no matter how much you try. The MC in a lot of cases is a reflection of the player, and at the end of the day I think they want the player to leave this story happy with their journey, even if it's too ridiculous to be true.
• This is a fitting end to the series overall: it allows us to explore everyone else's endings, has great parallels with the past, and allows us enough wiggle room to imagine our MC's future with their spouse. With regards to QTs, I still have Book 1 to complete, but I'd like to get some distance from the series itself first before I tackle it again.
Final Thoughts:
When I started this book last year, I got in completely expecting to be bored. Bored and totally not invested. I gave my MC the name I felt the least connected to (Alice Bennet), and barely gave much thought to which LI I would pick. However, something always brought me back, something always got me looking forward to the next chapter. Thus began my love affair with this book.
There are a lot of reasons why this book grew on people. The intrigue hidden behind this fairytale-like frame story. The little connections between this series and TCaTF, one of their most popular flagship books. The camaraderie between the members of the core group themselves. The way even the not-so-nice characters grew on you. The way each LI had something unique to bring to the table. Somehow...even the people who couldn't be bothered about the series could find something they would have even a passing interest in.
Do I miss this book? A little. This book got me back into writing essays - something I always loved doing - and fanfic. I got to learn so much, explore so much, and contribute so much thanks to my fondness for it, and for the fandom that seemed to love it as much as I did.
Am I sad it's gone? Well, in some ways yes. But I'd rather it did when it had to instead of being dragged along, and I would rather not see the writers destroy the characters they had zero interest in, further (I love this book - but I also love it enough that I will never forget to point out where it fucked up). I think it had a good run, lasting more than a year, and it ended well.
For better or for worse, I'm glad I got to be a part of this journey.
Quick Thoughts on Lazy Writing, aka "Look Look, We Got You An Asian Woman LI, Now Give Us A Medal Just For Making Her Exist".
• Yep. This is not going to be about Chapter 15. I don't think Chapter 15 is worth a fucking QT post. It does not deserve it, this book doesn't deserve it, this team does not deserve it, I'm not giving it one.
• This chapter is basically part-resolution-of-Hana's-arc and part-sex-scene-on-the-balcony. I'll probably write about the balcony scene when I resume writing essays. But as of now...I'm going to write about Hana. At least that way she'll get the focus that she deserves, and that PB is so unwilling to give her 😡 So if you think I've whined too much about Hana Lee, my dear readers, let me tell you this: you ain't seen nothing yet. Leave now while you can if Hana-rants aren't your thing.
• Basically - since I'm not going to do the usual chapter walkthrough this QT - I'll summarize what happens. Xinghai and Lorelai insist on taking away Hana's belongings despite protests from Hana and the MC. There is a diamond option to help her retrieve her black embroidered cheongsam, which is more precious to her than anything else because it holds memories of her grandmother. Afterwards you get ready for the lantern festival and spend majority of the chapter trying to get Hana's parents to give a positive statement, and eventually figure out that Rashad is the key to this. You convince him to accept Xinghai's proposal, Lorelai and Xinghai openly support you and make a half assed apology to Hana, everyone is happy and telling each other their wishes, and the diamond option to scandalize the entire country (...or not. You can go to the bedroom instead lol) with your LI pops up. It ends with Maxwell getting excited about hosting your bachelorette in Las Vegas (somehow I have a feeling the TRR writers never read RoE Book 2).
• Yep that's it. There really is nothing worth writing about in this chapter, because they didn't bother to nail the most important part of it: and that is Hana's story.
• That's all I'm going to talk about today. Hana.
• Hana. Hana. Hana Hana. Hana Hana Hana. HanaHanaHanaHanaHanaHana.
• Did I mention Hana?
• Title: Light the Night. Which is straightforward, it's a festival dedicated to lanterns and takes place around nighttime. Though IMO the title should really have been: The Number of Fucks Given About Hana Lee By Her Own Writers Is Equal To The Number of Times Anton Severus Makes An Appearance In This Chapter
•
...I just had to slip that in somewhere since there is no way I can ever make this statement unironically IRL 😢
•
This is the first of many statements Hana's parents make about her inability to survive on her own. She is a "delicate flower" that requires watchful care and tending, and the MC is the "weed", the kind that doesn't fit in - but also the kind that is tough and resilient and can survive all manners of things, that depends on itself. Lorelai's argument is that without them, or without a partner that meets their approval, Hana will have very few skills to take care of herself (whose fault is that, I wonder!)
This is something Hana is aware of, and has been highlighting on the few occasions that the people who right her remember that she is meant to be a well-rounded character (which isn't often). She has spoken about not knowing how to live without her parents (Book 2 Chapter 2), how she doesn't know if her skills will help her in the real world (Book 3 Chapter 5), how she isn't even aware who she is (Book 2 Chapter 9). Her character arc was meant to be about learning what her parents neglected to teach her in their mad rush to make her the perfect aristocratic wife, the perfect hostess. Except that, unfortunately, these narrative threads were picked up in fits and starts: implied at and alluded to but never satisfactorily explored.
I will come back to punch holes in Lorelai's arguments (echoed by Xinghai at the festival) later.
•
On the surface this looks like a nice story? It harks back to a dress we've seen before (the black-red-gold cheongsam she'd shown us in Shanghai, alongside a dress she'd made specially for us. She also wears it when she proposes to the MC in case she's the one you declare your love to), something we know she made and is important to her, and tells us more about her youth (the dress seems to have been made when she was "of age", since those measurements perfectly fit an adult Hana) and her family in China. But I have two major problems with this:
1. How many chapters has it been since this book started? 19 chapters in Book 1, another 19 in Book 2 and 15 at present. That makes it 53 whooping chapters.
FIFTY THREE CHAPTERS AND WE LEARN ABOUT HANA'S GRANDMOTHER, SOMEONE SHE WAS IMMENSELY CLOSE TO, ONLY NOW??? IT TAKES US FIFTY THREE FUCKING CHAPTERS FOR US TO GAIN ACCESS TO THIS PIECE OF PERSONAL HISTORY????
2. The second major problem lies in the scene itself. I'll get there.
• So I'll start first with the main components of this scene:
1. The MC and Hana choose an accomplice (Maxwell/Olivia).
2. The accomplice distracts Lorelai
3. Hana distracts an attendant while the MC grabs the dress, but not before almost getting caught by another attendant. They make a run for it and find themselves in a secret hideout.
4. Hana changes into her dress and is happy. If you're marrying her, this is where she and the MC kiss. But besides this there's very little distinction between how this scene plays out if you're her friend versus if you're her fiancée.
•
The Olivia option of the Lorelai-distracting-segment is perhaps my favourite moment in the scene and the only reason it could be even remotely worth playing. Not just for Olivia herself, but also as a reminder that while Hana and Olivia have made their peace with each other and know each others' strengths, they will never actually like each other...and that's okay. Olivia reverts to her bitchy Book 1 persona, hinting at Hana's failed engagement with Lord Peter and casting her in a less favourable light, and I especially love that Hana lets her emotions take over here. There's always been a palpable tension between the two (and often Olivia is the one more open about it, while Hana usually prefers to display diplomacy instead) and this is one of the few times Hana gets to be anything other than neutral or cheerful. She doesn't like what Olivia said, and she makes it clear at least to the MC.
•
Hana Lee, Queen of Awkward Flirting xD xD
• We take a turn that almost lands us in a room where Lorelai is still talking, narrowly escape the attendant chasing us to finally find ourselves in a secret passage with a hole in the wall, from where you could easy watch the sunset.
• Hana changes into her cheongsam.
Very pretty. Lots of flowers and butterflies form the patterning of this dress.
• Now this was the point where I thought we'd learn more about this dress. Or about her grandmother. Or about her life in Shanghai. SOMETHING.
• But no. We get a brief conversation about how hurt Hana is that her mother is intent on disowning her, and the MC convincing her she is stronger than she believes herself to be. Which is nice, but it sounds like a repeat of what's been said before.
• Do you remember that one diamond scene option in The Sophomore where the MC get to to grab Natasha's Loose Pins posters so she can't sabotage Kaitlyn's band? I liked it, it was funny and I liked the thrill of the chase in that scene. And that was exactly the focus of that scene: the chase. Kaitlyn had other scenes focusing on her equation with the band, her trust issues post Gutter Kittens and how she has learned from her mistakes since TF Book 3. It made sense to have a funny, silly scene that revolved not around Kaitlyn but around that chase instead.
Well, that's exactly the focus of this scene. The chase! The fact that time was running out! The wild rush to grab that cheongsam before Hana's mother could catch her! That's exactly all this scene was meant to be and that's exactly how it was written.
But there's a huge difference here. Hana is not Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn's arc about her sexuality and about her coming out was highlighted in detail. She was given subplots that made it clear how complicated a journey it was for her and she has a canon sexuality openly addressed in the books. Hell, TF Book 2 has her scream "I'M GAY" in a crowded bar to her childhood friend Arjun!
Kaitlyn is allowed to be a well-rounded, imperfect person, who trusts the wrong people and suffers the consequences in such a way that it reflects on her self-esteem in the next few books. She had plenty of scenes exploring all these aspects of her journey, so a funny, light scene like this one works in the larger context of Kaitlyn's story.
But this scene - for Hana - was supposed to be the culmination of her entire journey. You hear that? Her entire journey! It was supposed to be the point where she made it clear to both her parents that this was who she was and this was the life she preferred to live, take it or leave it. This scene was supposed to be a watershed moment for her, and this is what it comes to? A scene where Hana isn't even the focus? Where her story, her journey isn't even the focus??
• The grandmother story irks me to no end for another reason too. It was clearly not meant to be development for Hana. If it were, there would have been more in the diamond scene itself. They would have spent the secret hideout scene on a thorough exploration of Hana and her childhood, her growing up, what this woman was like. If it really were meant as development, we wouldn't be hearing about this grandmother now at the very end.
No. That little tidbit about Hana's grandmother was bait. It's fairly obvious that most of us who love her character are literally starved for information about her compared to, say, Drake and Liam (Maxwell isn't exactly treated all that well either). So they push in this little story so that her fans can buy this scene that isn't even worth two diamonds, forget fifteen.
• So now we've got Hana's cheongsam, that she can now wear to the lantern festival (for a girl who knows how to sew, and sew beautifully, Hana has remarkably few outfits of her own) it's time for us to get ready. In some glittery beaded blue number.
Is it just me or does the art team for TRR have a thing for armbands?
• So the main problem now is to reach out to, and convince, Hana's parents before they make their final statements to the press.
• Penelope and Kiara love the festival, Olivia and Madeleine don't altogether hate it. Yay?
• Kiara is the only one among the court ladies whose wishes we hear, which is a nice touch considering she's always been the one given the least attention in the books. The lantern rituals are apparently both about letting go of things that are holding you back in your life, and making wishes for the future. Kiara is letting go of her doubts and her fears for this tour, and wishing speed in her learning of Icelandic. Hakim uses his wish to speak about work, and he's not the only one. Rashad needs help with getting a deal finalized for the Sloan firm too!
• We now move to Xinghai and try to convince him, but it only leads to a realization that Hana's parents still want to secure a match for her with the two men she'd firmly stated she had no interest in. This is nothing new, but this argument of Xinghai - also something Lorelai stated earlier - is something I want to expand on:
1. I'm incredibly familiar with the first argument. I've had a largely restrictive childhood under a very traditional Indian family dynamic (your parents are close to God so obey them), and didn't have much opportunity to mingle outside my home. As I grew older my father began to get increasingly frustrated that I was "glued to your mother's dupatta" (scarf) and not independent enough. And he said this genuinely, unironically. It never occurred to either of my parents that they'd created an environment that made it hard for me to actually make my own decisions without feeling like I was doing something wrong.
Xinghai and Lorelai are right to some extent: I mean, Hana herself on certain occasions has questioned how useful her skills are in the real world, in a Cordonia that needs her to be decisive and firm. But that didn't happen in a vacuum, did it? Both of them leave out (or in fact, don't even recognize) a significant truth about Hana's lack of independence - they were, to a large extent, responsible for it. She is dependent because they brought her up that way. Because they never gave her space to work things out on her own and the one time she demanded that space, they viewed it as an insult rather than actually give her that chance. The moment you place that much pressure and those many restrictions on a child, you've lost the right to talk about her lack of independence as if it's something that is a part of her. It isn't. You put her in that position. Tbh, it irks me that Xinghai and Lorelai genuinely don't see the irony in their statements.
What Hana had was an immensely restrictive childhood, and perhaps if she didn't have the friend circle in Cordonia that she did, she would have struggled. Her kind of upbringing doesn't allow for real world skills (something Lorelai views as a negative when she says "people wouldn't have to be resilient if they stayed in their place to begin with") and she's never been allowed to view even her own personal feelings as a good thing! This goes beyond "taking responsibility for one's past and future". She's never been allowed a responsibility that doesn't involve her being forced into matches she has had zero interest in, and that seem to have higher benefits for her family than they do for her.
All in all, Hana's skills do not fully equip her for independent living, sure, but they both overlook their own role in her eventual inability to adjust if it comes to that.
2. What Xinghai says about trust going both ways. He misses the fact that she already did. She trusted them completely and did everything they told her to, often to her own detriment. The engagement to Lord Peter? That's the perfect example of this. It wasn't her fault that the match broke: she followed through with it no matter how uninterested she was in the man, to the point where when he asked her if she really loved him she couldn't open up and tell him how she really felt. Yet she was viewed as responsible for the breaking of that match - for doing everything she was expected to do - and left Shanghai viewing herself as a failure.
She's spent years trusting them, spent most of her young life perceiving their worldview as correct and wanting to do right by them! She's gone above and beyond when it comes to trusting and respecting her parents' judgement! Even at the cost of her own happiness! There is only so much any human being can take before they realize how messed up this manner of bringing a child up is.
But guess what. None of this is actually addressed properly in the book, because we never get a real insight into Hana's upbringing and the effect it has had on his with any kind of nuance.
• After Xinghai and Lorelai tell us that what they're planning for Hana is for her own good, and imply that either Neville (the man is still around, yes) or Rashad can prove to be advantageous for her and moreso for their family and business. Hana and the MC briefly agonize over this, and if the MC correctly names the firm that Rashad wants as a client (IDK what happens if she doesn't - TBH I was sleepwalking through this chapter and wasn't interested in seeing what the alternative was this time. Sorry guys) they work on convincing him to work with Xinghai in exchange for introducing him to a contact in this firm.
• The MC first gets to choose what she will let go of, then chooses what she wishes for. Once this is done, Hana's mother makes a statement in support of the MC, having spoken to Rashad and suddenly realizing that their daughter can thrive without their handholding. Emotional family reunion. Everyone is happy. Lorelai apologizes and Xinghai reveals his wish for Hana to be happy. The end.
• There you go guys. This is how it ends. That's the conclusion of Hana's entire character arc. The culmination of a journey that lasted three whole books involving Hana fighting to create an identity for herself...ends in her parents realizing she's useful on her own after all. After all this time, after so much conflict and stress and confusion...it all boils down to her parents still seeing her more as an asset than as a daughter.
Awesome message, TRR, awesome message. Now give me a moment while I vomit.
Allow me to elaborate. She is still worthy only if she facilitates Xinghai's deal with Rashad's firm, if they manage to gain an advantage even minus her alliance with a titled man. There is no real change. Not in Hana, not in her parents, not in their relationship. This conclusion is superficial and is a horrifically weak way to end Hana's overall arc.
• To sum up the rest of the chapter before I give you a broader insight into why this chapter pissed me off so much...there is an LI diamond scene and then Maxwell announces a bachelorette party in Vegas (why aren't they doing that in Cordonia? Cordonia clearly has a gambling hub and a pretty famous casino if one were to recall RoE).
• The LI diamond scenes are quite sweet - all the LIs get to speak about family and having children - and there is a lot of sweetness and tenderness in all of them from what I've seen of the screenshots. Had this chapter not ruined this book for me, I would probably appreciate it better? In any case, I might do a four-LI-breakdown-essay of this scene once I feel up to it. I'll be doing the same for the LI scenes at the Capitol, Lythikos and Valtoria. Eventually.
• The Hana-specific scenes in this book, however...I think I'll pass. We have had just three so far: Polo Playing at Portavira, Snow Angel Making at Lythikos and Hana's Cheongsam here at Valtoria. None of these scenes possess any depth or nuance, none of them say much about Hana that hasn't already been said, each of them are pale echoes of the scenes we have seen Liam and Drake getting. If you're going to give an LI three individual scenes in 15 chapters of a book, those scenes had better be excellent, detailed and nuanced in their characterization. If you're not ready to give us that...then what's the point, team TRR??? You could have either given us more scenes with tiny but substantial tidbits, or less scenes but with bigger opportunities to know her better. But something tells me that you don't care enough about this character or your LGBTQ audience enough to actually do the work.
• And this problem isn't restricted to Book 3 alone. Hana has been subject to lazy writing since Book 2. The groundwork laid for Hana in Book 1 was really good...but that's all it was: basic groundwork. No Hana stan should have to pat you in the back for laying a good foundation for that character, not when the other two established LIs had just as solid a foundation PLUS excellent buildup in subsequent books. And no Hana stan should have to thank you now for throwing only scraps their way.
• Hana's foundations in Book 1 lay in two areas: her sexuality and her complicated relationship with her family. Hers was the classic coming-out-of-the-closet story, and it was heavily implied that she was never really given the space to view herself as anything but "straight", that she'd been pressurized into pursuing men, that the experience of falling for the MC itself was immensely confusing for her (in her first confession scene, she couldn't even articulate her feelings - that was how confusing this experience was).
But her sexuality is hardly ever directly touched upon in the books beyond that (beyond a botched Facebook response from a Pixelberry employee who dubbed her as "bi if she is pursuing you and straight if she is pursuing the Prince" like WTF - and a post from one of the writers stating that the team sees her as "bisexual...but that is something she is still figuring out". However the books never really touches on this the way they did for Kaitlyn, and they really, really should have. They should have established her sexuality in no uncertain terms within canon).
However she identifies herself, Hana's struggles would still be important and valid, and she would still have major issues coming out to herself and her family. In this recent chapter, Lorelai's issues are aired as a class issue rather than on the level of sexuality, which is contradicted by the very fact that Hana was pushed to pursue men, make herself desirable to eligible men, assumed by her parents to only have an interest in men. Not only does canon tell us very little about her parents' views on her sexuality, they don't openly voice what she identifies as!
• Book 1, in fact, is the only book they seemed to have put in some effort, but as I have maintained earlier, I refuse to give them credit for that because what you give in the first book is the foundation of the character. It can only come to life if you build on that foundation in the next book, and the next. But Book 2? Lazy writing from the start. The revelation that Liam - not Madeleine - was responsible for Hana's return came from Drake's scene, not hers. In Italy when Liam and Drake had amazing character and background building scenes, Hana was stuck with scenes that were barely about her. At the beginning of the Paris chapters, she got one of the most lackluster scenes in the entire book (the fashion runway with Penelope). I suppose there must have been some backlash because they brought out two good scenes in the Paris section - the Patisserie scene and the Library scene, only to treat her later like a persona non grata in Shanghai. SHANGHAI. HANA'S OWN HOME.
• This point is incredibly important, because Shanghai was the only place that was home to an LI. The narrative at this place should have been centered around her. The stories and love legends should have been told by her. Her background should have been receiving focus like never before but it didn't. Shanghai only lasted two chapters (as opposed to Capri's 3 and Paris' 4) and neither of those chapters gave her enough focus besides the confrontation with Xinghai. The panda reserve scene revolved around Liam. The night market scene focused on the mending of Drake and Maxwell's relationship with Hana functioning as a mere mediator. Liam was the one who got to give us the lovely dragon koi legend, not Hana who actually lived in China. Hana's only diamond scene in Shanghai focused less on her and more on the trip to NY - and she didn't even appear in the first chapter in that city!! (the writers later came up with the excuse that Hana was emotionally drained after her confrontation with her parents...except that NOBODY in the story - not even the MC - gave a flying fuck about where or how she was or why she wasn't there).
• I bring up Book 2 mainly because it's important for us to understand that what the writers have been doing with Hana isn't just restricted to this book or this post hiatus period. It's been ongoing. She's been given lazy, half-baked writing for a majority of the series, and I cannot even count the "development" she got in Book 1 because those are only building blocks. If you don't develop a character beyond that, all that's really there is a hollow shell. Hana had the promise and the potential to be a truly well-developed character, and they made a shell out of her instead.
• And it's not like the TRR team is unable to write women. Case in point: Olivia Nevrakis. Olivia's character development has been consistent and well-written throughout the entire series. Not only are her background, motivations and emotional state constantly given attention, the narrative somehow ensures she gets good development even when the focus isn't on her.
For instance, Olivia takes a definite backseat in Book 2, and she's mostly relegated to either investigation work or slowly becoming part of the MC's inner circle. She doesn't have a presence in group scenes where Liam appears, and she doesn't have a single individual scene the way she did in Books 1 and 3. Still, she is given enough material to facilitate her growing relationship with the MC (if she so chooses) and the group. As Liam's alternate LI, parallels have been consistently drawn between her and the MC especially in Book 3. Her faith and belief in Liam is constantly highlighted as unwavering, and her trust in the MC takes a while but culminates eventually in Olivia sharing an important part of her family history with her first.
Olivia's growth from a wary cactus to someone who trusts you if you reach out to her enough, wouldn't have been half as convincing if she wasn't given that kind of development. But perhaps this is because Olivia - like Liam - is so involved in the larger plot of the books, whereas Hana exists mostly outside of the main plot.
• But you know WHO isn't exactly all that central to the main plot of the series but still gets great character development? DRAKE. It started slow, with Drake's first individual diamond scene coming in as late as Chapter 7 (which IMO makes sense, since they needed the MC to warm up to him first), but he was given a solid foundation in Book 1 that was built on in Book 2, and furnished with detailing in Book 3. His diamond scenes were mostly rich in character development and the book was consistent in their focus of him as well.
In Book 3, there is a marked difference between how he is written as an LI versus as a friend. While his overall arc was frustrating to some readers, it was built up pretty well and the conclusion to it (the duel) was written in such a way that it really felt like a vindication of sorts. The duel in fact had an added significance if the MC was his fiancée, because both are commoners who are being targeted by Neville for "rising above their station". There isn't a single scene of Drake's in Book 3 that doesn't explore his character in a detailed manner, or have two diametrically different scenes highlighting his LI/non-LI status.
How does the duel act as a game changer for Drake? He tells it to us himself: the duel was not just for his honour alone, but for every commoner a noble has slighted. For his family, for his sister, for his fiancée (if he is marrying the MC) or friend. It's poignant, dramatic, powerful as a culmination of Drake's journey. The conflict resolution of an arc should end with a bang, and Drake's really did.
• Hana on the other hand is a different story altogether. No matter what her relationship is with the MC in Book 3, she is mostly relegated to "best friend" status regardless. Her initial conflicts as a fiancée seemed to indicate she feared turning into her parents (Chapters 1 and 2) and it sounded really promising, but that characterization was dropped as soon as the Unity Tour kicked off. She is depicted worrying about how she will survive and contribute to Cordonia and whether her skills really equipped her for the outside world, but it is explored only in one character scene of hers, and very very superficially.
Unlike the duel scene for Drake, Hana's conflict-resolution scene this chapter falls flat and doesn't really mark much of a change. The only difference in her relationship with her parents' is that they see her as useful minus a man by her side now. Emphasis on useful. What kind of resolution is that? Does it have a great impact? Does it have any impact?
• Hana's treatment is marginally better only when you compare it to Maxwell's, who has had just one character scene so far, and who hasn't seen much significant development since the beginning of Book 3. Even though the team has mentioned that he was meant to be an LI from the beginning, the way he was written in the beginning and the way they write him now tells me otherwise.
But they don't have that excuse for Hana. Hana WAS a confirmed LI from the beginning. She WAS part of the original lineup. Which means they should have been working as hard on her as they did Liam and Drake. What excuse does the team have for not developing her properly??
• The problem here is clear: both Drake and Olivia are centered within the narratives that focus on their stories. When the focus comes to Paris in Book 2, or Lythikos in Book 3, they are front and center. Compared to that, how is Hana going to compete? At the points that the narrative should be focusing on her, she is given garbage in place of content and story. Even when the narrative is supposed to be about her relationship with her parents and her growth outside their influence, she is the least important person. She was the least important person in Shanghai, and she's now the least important person in this chapter that was supposed to showcase how far she has come from the nervous, underconfident girl we met in Book 1. It's even more infuriating when you take into account that she was meant to be the only female LI, that they
1. never planned to give people who wanted to romance a woman in TRR more than just this option, and
2. couldn't be bothered to follow through and do a decent job of the one option they had.
• I hate calling Hana a Mary Sue, because that wasn't at all what she originally was. She was indecisive, had low self esteem, didn't always enjoy the activities and skulls she was pressurized into learning. There was at least one occasion where she spoke of getting her way by failing...and now the same character is labelled a Mary Sue.
But you know what? There's a reason why she is addressed as such. A Mary Sue is a mark of lazy writing and poor characterization, used on characters that are made to appear perfect in lieu of real development. And while Hana started out a little flawed and confused and in need of guidance, she soon turned into this Ms Perfect who was talented in everything and received praises from everyone instead of an actual insight into her character.
• Hana is at a disadvantage on her own. She is the only LI among the four who was brought up elsewhere (in China), and who wasn't from familiar ground (America)/fictional places (Cordonia) for the writers. Her issues are very culture-specific, they rise out of a context. Not many people may relate to that straightaway so it is essential that her story is handled with a lot more care and nuance. She is a woman of colour who is in the closet, brought up (as is hinted) in a family that doesn't exactly view her sexuality as normal. This is how the Hana of Book 1 was written.
Then Book 2 happened, and the writers either realised they didn't know enough to write this story convincingly, or didn't care enough to do the research. I suspect it's a mix of both. Even so, they should have done some reading up, done some homework, tried to at least center this character around her own narrative. No one is asking for a thesis on society and norms in Shanghai - they're asking for some good background, some basic research, legends and stories that she must have grown up with, if that's what it takes to do justice to this character. If you're going to create a character so unfamiliar to this world and make her a love interest, you had better put in the work that story requires.
Otherwise stop. Stop branding yourself as LGBTQ friendly when most of your female LI fans have to make do with mere scraps, stop patting yourselves on the back for including women of colour in your books when you view them as nothing but tokens.
• I'm sure Liam and Drake sound more lucrative...popular...whatever...and that factors into the way they're being writen, but when the lone female LI consistently gets the short end of the stick, what do you expect? They write Hana (and many other female LIs) in such a way that they're almost set up to fail. At least a few players I have spoken to have highlighted how they went from liking Hana in Book 1 to hardly interested in her presence in Book 2. That change didn't occur out of nowhere: when the writers themselves don't write her with any amount of conviction, how do you expect the readers NOT to lose interest?
There have been a lot of improvements made in terms of readers' demands. Whether it involved the way LI scenes were written, or Liam's initial lack of romantic interactions in Book 3, or even how Kiara's PTSD was addressed. The one thing neglected every. single. time. was Hana. And I'm saying this because I've spoken and spoken and spoken about how little Hana is given and how much more she deserves, and things still haven't changed. I highly doubt they will at this point. It's too late now. Hana's arc is largely over, and her ending makes absolutely no sense when you compare it to the way her story was initially written. Had she had the kind of focus that, say, Drake has been having, we wouldn't have this rushed mess of a conclusion for her story.
• Tldr: Hana could reached her potential as a character. She could have been interesting, imperfect, inspiring. If her writers were actually bothered. But they aren't, so those of us who do love her are left wondering if we care about her more than the people who created her (yes we do). I'm tired, fam. I give up. I think I'm done with this book, and I don't think I can ever get back to loving it the way I used to.
