I'm seeing all the hate The Sun & The Star is getting on this hellsite and its so obvious that people aren't reading this book for what it is.
It's literally a children's novel written for children. The book is supposed to be easily digestible and stupid and explicitly written because kids books are supposed to be completely laid out.
Rick has always written dorky things in his books but he has also prioritized writing about real world issues and struggles. He's written about trauma, abuse, PTSD, depression, anxiety, etc. For years.
So here he is writing about deep rooted insecurities and self-doubt and learning to accept all those dark parts of yourself as well as others, AND tackling internalized homophobia and queer struggles, and we're upset the book is too focused on the relationship?
The entire point of this book is to teach the audience how to navigate a rocky relationship with compassion and understanding. It's showing that relationships aren't perfect, you can be upset with your partner and your partner can be upset with you but the point is that you talk about it and you try to do better.
Is it such a bad thing for young teens to be learning this?
Is it such a bad thing for them to see that love is effort? And can and will be flawed and that's okay??
This is the first time we've seen this topic discussed by Rick and I've never seen a book tackle this topic because we always see the Hollywood depiction of love---yet that's unrealistic.
This is showing that love can be flawed but still be oh so beautiful. That you can be traumatized and still worthy of love.
And I am so proud of Rick and Mark for not only showing a healthy attempt at a relationship but also showing countless times that those lessons apply to any relationship. They put significant stress on platonic and familial relationships and how that love is also effort, compassion, and understanding.
Yes, it focused on Solangelo a lot.
Yes, it had soooo many flaws that even I cringed and got disappointed at times.
But the fact that we got a book that finally lets two characters talk about their feelings is incredible, and the fact that this new generation gets this book??
If I had a book like this when I was young, showing me how to navigate conflict and that relationships CAN be hard?? My god, the healing that lesson could have done.
Perspective is everything for this book. Hell, perspective was everything in HoO. It showed that how characters are perceived is very different from how they perceive themselves.
Leo was literally always shown as comedic relief and nothing more until we saw how incredibly lonely and sad that kid was from his point of view.
Percy was always said to be intimidating and powerful, but in his perspective, he's a kid who has no clue what he's doing.
So yea, in this book, it may seem like these characters have shifted, but once again, Rick is relying so heavily on perspective.
Nico was edgy and depressed for as long as we knew him, even in BoO when we first got his POV. But now that he's accepted, loved, and healing, why are we getting mad that he's a dork again---how he was before all the trauma? Why are we mad that Nico is growing and healing and becoming himself again because he feels safe enough to do so.
Ofc he's gonna feel different than how he was written a canon year ago.
And this is the first time we've had Wills perspective. He's always been seen as this sunshine happy character but we FINALLY get some acknowledgement that he's deeply terrified. He's shown as a leader and camp counselor but he's got anxiety written in his bones.
He felt like a burden this book because he's a healer. He's absolutely terrified to be a fighter and yet we got to see him become one in his own way. He was out of his element but he was trying.
Because he's so goddamn afraid of losing someone else.
Call Will an asshole all you want, but Nico had been to Tartarus and the Underworld more times than he could count.
Will is literally walking into a place he's never been to before and is the complete opposite of anything he's ever known---for Nico. The comments he makes about plants and lack of sunshine? It wasn't him being a dick, he was him being genuinely confused because hes only ever known earth logic.
If I saw flowers blooming in a pitch black room I'd be a little confused too. He says the Underworld is depressing because it's literally draining his energy.
You yell at Will for not being open-minded yet won't comment on the fact that Nico hardly made an attempt either. Nico could have been more understanding about the fact that Will, a guy who's exploring this place that's slowly killing him, might not like the place at first because he doesn't understand it.
Because Will wanted to understand.
And the second Will finally began to understand the beauty of the Underworld, he was nothing but supportive.
You get mad at Will for making mistakes yet refuse to acknowledge that he learned from them.
The Sun & The Star tackled a hard topic that doesn't get talked about often. It portrayed a queer relationship and it emphasized characters who learned and grew. It's different from other Rick books because that was the point. (And it wasn't just Rick writing it)
This book was about accepting change within yourself and "daring to be different."
And the fact that you can't even accept a book that does the same just shows that the lessons this book taught went straight over your head.
I've never been more disappointed in this fandom. We begged for this book. We begged for queer representation. Yet here we are criticizing every little thing about it as if we aren't lucky to be getting this book in the first place---a book about two side characters.
This book had soooo many flaws but it wasn't a bad book.
Isn't that the point of it all? To love something even though it's flawed? That flaws dont necessarily mean it's broken and bad forever?
It's okay to hate a book.
That doesn't mean it's a bad book.
There are dozens of other books in this fandom to love and cherish, but don't hate this book just because it's different from what we're used to.
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
dailybridgerton
jbbartram-illu
annaxmalina
stormborns
