Alright so another topic that's coming out of nowhere - again I started re-reading an old series from my... adolescence (I have fic that I wrote from 2007 so I'm guessing that's when I first read the books) and it's called The Heir Series written by Cinda Williams Chima. I'm not under the impression that is is a particularly famous series compared to some other child fantasy stories but I must admit - after re-reading it that it definitely is a favourite of mine. Although I'm mostly judging this by the fact that this series has virtually no fanfic - but this might be just because the general population that reads this series is way too young to write fic. Which makes me sad and desperate so I'm going to do some flailing and what-not here.
So just for some background there are currently three books in this series, a fourth one is coming out this October which I'm still not sure if I'll pick up or not (since it doesn't really focus on the main cast of characters from the previous three books). The names of these books are The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, and The Dragon Heir. In this book there are people called the "Weir" who have different powers - there are 5 classes: wizards, enchanters, warriors, soothsayers, sorcerers - and it's pretty much about their power struggles to restore a fair world order compared to the current system in which wizards rule everyone. It really is a series for kids so it's a pretty simple story but even for a simple story I've fallen in love with all the characters. They're not terribly complex but they're refreshing in their youth (I make it sounds like I'm super old when I'm older about a year older than them).
So anyway - I could write a review of this book but at the moment I just want to talk about something and this is the first OTP I have ever had - and they come from this book. And to this day they are an OTP that I absolutely love. There names are Linda Downey and Leander Hastings.
Linda Downey is an enchanter, aunt to the main character of the first book and mother to the main character of the second book. She is mostly a side character, mentioned here and there but she's got spirit and she's tough. Leander Hastings is an ex-lover of hers and then in the third book they get back together.
I know - this is a freakin kids book and yet here I am flailing about some OTP. The thing about these two is that despite being major side characters, Chima always adds these little one liners highlighting their relationship and it's like teasing a dog with a bone. You can tell their relationship in the first two books is all unresolved tension (not of the sexual kind - this is a kids book) and friction but it's so obvious that they still feel something but they're so god damn good at hiding it and keeping things at arms length. It's ridiculous. They're not even main characters. You might think it's weird - why drop these lines describing their relationship when ultimately it's not super important to the plot but what it does is it gives life to the world and the character and it's development and it's beautiful and oh-so painful because there's so much that we don't know!
Honestly the bulk of their relationship is seen in the second book because that book is about their son but even then they're not really working as a couple until the last couple pages and in the third book they're pretty much gone except for one little amusing scene and the end. It's painful. We get hints and drops about their relationship but nothing substantial. Just little one liners and moments in which she's smelling his sweater, and he's giving her hopeful glances but that's just it! WHAT TYPE OF CHILDREN FANTASY NOVEL DOES THIS.
I just needed to get this out because I'm so desperate for fic of them but there's so few (63 fanfics in TOTAL on fanfiction.net and nothing on AO3). I also wrote fic for them and I've just been re-reading those to quench my thirst for something. Note - these are things I wrote as a 12 year old so it honestly feels like I'm reading stories written by another person. It's an amazing experience and I'll admit that I actually love the things I wrote.
I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm trying so hard to find something, an inkling to give me more ideas for these two idiots but absolutely nil.
No comments:
Post a Comment