To be clear, I'm not really talking about moments where the bad guy gets caught or the story ends on a good note.
I'm thinking more about the build up moments where someone just explodes and tells them what's what.
I was recently reading a book called "You Sexy Thing" which was a fun little scifi romp. Excluding maybe the last few pages theirs no plot twists but I guess it goes without saying that I'm going to be discussing the plot so warning if anyone wants to read it to not read ahead.
Basically a few decades earlier the MC and her love interest who was the first of her species to venture off her world got separated when a pirate lord who liked rare things (and by rare things, I mean he liked to be the ONLY one with it ) ripped them apart and put her into his collection.
Then he killed her entire planet to make sure she was the only one of her kind and therefore the only one of value in the universe.
This pirate was incredibly powerful and our MC is one person. She wanted of course to rescue her but knew she would never be able to do it without help…or a ship.
So she spent decades trying to plan. To do so she had to do many terrible things just to survive, then she had to take care of others. She even had a few relationships but ultimately we know she was always thinking of her first and only true love.
Unfortunately said person was captive to a obviously beyond evil pirate. When he destroyed her world he told her that he purposely let everyone know it was due to her. So everyone basically died horribly cursing her existence. Add that to how he showed footage of Niko (the MC) in other relationships saying that she had moved on and didn't care. (She had spent the first few years believing niko would rescue her) or how she had set up a business and wasn't going to come.
Basically he took everything anyone would do and twisted it to someone already horribly in shock and slowly poisoned her against Niko.
Then comes the moment where she does rescue her. Back on the ship she's spiteful, hateful, and always rude. Calling out her failures and every thing she didn't do. And Niko just takes it. Says nothing. Offers no excuses.
It was infuriating to me. I know damn well as a victim she's just lashing out at someone she had been turned against. But much of her insults made no sense to anyone.
She said if the position was reversed SHE would have tried to rescue her no matter what. And the question on my mind is how? With what army? With what ship? With what weapons? Hiw would you do it without dying?
And it's incredibly unfair to say someone abandoned you and didnt care.
But Niko said nothing.
And I thought it was another typical good guy takes abuse they "deserve" but nope.
A chapter later Niko's second in command after listening to her insult Niko again out of nowhere just FUCKING EXLODES at her.
This guy has been quiet the entire book, being kind, thoughtful, and supportive. But he just could not stand it any more.
He called her out for her bullshit for demanding that she die trying to save her without even owning a ship. He called her out for how she KNEW that the pirate had purposely twisted things around. There was no fucking way she honestly believed he wasn't lying to poison her against her. And she didn't. She admitted she knew he was manipulating her but she was so angry she let him.
He tells her how every goal was ultimately to save her. Escape the holy hive mind. Open a restaurant, earn money for a ship, go get her.
As she tries and tries to say how nothing she did excuses her. How she failed her. How she trusted her.
"I am what I am. Look at what I have become. Because of Niko."
He bites back with "thank Tubal Last for that."
Correctly pointing out Niko did none of that abuse. She didn't kill her planet. Or kidnap her. She almost died the first time trying to get her out. Niko did not do anything other then fail to save her quickly enough. She hates Niko because she didn't live up to the standards of an imaginary person who could do anything.
It's understandable why she is like that. But it doesn't make it any more correct.
And deep down she knows it.
Still when Dabri is arguing with her he ends with "perhaps if you hadn't angered him your race would still be alive."
Which is also of course unfair. Incredibly unfair to say. But as he pointed out right after. She held Niko to impossible and illogical standards. So why shouldn't he hold her to the same?
Of course much of his arguements aren't exactly valid, much are based on how she was spiteful, hateful, and was poisoning the crew with her hostility. You'd have to read the book to understand just how cruel she was to Niko especially, taking every possible moment to beat and attack her.
And as I said, I know, we know, as the reader why she acted like that. But nonetheless, to FINALLY have someone push back even if they admit later they were being illogical to with some of what they said against someone else acting like that felt good.
Because I'm really tired of people just accepting that abuse as some sort of penance. I feel like it's rare to have someone, anyone, have that spontaneous push back. To not take shit finally.
So I'm curious. What books have you read with moments like this?
by Quintana-of-Charyn