Hello everyone, I just recently finished the books, and I overall liked them, but I have a few things which don’t seem entirely right, and I would like to know what other people think. Let me also say that I have read a czech translation of the book, so if some quotes or names seem weird, it’s likely because of translation. Most of the issues are (as far as I remember) solely in the third book, which was in my opinion by far the weakest one of the three, to the point that if it was the first book in the series, I wouldn’t have ready the rest.
>!First, the most minor one, too few people die. This is largely my preference, as it adds some feeling of importance of the event. Cat doesn’t really die, since Ra’haam is left alive, Zila technically dies, but lives through her entire natural lifespan, and Kal is the only person in the book killed solely by damage to the mind, probobaly because then Aurora can “repair” his mind and revive him, which would be bit harder if his bodyparts were covering the walls.!<
>!The time travel into past is almost always impossible to write without causing paradox, and so it is here as well. While the first time they time travelled causes to always make time travel in time, which makes sense, The way it is written eliminates any possibility of there being a way to time travel in the first place. The Aurora academy wouldn’t have existed in the first timeline, and thus, almost none of the characters would have actually met each other originally, but the whole reason for creation of the academy was for those specific people to meet, and then do some specific actions. Unfortunate, but such is the way of messing with time, so not a too big deal.!<
>!When Aurora stops Ra’haam by making it see that “you cannot force someone to love you, or to give something up to love you, you have to let them choose if they want to do so”, she teleports it into some time/space pocket with no one having access to it, essentially forcing everyone into not being with Ra’haam, stripping them of their choice… After all this “they need to choose themselves” stuff. This is pretty bad, as it undermines the whola moral of the story, and it has more of a feel “the end justifies the means”, as it is ok to make someone bad change into someone good, and then get rid of them anyways, as punishment for being bad in the past.!<
>!Saedii’s and Tyler’s romance felt horrible. Considering the first “romantic” thing they did was her borderline rape attempt, it made me completely flabbergasted to not only find out he seemed to think the murderous psycho is now a good person, but that he was actually interested in her? Frankly I lost any respect I had for Tyler after this, especially with his “I love you Cat” whilst he’s banging a homicidal sociopath. If anyone is straight cis male, I would appreciate some insight if this is normal. Probobaly my biggest gripe with the books, maybe except for:!<
>!”Though Cearsans actions cannot be excused, he acted with love.” What. the. actual. fuck. This is blatant genocide apologism. Sure, he killed billions of people, but he did it for love of his nation, race, sense of honour and country, so he wasn’t all bad. Sure, he also beat his wife and children, but he did it to strenghten them, because he loved them. A certain other person who loved his country, “race”, and nation comes to mind, and makes me dread looking up authors political views. It might also expain the Saedii x Tyler thing. Rape is bad, but Saedii did it because she loved Tyler, and in the end, Tyler kinda liked it so it’s ok. Hopefully next time she “takes what she wants” it isn’t held by some poor bystanders child.!<
by Coroder
1 Comment
Jay Kristoff is an author who has frequently been criticised for his representation of women in his books. I haven’t read Aurora series by him but I did read *Empire of the Vampire* by him and it really left a sour taste in my mouth, with how he wrote the female characters.