Re-read July 2026
CBR Bingo: Clown, because 1) I am missing clown to completely a bingo (also yay! this completes one bingo!) and 2) I do think Clownish describes a lot of Elliot through this book, in a way that probably isn’t fair to him because he really is a misfit, which is also in the category.
A very long dated re-read, entirely from the recommendation of my friend. I was idly looking through my friend Lydia’s bookshelf when visiting her this summer and saw a copy of this book. I’m pretty sure I recommended it to her way back when (PRE PANDEMIC, the before times) and made an idle comment about how I hadn’t thought about it since, but did enjoy it, even thought Elliott was a little snit most of the time. Lydia surprised me by saying it was one of her favorite books, and had I read the accompanying story from the perspective of Luke?
So back I went, and also back I went to the review below which, sorry. Lots to unpack here.
First, the stranglehold that Harry Potter had on me in this era cannot be overestimated. October 2019 predates JKR’s meltdown (editor’s note: she’d had one ‘like’ on an anti-trans tweet that her PR team chalked up to a middle-aged moment. There were some murmurs in mid-2019 that she followed a number of TERF-identifying Twitter accounts. Her full-throated support of Maya Forstater was December 2019) and so of course I read a book by a former HP fanfiction author and immediately tried to jam it into a Golden Trio framework. What nonsense. Serene, Luke, and Elliott aren’t any iteration of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They are their own characters, and brilliant as such.
Although I do see some inspiration for El and Orion from the Scholomance…
Second, I still think that Elliott’s character is A Bit Much, but I have much more empathy for him and understand his motivations as such. Perhaps it’s being a bit older with more life experiences under the belt–the feeling of never being chosen, of always being someone’s best-for-now option, both romantically and platonically (and, worst, when the two coincide) can really wear on you, and cause you to act out in different ways. Elliott’s insistence that pacifism and negotiation can work better than sending literal! kids! off to war also hits much more strongly after an additional six years of *waves* all of this.
Third, when you let yourself really view the world through Elliott’s eyes, you can see how his over the top antics are a way of trying to make himself inextricable from this magical world he’s been thrust into. A father who is apathetic at best, a mother who actively doesn’t care for him even after he finds her, friends who canter off to war at the drop of an arrow–Elliott could very easily have gone toxic lonely male, but he’s fighting tooth and nail to stay connected to the world despite all his weird angles and large hair.
I really should recommend this book more often, because it’s a joy to read. Definitely one for the large venn diagram overlap of former HP stans who graduated to more madcap magic schools like Scholomance and Carry On 🙂
October 2019 This was such an interesting book. There were moments where I literally was laughing out loud, and other moments when Elliot’s Defining Character Trait of being A Little Sh*T was just Too Much.
Because all books are judged against the standard of commonly known books–here we have all the years of Harry Potter smushed into one book (and probably a good thing. I’m not sure I could have put up with 7 years of Elliot!Sass). You’ve got your Hermione, better than everyone at everything but lacking some empathy. Your Ron, with the addition of being the shiny one that everyone loves from a large loving family. And your Harry, if he was at 11/10 “No need to call me sir” at ALL TIMES, in a truly somewhat exhausting way.
I’m not sure if it’s entirely an ‘unlikeable main character’ thing, as Elliot isn’t unlikeable per se. He’s just so consistently, thoroughly difficult despite professing to be emotionally intelligent and aware of how others perceive him and how his presence changes situations. How many times does he have to insert himself into a situation in which he a) puts others at risk or b) comes on too hard to someone who’s not super into him or c) realizes that his friends are, indeed, warriors and enjoy warrioring and are not, in fact, committed sarcastic pacifists?
Most of the book felt this way–always a bit much when it comes to the point. Serene comes a society (elves) that is gender norms reversed (women are strong warriors with insatiable sexual desires, men are gentle creatures who crave love and protection) and on an ongoing basis it’s like half HAHAHA and half ha ha ha when she breaks out into an Observation that is Hilarious because the Patriarchy Is Real In The Real World, Excuse Me I’m Going To Go And Sulk In A Corner. A lost child suddenly appears? Serene skips back and calls for a man, with his naturally gentle nature, to come and deal with it. Elliot and Luke are fighting? Serene tells them to not catfight, even if it is their time of the month–women are born with the ability to efficiently shed their dark thoughts during their menses, but men lack such release and are prone to hysterical outbursts that sync with the phases of the moon. On one hand, consistently amusing to see the non sequitur-esque ways she reveals how deep her thinking goes. On the other hand, like Elliot she seems to lack EQ to learn from how she’s perceived. You’d expect an unrepentant misogynist protagonist to learn from exposure to a Strong Female Character(tm). Wouldn’t an intelligent elf with a penchant for strategic thinking also find herself questioning her beliefs after such close, sustained contact with men who defy her stereotypes?
But heh I’m not arguing. [When Golden shows up ready for battl ehaving stuff pudding bags down a suit of armor in a facsimile of breasts because Serene has told him that men can do anything women can do…I giggled.]
The character I was most in tune with or sympathetic to turns out to be, perhaps surprisingly, Luke? My sweet summer boy, never questioning the honor of being swordsisters with Serene ([actually, his insistence on using the term after Serene’s mother tries to deny him the right to be a swordsister–after all he’s a man–was one of the sweeter moments (hide spoiler)]). I think he ends up being the character that grows the most over the course of the books. I’m biased because he mentally played Ron and I’ve always thought of Ron as smol and needing fervent protection from the Hermiones of the world…but he truly does try his best, exasperated as he is, to roll with the complete dismantling of his warrior-centric world that Elliot is attempting.
[It also comes as literally ZERO surprise to anyone that Luke has had the hots for Elliot, right? From like…maybe day 2?]
All in all very enjoyable, very much recommend!
