I've started a new weekly meme here and I'd love for you to join me. Saturdays are now dedicated to honor the characters that don't always get their voices heard, who support (or work to destroy) our beloved protagonists. This is for the third wheel in the love triangle (can you have wheels on a triangle?), for the BFFs, the family members, or even just the kind and loving (or deceitful and creepy) stranger who shows up and changes the game. We all know these stories wouldn't hold up without support so I'd like to take the time to highlight the best secondary characters I come across. This is an opportunity to talk about what makes these characters special, maybe to speculate what their world would be like without them, or maybe cast them in their own primary roles. If you'd like to create a SCS post leave your link in the comments and I'll check it out!
So today it's all about:
Death from Bitterblue
Man alive, Kristin Cashore rocks my world. And there are so many characters I could choose from today. This isn't really a book about Bitterblue - it's a book about her kingdom and her world. Her world that is bursting with wonderful characters - each one down to the bridge architect, who doesn't even make a physical appearance on the page, is so well rounded. Each of these characters has their own story. Which, really, only works to make Bitterblue a more extraordinary character.
But, I chose to talk about Death (pronounced like "teeth" with a "d") today. There's a lot about the importance of literacy in this book. Bitterblue is dealing with the aftermath of her father's reign of terror, and a big part of that is giving power back to the people - a really difficult thing to do when very few people can read, and even those who can have limited access. Further, King Leck destroyed hoards of books and altered some. So this is where Death comes in. His grace is the one, out of all the graces I'm aware of, that I - nerdily - would covet the most. He can read quickly and remember everything forever. Yeah, I want that.
But in the larger scheme of things, his grace and his determination make him one of the most important people in Monsea. Mostly because he is the only way everyone will remember. He's the only one who lived through the King Leck's reign, who had contact with King Leck, and who isn't dead, blocking out memories, or completely traumatized. He's confused and hurt, but he does everything he can to make sense of it. He's also taken on the enormous task of re-writing the books that King Leck destroyed. If all this isn't enough, he comes into play in a big way later on - which I won't talk about because it's a tad spoilery.
So yeah, he's incredibly crucial to Bitterblue's story, but he's also an endearing character. At first he's a cranky old, slightly creepy man who has an equally cranky and creepy cat. But as the story goes on, it turns out he's just been through a lot and has a huge responsibility - and his cat kind of becomes sweet too. Plus, he has this way of getting really excited, without showing too much excitement that made me grin.
Words are important, reading is important, books are important. Death personifies and amplifies that.
P.S. Those of you who've read Bitterblue - who was your favorite secondary character? I'd love to know, since there were so many great people to choose from!
So today it's all about:
Death from Bitterblue
Man alive, Kristin Cashore rocks my world. And there are so many characters I could choose from today. This isn't really a book about Bitterblue - it's a book about her kingdom and her world. Her world that is bursting with wonderful characters - each one down to the bridge architect, who doesn't even make a physical appearance on the page, is so well rounded. Each of these characters has their own story. Which, really, only works to make Bitterblue a more extraordinary character.
But, I chose to talk about Death (pronounced like "teeth" with a "d") today. There's a lot about the importance of literacy in this book. Bitterblue is dealing with the aftermath of her father's reign of terror, and a big part of that is giving power back to the people - a really difficult thing to do when very few people can read, and even those who can have limited access. Further, King Leck destroyed hoards of books and altered some. So this is where Death comes in. His grace is the one, out of all the graces I'm aware of, that I - nerdily - would covet the most. He can read quickly and remember everything forever. Yeah, I want that.But in the larger scheme of things, his grace and his determination make him one of the most important people in Monsea. Mostly because he is the only way everyone will remember. He's the only one who lived through the King Leck's reign, who had contact with King Leck, and who isn't dead, blocking out memories, or completely traumatized. He's confused and hurt, but he does everything he can to make sense of it. He's also taken on the enormous task of re-writing the books that King Leck destroyed. If all this isn't enough, he comes into play in a big way later on - which I won't talk about because it's a tad spoilery.
So yeah, he's incredibly crucial to Bitterblue's story, but he's also an endearing character. At first he's a cranky old, slightly creepy man who has an equally cranky and creepy cat. But as the story goes on, it turns out he's just been through a lot and has a huge responsibility - and his cat kind of becomes sweet too. Plus, he has this way of getting really excited, without showing too much excitement that made me grin.
Words are important, reading is important, books are important. Death personifies and amplifies that.
P.S. Those of you who've read Bitterblue - who was your favorite secondary character? I'd love to know, since there were so many great people to choose from!
