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unhelpfulfemme · 7 months

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...because in this, as with everything he did, there were layers of intent, moments when expected patterns would suddenly dissolve into something else.

This line is about a swordfight, but I feel like this sums up this entire book series, and Laurent's role in it, quite well. There is an internal logic, patterns and symmetries, to everything that's happening, but the moment you think you've grasped them they shift into something different (and as someone really fascinated with dynamic systems I love it). It's like that with the plot, it's like that with the romance, it's like that with the characterization, it's even like that with the worldbuilding through the power of Damen's very biased narration.

And what I particularly like is that it doesn't only get patterns, but it also gets dynamics, because things must be done in the right order, in the right moment, with the right intensity, to have an effect, and interpersonal relationships shift and change as a response to this constant back and forth. And this principle is everywhere: the battles, the politics, the swordfights, the sex, the chivalric tournaments.

He thought of Laurent's delicate, needling talk that that froze into icy rebuff if Damen pushed at it, but if he didn't - if he matched himself to its subtle pulses and undercurrents - continued, sweetly deepening, until he could only wonder if he knew, if they both knew, what they were doing.

^ Like that, for example. Or the way some things have to happen as a precondition to Laurent feeling safe, at first: on a micro level, there must be some token show of dominance on Laurent's part, to which Damen should respond sweetly and unintrisively, before he lets himself go, and on a macro level, the show of dominance before he lets himself go is the entire first half of book 1. You must always do something, which will then change the thing that you're acting upon, put it in the right position for you to do what you wanted to do all along. I love this.

Finally, I'm not a person who's very partial to symbolism. It tends to ruin my sense of immersion when the weather is dreary because the character is sad and the curtains are blue because they symbolize the sadness of the scene, because it always makes me feel like the world is small and unreal and like the writer perceives the world in a deeply egocentric way (I hate antropomorphising; if you have to project yourself onto something to appreciate it, you're not appreciating it. real appreciation requires accomodation, not assimilation). But man the symbolism in this, and the way it intertwines the cultural and the personal, makes me go feral.

The intricate crisscrossing laces of Veretian clothing paralleling the tangled threads of Laurent's mind, both of which require skill and patience to unravel, both of which have both a protective and a stymying purpose, and how they contrast with Damen's straightforward nature, because he is a man who sees beauty in simplicity and seeks to achieve it. The intricate lacing of Veretian clothing also reflecting the intricate, overly complicated way they do everything, which is also reflected in their intricate, overly complicated architecture, and Damen's immediate reaction to all of it. The Akielon philosophy of appreciating things for what they are - striving for measured simplicity in order to appreciate the quality of the fabric, the stone, the body, and how it makes Damen receptive to how artless Laurent gets when he's vulnerable. The man who is an unbeaten champion of the okton, a sport where you have to have the strength and precision and self-control necessary to ace a spear throw while dodging other people's spears flying by you while riding a horse, being the one who knows the right move to make at the right time regarding the saw trap that is Laurent's personality. The man who enjoys having spears thrown at him for fun taking on Laurent's prickliness in a spirit of sportsmanlike challenge.

#captive prince #the real enemies to lovers here is me saying that this book has nothing that interests me and then #discovering that it captures the way I see the world and the dynamic way I see interpersonal relationships like nothing I've ever read befo #I have a lot more to say about the worldbuilding and the character work in particular but this is what I noticed at first #because it's so so important to me #also not to merrily mash my blorbos together without rhyme or reason #but I think Thrawn would so appreciate how the cultural logic of each nation is reflected #in their art and architecture

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ur-daily-inspiration · 21 days

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