I Have Reached The Bit In The Spear Cuts Through Water Where Keema And Jun Start Hearing Each Other's

I really love the idea that when Neil and Andrew get completely comfortable sharing a bed they’re both actually horrible to sleep with. Neil talks in his sleep and kicks. Andrew is a bed/blanket hog, he’s also a cuddler but in the way that he’s laying on Neil (he claims it’s to stop Neil from kicking him).

random thoughts i’m having while rereading the trb (this is just in the first like 80 pages because im obsessed)

oh my god gansey canonically drinks frapaccinos (because he’s so 2013 hipster)

“i thought you were dead in a ditch” i love ronan

gansey is so unknowable in the books no wonder everyone’s so obsessed with him

love that adam’s crush on ronan manifests first through an obsession with declan. ronan and declan would both equally hate that

gansey and ronan do donuts with their cars?? they are the same

ganseys duality being shown through having a bunch of random history books and swimsuit magazines thrown around is so funny

declan, king. why would you bring your girlfriend to meet your estranged brother’s weird friends - and specifically ask said friends to make sure it’s when ronan is gone lmao he’s so weird

glendower doesn’t gets mentioned until pg.44 - we have to get through copious and lovely descriptions by adam of gansey’s psyche in order to find out like, the plot of the book

we sort of get hints of gansey being friends with both declan and ronan until nialls death and him ultimately picking ronan which, ouch.

WHY IS GANSEY SUCH AS ASSHOLE OH MY GOD BLUE RUN i love them

omg blue describes gansey as “very tall” and around the same height as the other boys - rip short king representation (this is not aftg ig)

CANNOT STRESS HOW VALID BLUE IS AND HOW STUPID GANSEY IS WHEN THEY MEET WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CREEPY GANSEY

“devil waitress ” and “evil” jesus christ gansey calm down

love the fact that while ronan and declan are fighting and gansey is breaking up the fight, adam is playing with a spongebob bouncy ball. unbothered king

what do u mean Henry didn't do the SATs bc he had an 'aesthetic objection'

Andrew Minyard is the Smartest Ever and I Need to Discuss It

So one night Andrew and Neil are both perching on Andrew’s desk which he has pushed by the window because they’re both blowing their smoke out through the screen 

It’s finals week and all of Neil’s books are scattered underneath where they are sitting 

Andrew is already done his finals because seniors take theirs early 

The seniors are celebrating senior week but Andrew much rather prefers staying in and pretending it’s a hardship helping Neil study even though he secretly doesn’t mind 

And after they’re done smoking, Andrew says something like “you sure have become a slob for a former runaway” and Neil just rolls his eyes and dramatically swipes all the papers and books from the desk into his backpack to shut Andrew up 

Not realizing that he accidentally swept some of Andrew’s papers from the desk 

Probably because they made out on the desk for about 45 minutes afterward

So the next day when Neil is trying to cram during his five minutes between exams he starts rummaging through his bag for his notes 

And instead finds a letter 

And he’s confused why he has a university official letter in his bag and starts reading it 

But then he notices it’s addressed to Andrew 

So he’s about to stop 

But TOO LATE because then he sees in bold letters 

“Congratulations on being this year’s Valedictorian" 

And Neil sucks in a breath so hard that he starts choking 

And now he has to fucking SIT THROUGH an entire FUCKING EXAM knowing this information 

I mean Neil knew Andrew was smart but he did not know he was this smart

That even when Andrew was hospitalized he was still doing his work and getting straight A's 

Cause Andrew has always gotten straight A's 

When he was in the foster system he probably used doing homework and studying and reading as an outlet 

And Neil spends at least half of his english exam wondering when in the world Andrew has time to study between Exy practices and Neil being a constant pain in his ass 

But then Neil starts to put some of the pieces together and thinks about all the times he was studying and Andrew would just be reading in the corner 

Or how Andrew never misses any of his classes for anything unless Neil says he needs him 

And now Neil feels guilty for any time that he pulled Andrew from class 

And Neil knows Andrew’s schedule by heart except it never really clicked that Andrew has been in 400 level classes since Neil has known him 

But Andrew never puts in effort!!! With anything!!! So it doesn’t make sense!!! Except it /does/ because Andrew only puts in effort if nobody is asking him to 

Nobody ever hounds Andrew about classes or his grades probably thinking it would be pointless to do so 

Except nobody apparently had to because Neil apparently has the smartest boyfriend in the world 

His dick might be half hard by the time he hands in his exam

I mean he basically pops a boner every time Andrew wears his glasses so it is #confirmed he has a huge kink for intelligence and intelligent looks

So Neil gets through his English exam and rushes back to his dorm 

That he shares with Andrew and Kevin 

And he barges in and is looking down at the paper saying “You’re valedictorian??!!??” 

And when he looks up he realizes it isn’t just Andrew in the room 

Neil is stunned into silence 

Andrew is perched in his regular spot 

And all of the rest of the foxes are scattered across the floor watching a movie together like literally ALL OF THEM like the past foxes too because they came to visit!!!! Because Neil only has one last exam tomorrow but also to sort of have an excuse to be there for the other foxes’ graduation

But now all eyes are on Andrew

And Andrew is looking at Neil with the most passive expression 

Nicky is the first to speak letting out a stunned “What the fuck" 

He earns a glare from Andrew

Kevin, Matt, and Aaron are looking between Neil and Andrew in complete shock 

Renee looks unsurprised but gives Andrew this small proud mom smile 

Kevin, Matt, and Aaron are literally giving themselves whiplash 

Dan and Allison are just sort of looking at Neil for further explanation since they know they won’t get any from Andrew 

But Neil doesn’t have any explanation 

And he’s short circuiting because everybody is there 

Also he feels like he just revealed one of Andrew’s big secrets or something 

But Andrew just slides off the desk and walks over to Neil 

And takes the paper out of Neil’s hands 

Whips out his lighter 

Sets the paper on fire 

Drops it in the bin 

And says “guess I’m not valedictorian anymore" 

Before retreating back to his perch like nothing happened

Forcing everybody to act like nothing happened like the little shit he is

Later on, Neil brings it up while hovering over his math textbook trying to memorize the last few equations and failing

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Andrew ignores his question in favor of picking up a piece of paper and scribbling a bunch of numbers on it

“Solve this”

So Neil sighs, figuring he’s not going to get anywhere else tonight and solves the equation and hands it back to Andrew

But Andrew doesn’t take it, just raises an eyebrow and says “What did you get?”

And Neil reads out “286%” before realizing what it actually means.

now i haven't finished the dream thieves yet (i'm like,,, 7 chapters away from finishing) and i think this may contain spoilers???? but i'm not too sure yet. i'm basically gonna word vomit. i'm sorry for not using any quotes, i wish i could but i only have the ebook version and a very limited storage space on my phone where i can only have ~two books downloaded

like a normal person, i enjoy listening to video essays, see what creators want to explain to their audience and leave with a certain view, try to come to my own arguments about certain points in the videos, see if i can apply some points to other aspects of my life etc etc. (this was the type of shi that helped me with my eng lit essays rip i miss alevels) and like a normal british citizen i looked up stuff about classism in the uk. in the end, i found a video essay about classism in general and how the ultra rich try to mimic being poor to get away from their hard issues that comes with being rich (which, frankly, is probably a lot less compared to someone who is working class).

recently, i was talking to my friend about specifics in the book about certain characters and i remember we went onto the convo of making music playlists for the characters. they said "it's gonna be hard for adam [...] cuz his whole thing is about being unknowable" and it always struck me with how unknowable he truly is when reading his character because his character is intrinsically linked to his working class background. (context: i'm a middle class child of immigrants who built themselves in the uk)

it's very clear the kind of social commentary stiefvater wanted to make using adam's character with how isolating and alienating it can be coming from a working class background trying to assimilate yourself into a society of those protected and privileged enough to not have any problems with accessing opportunities. how class is a huge obstacle between interpersonal relationships and feeling safe enough to be vulnerable with your issues with being working class. how difference in class can cause one-sided shame because of the meritocratic society we're living in. how, no matter how much money you earn or how many connections you can make, your attachment to your working class identity can be enough reason to aim for something supernaturally larger than yourself.

it's evident that other characters overlook adam's social class because he's a "self-made man" (or smth) and mainly because he's their friend: adam. however, when we get a chapter in his pov, class is a driving factor in how he interacts and views everyone. we can see the privilege gansey and ronan have for being able to not even consider class as an intimidating aspect about themselves to a normal person, but it's everything to adam in the sense that he feels like his earned money doesn't give him access to a similar respect.

now that i truly think about it, it was a good idea for adam not to join them in monmouth manufacturing because it just feels like they're... mocking him in an indirect way? they have the ability to choose to live in a nice place and instead chose to live in a random, run-down building because it seemed aesthetic. adam was forced to live in a rundown trailer because that's all they could have afforded. i know gansey had good intentions for wanting adam to join them, but everything that he likes as an aesthetic (monmouth manufacturing, the run-down camaro, eating mint leaves instead of gum) can seem like he's flaunting the fact he can choose that lifestyle without any consequences.

back to the point of the meritocratic society (which we usually assume in books that take place in a similar world as our own) creating shame because of their class: the assumption that because someone has worked hard to earn what they have gives them a right to be proud. but this is the opposite for adam as he fights with the fact that he could have maybe be seen as even more equal to gansey if he had just been born with wealth.

we can frame it as, maybe, despite gansey's desire to appear working class, it only broadens the distance between him and adam. it only worsens adam's difficult relationship with his class shame despite probably wanting to be more relatable or even laid-back.

when reading the second book after his sacrifice, i was confused as to why adam was so un-adam-like. i mean, in the first book i didn't really understand him because of his huge insistance that his class makes him inherently inferior to everyone he surrounds himself with and i don't see class as an issue myself.

however, his sacrifice basically was watering the seed of ambition that was planted when he decided to aim for aglionby. it becamse clearer to me how much this opportunity to be superior, even if it's supernatural and terrifying, is important for him understanding in what he thinks he lacks. by those thoughts of what he lacks, he thought that this chance to be cabeswater's channel could be a way to compensate for his inferior social class. or something.

anyways, thank you for coming to my ted talk. this is not proofread, and my sister keeps nagging at me to shower. also i simp for gansey do not think this is me trying mischaracterising him i'm just trying to understand the theme of class in this series and having gansey as a figure to compare to is literally integral.

Andrew's humour is so underrated bc how did everyone move on from "is your learning curve a horizontal line" that quickly

(The foxes) you better not mess with my gang or you'll be messing with...

Oopie Goopie (Neil)

General Munchkinman (Renee)

Lil Jimbob (Andrew)

And worst of all...

Larry (Kevin at 5 am)

anyone else constantly thinking about that part in greywaren where adam talks about how he killed the other versions of himself to be this new version and how he stored his truth in ronan and lost sight of his real self and how he missed knowing where he was going, or is that just me?

andrew minyard character of all time. he's toxic. he doesn't talk to cops. he has an identical twin brother and they hate each other. he made his identical twin brother promise not to have any other friends and then doesn't even talk to him. he might be a misogynist. his only friends are a born-again lesbian who can beat him up, the runaway son of a yakuza-affiliated serial killer, and his therapist. he's a student athlete. he hates sports. he killed his mother. he's a Mean Girl who runs his friend group like a cult. he's a crim major for the bit. he has an eidetic memory. he's petty. he likes to get people gifts. he does coke sometimes but says it doesn't have any effect on him because he has too many mental illnesses. he's the love interest. he doesn't smile. he was right about wwiii. y2k goth. repeatedly risks his life to help people in situations that have absolutely nothing to do with him and says it's out of boredom. when they picked him up from the psych ward he got in the driver's seat and blasted screamo the whole ride back and didn't say a single word to anyone. oh my god he is exactly five feet tall. he's even gay

maggie stiefvater invented soulmatism when she wrote blue and adam being the only ones permitted by their respective lovers to drive said lovers’ Very Special Cars.