hey noam, what was ur reaction reading the John chapters in NtN? did u follow?

Well the moment I got to “You always say that, Harrowhark” I lost my shit. The poem in the beginning? Let’s put this first-draft dream of mine to bed? Gave me chills. I’d assumed he’d been talking about Alecto as some sort of man-made construct of his, but now I’m not sure if he’s referring to his empire or the process of lyctorhood or what, cuz surely even he can’t be conceited enough to consider the Earth his own creation, no matter the body he put her in. When he promises the part where he hurts her is coming, ugh. I enjoyed him as a character in htn but his chapters here were really something special. Who else does it like him. Spends his life and career obsessively trying to save the world to the point of developing corpse powers, then just nukes it all to hell in one day. Becomes a youtube influencer and loses his clout cuz he pissed off PETA. Only resurrects people he likes, gives all his coworkers lame names and makes them literally call him my Lord. Eats the Earth and stuffs the leftovers in a barbie. Quotes the bible at Harrow like he wrote it. Renames his childhood friend after a dog. And the real magic is that every step of the way, you can totally see it happening. He’s your average principled, goofy, self-centered, controlling, struggling academic type with a mission and blind spots and a bit of self-awareness and a lot of self justification. Only he’s also a god.

The blending of Harrow/Nona/Alecto was so fascinating, I saw somebody point out that Nona was experiencing Harrow’s dreams, being gently enfolded by Gideon’s arms in the saltwater pool, and vice versa. It’s so much. That Harrow has only the one dream and of course it’s this one, that Nona finds it so comforting, that Nona fucking hates Gideon’s guts. So good. I saw another theory that the dialogue in quotation marks is actually Harrow speaking and not the memory of Alecto, which I like. I miss Harrow! At least she got to exert a tiny bit of agency here. I wonder whether she can remember Gideon now; it’s a bit tragic that she’s been trying so consistently and so tenderly to dream of Gideon, and she didn’t even get to experience her own dreams.

Re: did I follow, as usual with these books, I simply followed along 😂