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Nona Liveblog. (1/5)

Because yes, I recorded it all this time.

Warning: THIS LIVEBLOG WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK. I have finished reading and am posting these notes after the fact. Therefore, it will also contain blurbs about things I missed on my first read. Please be cautious.

Once again, big thank you to @elexuscal for reading my rants and reacting with frustratingly vague emojis~

Chekhov — 08/25/2023 6:42 AM I looked at the cover and was like (Nona the Ninth cover art. Nona is standing with her arms outspread, holding a gas mask in one hand. Behind her, skeletons are falling. There is a 6 legged dog happily prancing in the background.) I hope the dog is an important part of the cast. That's really all that matters to me at this point. and lo and behold, it was! Also... This chapter numbering system is going to have me looking up bible verses which means all my ads will end up being awkwardly skewed.ALT
Chekhov — 08/25/2023 7:06 AM It's like, if you search for a sleeping bag on google once, suddenly all your ads and suggested things end up being camping stuff If I start searching up bible verses, next thing I know all my algorithmic stuff ends up being christian. I have as many algorithmic things turned off as I've found, but it STILL gets through. The thing is--the thing IS. I understand that this is John and his life before the Resurrection? But I still can't quite wrap my head around it. > He said: We just wanted to save you. You were so sick. WHO? > He said, It was me and A— and M— at the start. It wasn’t that they didn’t have the money for a bigger team; we were simply the only ones capable of what they were asking. M— for medical, A— because he was the glycerol-6 genius. Augustine???? Mercymourn?????? Hang on, were they there THAT early on??? Somehow I assumed that EVERYONe on Earth died aside from John. But this, in fact, puts them on the same timeline as him. His peers, even. Is this real...? Is this how it happens? :squint~2 emoji: Dragon — 08/25/2023 7:16 AM Ooh it's gonna think you're Christian, lol Dragon — 08/25/2023 7:17 AM Is this how it happens, indeedALT
Chekhov — 08/25/2023 11:48 AM The story so far appears to be just. John. Talking about the before. He worked to try to... cryo preserve people? Get them out... off planet? Presumably because it was dying. Is THAT who he means when he said 'you were sick'??? The planet? I'm also surprised about how adamant he is about the Nobody Gets Left Behind. I had mixed feelings about John after Harrow, and I'm not sure I believe him now. It's too much power for one being. But his intentions seem... better than I had imagined. >> “You always say that, Harrowhark.” ???????? Harrow? Dragon — 08/25/2023 11:51 AM yeah welcome to the confusion zone but here, have the fandom's favourite graphic (old style word art graphic with a sexily reclining skeleton and a skull with a crown on it, reading 'THIS POST IS ABOUT JOHN GAIUS, King Undying, Shitty Prince of Death, Necroslut Prime') Chekhov — 08/25/2023 11:56 AM Lmaoooooo Necroslut prime seems about rightALT
Apparently Camilla AND Pyrrah are here???? Guess she survived the escape from the deepest part of the River? First thoughts on Nona: Adorable. But confounding. “Thanks. I love you too, Camilla,” and: “Do you know who I am yet?” So they're trying to figure out who Nona is? Presumably it's.......... Harrow? Given the dreams. But last one in this.... body is Gideon? Dragon — 08/25/2023 11:58 AM PYRRAH! MY BELOVED Chekhov — 08/25/2023 12:13 PM So last book, Harrow went to have a nap in the Tomb. And Gideon was.........where? I thought someone was bringing her back, giving her CPR. But was that in HER body, which was not rotting? Or was that Harrow's body? (GIF of Sheldon from The Bing Bang Theory writing theorems on a white board.) I swear I'm thinking very hardALT

Spongebob Announcer Voice: They were not thinking hard enough.

And PALAMEDES IS HERE TOO? (GIF of the white creature which sits on a little block and spreads its arms out in confusion, staring ahead grumpily) Is this just the My Body And Soul Were Playing Musical Chair Crew? Is that what bonds this little troupe together??? The easiest way of telling who was who was in the eyes. Palamedes had soft cool eyes of brownish grey, like bare ground in the cold mornings when Nona had been little, and Camilla had the clearest of clear grey eyes like storybook ice, not like normal cloudy ice at all. .............so Camilla has been. ...........anti-Lyctor'd? Because them deep greys are Pal's eyes. "I spent all that time sleeping with the enemy with very little to show for it, right? Blood of Eden is a house with many rooms, and I was only ever visiting one of ’em." I'm honestly still not recovered that Gideon AND Pyrrah were both sleeping with Wake. What a couple of idiots. I absolutely love these immortals who come full circle from infinite wisdom and exhaustion through the ages and just become like kids again. 'have fun and fuck around and find out'ALT
Dragon — 08/25/2023 12:24 PM All of John's Crew: We're practicing unethical nonmonogomy Chekhov — 08/25/2023 12:25 PM 😂😂😂 ok but fr They're so unethical....... But that's just a description of their general disposition Dragon — 08/25/2023 12:26 PM 10 thousand years old and they used, apparently, most of that time to discover weirder and more fucked up ways to have sex and didn't even spare a decade to learn how to make a decent omlette, apparently [or stop waging endless genocide, but whatever]ALT
Nona didn’t understand how the others could walk around and go through their lives only touching each other as much as was necessary. This is. A FASCINATING character study. (GIF from Fresh Prince of Bell Air, Will Smith in a pink cap going 'hmm') So she doesn't know much. She doesn't care about swords or bones. But those are not necessarily.... indicative of what Gideon or Harrow like. Or rather, they DO like those things. But. Why? Harrow was RAISED to be a necromancer, right? Would Nona even care about this without being indoctrinated into the Ninth way of life as Reverend Daughter? And Gideon trained because she had fuck all else to her name. Sure, she LIKED swords. but she also had little else to choose between.ALT
And it's curious that Nona is so touchy. Because YES, it feels SO UNLIKE HARROW but my mind cannot help but go to that one passage in Harrow the Ninth where--oh boy I wonder if I can find it............. > You were so afraid she might touch you. You were so afraid anyone might touch you. You had always been afraid of anyone touching you, and had not known your longing flinch was so obvious to those who tried it. Which I think makes it obvious that Harrow's flinching from touch is actually because she is likely SEVERELY touch starved. The ninth house was very hands off. She likely had very little in the way of normal childhood development where touching is concerned. She likely could only get normal levels of it from, ironically, Gideon, who was similarly touch starved. But with so little guidance from NORMAL FUCKING ADULTS, WHICH THERE WAS A LACK OF they both thought that the only way to get touch was to rip each other to fucking shreds. Intricate rituals, etc, etc........... Chekhov — 08/25/2023 8:01 PMALT
Chekhov — 08/25/2023 8:01 PM > “Is his name really and truly Honesty?” Palamedes wanted to know. > Nona struggled. > “That’s how I hear it." Oooooh wait, she auto-translates names because of her translation abilities? Iiiinteresting. Update: Necromancers are being killed for sport for necromancy, presumably. Update: Nona has no idea she is a necromancer. Post thought update: IS Nona a necromancer? Post post thought update: What if she's neither Gideon NOR Harrow? What if she's like. One of the 200 kids that has been rolling around like bowling pins in the alley of Harrow's mind? What if she's the soup of them? Is there a way to be a Lyctor but not a necromancer? She DOES heal fast. So she's still a Lyctor. But she knows no theorems and cannot do anything consciously. Then again, Pyrrah is not a necromancer, but is still a Lyctor......................kinda? IS she? Technically????????? Nona also doesn't...........eat. That's a Lyctor thing. Or rather, she DOES, but she clearly doesn't like to. Or doesn't need to. That's such a Harrow thing.ALT

Post-Book Thoughts: The frustrating thing is that the clues were THERE. It was in the last part of Harrow that we were given the clues about how it COULD work. And I still didn’t– sigh.

> “Why do you love Crown?” Nona thought about it. > “She has lovely hair. And when she hugs you she smells like cinnamon, and her breasts feel nice, and she’s so big and pretty.” > Palamedes looked at her, and then he took the notepad out of Camilla’s capacious pockets. Nona despaired: there was always a tick somewhere if she mentioned breasts. lmfaoooooooo Palamedes really just made a mark about BREASTS in the G or H book. My good man, this tells you zero facts about which one of the lesbians it is.ALT
> Why is it that the blue light in the sky hurts—other people,” said Nona, “but not you and Cam?” > She had asked this upward of a dozen times, especially lately, but Palamedes always answered unhesitatingly no matter how many times he had been asked before. “She’s got the wrong kind of body. She and I can cheat … for now … draw on me, not her, for the unusual kinds of things that I do, with the downside being that our time is very limited. If I was in her body for too long, I’d hurt her and the blue light would start to hurt me. But in summary, nothing will hurt Camilla so long as I stick to the time limit. Make sense?” Absolutely not, you genius man. You're horrid at explaining the things you understand. For that matter, what IS the blue light????? I thought it was just a blue sky, and the sun that was too hot. But it turns out there's something ELSE that's up there? What IS it? Is it a thing the Edenites have? Something that hurts necromancers? But no, wait, Palamedes said it doesn't hurt him and Cam. So then does it hurt Pyrrah? Does it hurt Nona? No, nothing hurts Nona. And she said they didn't need it. SO WHAT THE FUCK IS IN THE SKY.ALT
“Sometimes,” she found herself saying, quite meditatively for her, “I don’t like it when you do—the necromancy word—” (“You just said it,” said Palamedes) “—but it feels nice at the same time. It’s mixed up. It’s like when you do that, it makes me sad—not sad that you did it, but sad that you can do it." (GIF of Patrick from Spongebob with a notebook, writing things down) One more tick for the Harrow box........................ ALT
Chekhov — 08/25/2023 10:58 PM > Then it suddenly dawned on the general public that this was the next move—we really were in the endgame, you weren’t going to last the distance—and everyone started to panic. Why is John still referring to Harrow as though she is the Earth? It's so interesting......... He is clearly referencing the climate crisis, and referencing how the earth is dying. And yet he's also referred to Harrowhark by name. Is this... kind of like how Nona can speak all the languages? Harrow hears The Earth and The World and knows that John really only means what he had managed to save of it? > I didn’t have to worry about the public or the media—we had a pet cop, P —. She’d made detective by that point; was going on to big things in the MoD. Knew G— from way back, and G— and I were both hometown boys, so P— kept the heat down for us. Hello Pyrrah. Hello Gideon First Class. > I knew all those bodies by name. Funny to say, but they were my mates, you know? I’d worked on them for such a long time, and they’d given us so much, and now they were going to get dumped in some concrete skip because after what we’d done to them they couldn’t be cremated or buried safely. I hated that. ............Legitimately beginning to like Jod. He...........cares. He's trying. And he's absolutely mad, but he CARES. He legitimately cares about the dead. He has a connection with them. Which is, weirdly, something Harrow also developed after all her life on the Ninth. She loved her people, in her own weird little way. She unabashedly loved and wanted the best for them. There's something to that............. ALT
Dragon — 08/25/2023 11:10 PM Yeah. Yeah these flashbacks really make us like Jod, ever after the last book made us go, FUCK YOU BUDDY Chekhov — 08/25/2023 11:12 PM I will fully admit, like, I don't think he's a good person I just think he's a fascinating and understandable person The whole scene is unraveling, but he seems to be a complex and very funny villain which makes him highly enjoyable Dragon — 08/25/2023 11:12 PM Yeah Or at least, I don't think he's been a good person for a long long time Chekhov — 08/25/2023 11:12 PM that might be a better way of putting it Chekhov — 08/25/2023 11:39 PM I am beginning to think that the dreams with John and Harrow have nothing to do with Nona. Like that's what Harrow is dreaming, but Nona is clearly dreaming something different. In the dream, I'm hungry. Hungry.............for souls? :espurr_flashbacks: Dragon — 08/25/2023 11:42 PM that sure is a theory : )ALT
Dragon — 08/26/2023 2:29 AM wait wait wait wait WAIT i just realised did you read the short story between Harrow and Nona? Chekhov — 08/26/2023 7:20 AM Yes I actually read it while I was reading Harrow, because someone sent it to me and said it did not contain spoilers Which was a lie but it helped me start reading HtN nevertheless Dragon — 08/26/2023 7:42 AM hmmn yeah i would wait until after Harrow myself but okay you got that context Chekhov — 08/26/2023 7:43 AM It has been helpful yeah Noodle didn’t want to have his pattens put on. He kept staring at Nona over his shoulder every time she wrestled a tiny, dirty white foot into a patten—it was like a little sock over a plastic grate—and there were six of them, she even had to do the legs he often stuck up or folded in at the middle. At one point, Noodle cunningly wriggled his way out of one shoe using another foot and Nona could have shrieked. She said, “Noodle, how dare you?” and he didn’t look guilty at all. This is the most accurate description of putting shoes on a dog, and I love it so much. I also love it that Nona loves animals. Dragon — 08/26/2023 8:04 AM dogs hate it. they hate it so muchALT
John 15:23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. The necromancy...........is beginning. :eyesblur: It's interesting that this seems to be completely intuitive. Not really..............theory heavy??? This isn't science. Perhaps John KNEW the science but that's not how this starts.ALT
Chekhov — 08/26/2023 8:42 AM That was because what happened the last time was that Camilla had got sick, and less important, Nona had got shot. Babygirl, I'm begging you............. Salt water had always relieved her: salt water made her feel as though, if there was someone in there with her, she would suddenly know the words to tell them everything. ................................I'm. pain. I AM interested in this whole Nona Loves to Swim deal. Another tick in the Harrowhark theory. But also....... maybe she is just connecting with the River? I'm still struggling to follow all of this guerilla warfare/political stuff. Mostly because the names are still unfamiliar. But it seems that EVERYONE wants the musical-chair-inside-out-lyctors. Dragon — 08/26/2023 8:56 AM they're ALL begging her Dragon — 08/26/2023 8:56 AM yeah the politics are pretty complicated i thikn it mostly boils down to: if Nona is a Gideon+Harrow Lyctor, she's basically an unstoppable force of nature just waiting to go off, if only they can direct herALT
Chekhov — 08/26/2023 8:59 AM CAMILLA WHAT DID YOU GUYS DOOOO I thought for a moment that maybe Nona could help her.... but no. Nona can't do Lyctor stuff anymore. What IS a Thanergy shock anyway? Something non necromancers can't handle? Dragon — 08/26/2023 9:00 AM seems so Chekhov — 08/26/2023 9:53 AM “Hect, you’re not listening. It’s killing him too—” “It was good,” said Camilla, and her eyes closed. “It was good. We were happy.” ...........this is. Horrible. And tragic. The idea that merging two souls in a body makes one HAPPY is a hell of a thought. Something like an ideal state. A state of comfort, like an embrace from a friend or a lover. Maybe that was the first time Cam and Palamedes could spend time together since the Canaan House.... :crycatmic: (emoji repeats 5 times) Dragon — 08/26/2023 9:57 AM :wail: (emoji repeats 4 times) steven universe fusion vibesALT
Chekhov — 08/26/2023 9:59 AM To Nona’s awe, she twitched the blackout curtains aside—stood bathed in the hyper-blue light from the sky as Nona held her breath—and she said to the window, “Here’s to Camilla Hect, yet another of devotion’s casualties,” and knocked back the glass. Then she said to the light, quite gently, “No, I don’t blame you, man … He was always looking for things to throw himself on.” ...............WHOMST..... ARE YOU TALKING TO????? JOHN? IS THE BLUE LIGHT JOHN????? OR GIDEON????????? Chekhov — 08/26/2023 9:59 AM oh gods yeah Chekhov — 08/26/2023 10:00 AM But it sounds like 'he' could be Gideon Is the blue light in the sky...........John???? Did he turn into a sun???? Into a star? WHAT Dragon — 08/26/2023 10:01 AM GREAT QUESTIONSALT
Chekhov — 08/26/2023 11:20 AM She knew the luminous sphere hanging above the city, high in space, had kicked off all the riots, and was making everyone scream, and had caused the siege in the port, and made people throw themselves in front of buses, and made everyone say the end of the world was coming soon. It was making everybody’s lives horrible, and it had given Palamedes and Camilla the same grave, pensive expression, and Pyrrha slapped on an extra nicotine patch every time the fog burned away and it hung like a great blue ball in the sky. But Nona loved the blue sphere as much as she loved everything else. She, and nobody else, could hear it sing. “Good night, Varun,” she said. ...........w....what. what is it. WHAT IS IT??? NONA!!!! (screenshot of Google explanation of Varun - Water god. Origin: Indian. Meaning: water god. Varun is a boy's name of Indian origin. A derivative of Varuna, this classic name means 'water god' and is called after an ancient Hindu deity.) okay. okay okay okay. So is that. Is that Jod or. Is that. wait. Is that. Hang on I gotta check something.ALT
.............. PYRRAH SAID IT WAS PERISCOPING IN THE FIRST DANG PART OF THE BOOK IT'S THE FUCKING RESURRECTION BEAST????? IS THAT WHAT IT IS???? IS IT JUST A GOOD BOY WHO IS HANGING OUT IN THE RIVER WITH ITS HEAD ABOVE THE WATER? DOES NONA JUST THINK IT'S A WEIRD DOG?????? Is it 7? No, they killed 7, right?ALT

…………all this effort, and there was still a hole in my head through which all the information drained.

John 5:18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. :squint~2: hmmm anyway, John is just taking Dream Harrow on a grand old tour of the earth. Are they..........actually on earth? Are they actually trudging around New Zealand and having themselves a grand old father-daughter adventure? Or is this all just a bubble in the river? A really big island? Or Chekhov — 08/26/2023 11:30 AM > I knew it was fine. I knew I’d touched something, come away with something, that could be used for good. Could be used to fix everything, used for you. I only had to figure out how. There was so much to figure out. But I’d got a dream team on tap, eh? .......................... I keep thinking 'why John? Why did this happen THEN?' The planet. ..... flipped. That was what gave him the first burst of thanergy. The planet started to die......and it..... began to flip. And he harnessed all of that into his necromancy. He was the first and only one who knew how. > He sighed and said, “We had the internet. We decided to stream.” > She said, “What is this internet?” > And he said, “See, I did make a utopia.” I reFUSE to believe that the Houses went 10,000 years without someone re-inventing some sort of internet forum. The Sixth DEFINITELY have wikipedia. The third DEFINITELY have a pornhub. You cannot convince me he completely got rid of the internet. John. Come on man. You're powerful, but not THAT powerful.ALT

This is the end of part one! I think the rest I will try to split up into DAYS, since this is the end of DAY 2. Cheers!