Literally Leander discussion

Our featured book for June is Chaos & Flame by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.

Chaos & Flame is the opening book of a fantasy duology, with the second book published last month! Both authors have written sci-fi/fantasy novels. Gratton has published YA and adult books, while Ireland has focused on YA and middle grade.

The discussion prompts for this month were written by a staff member.

1. Between Darling and Talon, which point of view did you enjoy most? Which character did you identify with best, and why?

2. In the prologue, young Caspian paints a single girl again and again—first without eyes, and later with figurative eyes, like suns and moons, or fire and pearls. What is the significance of the eyes in the prologue, and how does their symbolism change over the course of the novel?

3. How would you describe “Chaos” as it’s presented in the novel? What is its role, and why is it important enough to be part of the book’s title?

4. Discuss the relationship between Talon and Caspian, as well as their duties in their respective roles. Do you think their relationship would be different if they weren’t High Prince Regent and War Prince?

5. What did you make of the final chapters? Did you see this climax coming? Were you surprised at how events unfolded?

6. Are you planning to read the sequel, Blood & Fury? What do you think the future holds for Darling and Talon?

I gave this book 2 stars. It was short (yay!) and had some really interesting opening chapters, but I think it quickly devolved from there. Caspian's end goals are too ambiguous, which left the plot feeling aimless. I didn't like the instalove relationship between Darling and Talon, nor the suggested love triangle with Caspian as the third player. I didn't like how there were so many political meetings in which nothing really happens. So :(

1. Between Darling and Talon, which point of view did you enjoy most? Which character did you identify with best, and why?
I actually surprised myself by liking both narrations about the same. Usually in novels with multiple POVs, I tend to have a clear favorite. But if pressed, I think I’m leaning towards Talon’s chapters more. There is something inherently relatable about him; my best way to explain it is that Talon is, at the base of his characterization, trying to figure himself out. He doesn’t quite know exactly what he wants or what his future holds. He just knows that he wishes he understood his brother more, and that he had a little more freedom to be honest about who he is, as seen in the brief sentences where he talks about how he struggles to hide his feelings. That’s something that everybody can recognize in themselves.

2. In the prologue, young Caspian paints a single girl again and again—first without eyes, and later with figurative eyes, like suns and moons, or fire and pearls. What is the significance of the eyes in the prologue, and how does their symbolism change over the course of the novel?
In a way, the authors kind of hit us over the head with their eye symbolism. At least I will admit that it was interesting in the beginning before it became an obvious reverb, and that really digging into the symbolism at least makes me the slightest bit happy. It’s very obvious that Darling’s painted eyes were literal reflections of her eyes, damaged and Chaos-changed from years living in the dark. They are first black holes because she can’t see anything—they are useless, by definition. But then she returns to a life in the daylight, and the sun’s rays are too strong for her damaged eyes, but she thrives in the moonlight—which could explain the suns and moons representation, along with the description of her eyes being strangely reflective and oddly colored when not hidden behind her goggles.

I think there is more, perhaps stronger symbolism to be found in eyes of fire and eyes of pearl. Fire, because that’s the symbol of the phoenix, and that’s what Darling is made into at the end of the novel. It could also, theoretically, reflect back to the death of Darling’s family—for some reason, in my head I’m convinced that there was a lot of murder and pillaging and the houses set aflame, but I don’t know if that was just in my imagination or if it was actually mentioned in the novel. The choice of pearl was symbolic of Darling’s acceptance into House Kraken, seeing as their gemstone is pearl. The changing eyes act as both foreshadowing and throwbacks to Darling’s past. Caspian has his visions throughout his life, so in theory his paintings of Darling may represent the future and where she currently is in her life. You could argue that Caspian knows more about Darling than Darling herself, and the various ways he paints her eyes are just reminders of that.

3. How would you describe “Chaos” as it’s presented in the novel? What is its role, and why is it important enough to be part of the book’s title?
I thought maybe I missed it, but I don’t think that Chaos was explained in the novel at all. In my head, I was operating with the idea that it was the “god” of the world, only without the all-powerful, sentient overlord being well, a being. I thought of it as sort of an abstract piece of the fabric of the world. It exists, and can affect the world, but isn’t necessarily an active part of the world or its fate.

Why was it part of the title? I think that’s all speculation. I think that throughout the book, Chaos is used to explain Darling’s eyesight and her connection with Caspian, because few people believe that his powers were prophecy, not just painting, and thus they thought he was “Chaos-touched”, like Darling, and that it tied them together. But in conjunction with the Flame part of the title, which suggests ties to the phoenix, I think the title is just one large arrow pointing to the end of the book, which was chaotic and had the main character magically, pointlessly? transforming into a phoenix (can you tell it was a bit of a bother to me?)

4. Discuss the relationship between Talon and Caspian, as well as their duties in their respective roles. Do you think their relationship would be different if they weren’t High Prince Regent and War Prince?
I think that in a lot of ways, the relationship between Talon and Caspian is very much what one might expect given their birth order. Caspian feels very much set apart from his family. He’s independent and intelligent, though much of it is hidden by a façade. Many characters see him as “mad”, and part of me wonders if it’s true madness, if that makes any sense. Like, as the book went on, I was wondering if it was just Caspian’s machinations mixed with a temper that shows up when his plans don’t go as expected. So he’s not mad in terms of 100% unpredictable in a “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” sort of way, because nearly all of his actions, no matter how strange they are, have a purpose. They just seemed strange because they were out of the ordinary, and the goal was only visible to him. Perhaps if someone else knew his goal, they wouldn’t think he was crazy at all. Either way, it further sets him apart, which is why Talon came off as the quintessential younger brother, desperate to understand the elder, to be part of his plans, and to be recognized for his worth.

I think that in some ways, their relationship would have been better had they not been High Prince Regent and War Prince, mostly because there wouldn’t be the pressure for Caspian to have a certain demeanor. In turn, there wouldn’t be anyone clamoring to remove Caspian from a position and replace him with Talon, therefore any sense of competition, or resentfulness, wouldn’t have applied in this situation. I think if Caspian had been left to just be, there wouldn’t have been so many secrets and lies.

5. What did you make of the final chapters? Did you see this climax coming? Were you surprised at how events unfolded?
Honestly, I strongly disliked the ending of the novel. I did enjoy the first few chapters of the book, and thought I could really get behind the story, but as the plot unfolded I was more and more disappointed, mostly because I’m not a huge fan of fantasy novels that are deeply engrossed in politics. But that ending… ugh. It had that fever dream quality and I did not like it. I found it hard to follow and, if I’m being completely truthful, was ridiculous at best. In some ways, it felt like a completely different novel. How did we go from Caspian’s weird ramblings, the Darling x Talon instalove, and the battle between two houses into a heist for relics, accompanied by a sudden shapeshifting into mythical creatures? It left much to be desired, and it made me not want to continue with the series, even if there is only one book left.