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So, when we were in the first book, I remember there were some commenters who weren't enjoying the story partly because they didn't find Essun to be likable, or someone they could "root for". After I'd first read the series, I remember seeing a twitter thread from the author, where she talked about how the goal was never for Essun to be 'likable'. In fact, she kind of deliberately made her 'unlikable', and we're getting more shades of that here. We are learning from Nassun's perspective that she hasn't seen "proof" Essun loved her, and that...says a lot.

For me, I really love Essun as a character, while understanding that she isn't a good person, and hasn't been for a long time. However, understanding why she acts the way she does, and why she has become the person she is, is a big part of the journey in the first book, and it carries through to this one. I empathize with Essun a lot, and I think she's fascinating, and I don't need her to be traditionally 'likable' for that to be the case.

In fact, I think she's pretty unique in that regard. We see a lot of 'unlikable' (often White) male protagonists. Your Walter Whites, or Frank Underwoods, your Light Yagamis, etc. But a Black woman being in the role of an 'unlikable' protagonist that you can still understand/empathize with, or maybe even root for, is a lot rarer.

To be clear, I don't think it's a bad thing if you couldn't enjoy the story because you didn't like the characters. Everyone gets something different out of fiction, and there have been plenty of times where my own issues with liking the characters has kept me from being invested. It's just something I personally really enjoy about this series.

We are at the point in the story where I remember all the big story points, but only vaguely recall exactly when they take place. So I have no idea what is next, but will remember a few seconds into next week's episode lol.

Fruits Basket S2 Thread because it's time to continue that sweet, sweet, heartbreak.

Somehow I knew what this gif reply would be when I got the email notification. Painfully accurate lol.

I really love the complex relationship between Essun and Alabaster. To think of where they started, all they've been through, and them being here now...it's all changed so much, so many times over, and yet there is always going to be something between them. It's a complicated and messy thing, but it's endured a long time.

Next to the Akito reveal, this was one of the things I was most looking forward to being animated, which sounds kind of horrible? But it's so devastating, just as much as when I read it for the first time. And I know it can be easy to be put off by Rin's behavior at first, so this episode is vital to understanding her and why she's been behaving the way she has.

Fruits Basket S2 Thread because the newest episode has broken me inside

I noticed that before I posted and considered drawing attention to it myself, so I'm glad someone else did lol.

Well, for one, not everyone assumes from the start that the planet is Earth, and that it therefore has the same celestial objects. For two, it could have been talking about other planets. But honestly from what I've seen from people who are surprised by the moon thing, it tends to be very much like what it says in the interlude: people don't tend to think about what they've never had to consider. And someone reading who doesn't even think to imagine a world without a moon, isn't automatically going to understand that that's what Jemisin is implying. For a lot of people that just flies over their head. Like I said, what seems obvious may not be to someone else.