burglebezzlemen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
burglebezzlemen) wrote2019-12-31 04:43 pm
burglebezzlemen) wrote2019-12-31 04:43 pm
Thoughts on Borderline (Janet Edwards - Hive Mind)
Very, very spoiler-y thoughts.
Amber/Lucas
-I loved Mira pointing out that Amber is higher-rated than Lucas, and therefore, traditionally, she's the one who's expected to be taking the lead in their relationship. Not what Amber expected! But I also think both Lucas and Amber will be happier this way.
-It's interesting to me that the telepath getting together with their Tactical Commander hasn't happened before, or at least hasn't happened in recent memory. The other Telepath Units must be very different to Amber's because of this.
Amber's Unit
-GREGAS. (OK, he's not in Amber's unit, but he's seeing Buzz on a regular basis and he kind of honorary-is.) I kind of love Gregas. That mention back in Telepath of Gregas having higher odds of being a borderline telepath paid off! Also, I am fully expecting that when he goes through Lottery, he will be a spy.
-Loved seeing a character with sensory processing disorder, and getting to see Amber's view inside his head. Plus, Beckett's really fun and seems like he'll have an interesting role to play in the unit! And it's great seeing Lucas have a friend who gets him.
-Absolutely adored getting more of Buzz's backstory. And poor Buzz, OMG.
-Lucas is super-sentimental about Lottery, which I find fascinating. We got a bit about this with Juniper in Hurricane, but it really came through more in this book.
Other Telepaths
-I loved Mira SO MUCH, and I was so glad we finally got to see her! She's awesome. :D I love her having a hydroponics unit and being so proud of growing flowers and fruit, and I love that the Hive kept the other people in her learning support group on Teen Level with her. Hopefully all of them enjoy working in hydroponics? I mean, presumably Mira would know if they didn't. Or maybe some of them have different jobs in the unit.
-I think we pretty much all figured Sapphire excised her echo personalities by screwing her Strike Team members, but I was not expecting canonical confirmation. :D
-Olivia and Keith, or more accurately Olivia/Keith -- I mean. I MEAN. Amber's a nice person, and in spite of regularly being inside the heads of the worst people the Hive has to offer, she never thinks the worst of people, so of course she seems to take this at face value. I do think Keith genuinely had feelings for Olivia, as much as he's able to have feelings for anyone. But I also thought it was pretty obvious that Keith's grooming of Olivia from right after she started working as a telepath was a big part of why she lost herself to the echoes.
I have to wonder if the other telepaths knew about Keith and Olivia. They wouldn't have approved. Claire especially probably would have tried to put a stop to it, the way she did with the whole Celandine thing.
-I loved all the new Claire backstory! Gideon's been holding out, haha. (But I find it totally plausible that Amber hadn't seen any of this in his head before. She does tend to avoid reading people who aren't Lucas.)
I also wonder how Claire really did see Keith -- was she as disapproving as he claims she was? I find that hard to believe, given the other descriptions we have of Claire.
General Worldbuilding
-The duty children info is fascinating. Also, the Hive would have been so screwed if Claire hadn't had 25 duty children -- Amber maybe would have been born regardless, as the grandkid of Duty Kid #1, but Keith was all the way down as the kid of Duty Kid #23. Have to wonder how many other telepaths from the family will pop up.
-Fully expecting that an eventual book will include Amber replacing Claire as the telepath who checks the heads of candidates for very highly-placed positions in the Hive and on the Council of Gaia.
-I want to know so much more about Teen Games. :D
-It was really fun seeing the New Year festival! I did wonder what else it entailed -- there were pageants in the lead-up, but what else would happen? Is this a multi-day festival with family meals and gifts?
-I'm a little skeptical that they could actually complete Amber's new animal sanctuary area in the time given, but who knows -- maybe! And I'm very interested in why the Hive spends so much time and resources on breeding animals. Was this just something to contrast with the plotline about duty children and genetics, or is the Hive trying to keep animal species alive to release to the wild once the worst effects of climate change are over? (We know they have monkeys, and monkeys aren't native to England. It seems like their animal breeding program is about more than just giving people exposure to rabbits or whatever.) Are other Hives also working on this effort with them?
I am taking it as more or less read that major climate change happened in this world and there was a period of extremely violent storms, as established by Lucas talking about weather being a driving force behind moving to Hives, plus the discussion of the mega-storms in the past in Hurricane.
-I did find myself wondering why they didn't test teens early for telepathy while they were in the three-year crunch between Claire dying and Amber being discovered. I initially assumed it was because there's too many teens to test outside of Lottery -- but if borderline telepaths' relatives are more likely to develop telepathy, presumably they could have tested the offspring of borderline telepaths, Claire's many progeny, etc. Maybe there's some Joint Hive Treaty clause that says you can't have kids start working until age 18?
-I loved the Teen Level tomato soup. :D
-I am expecting the next book to be about the Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement visit and (hopefully) getting the next telepath from Hive Genex. And maybe we'll finally find out why Keith got stabbed?
Amber/Lucas
-I loved Mira pointing out that Amber is higher-rated than Lucas, and therefore, traditionally, she's the one who's expected to be taking the lead in their relationship. Not what Amber expected! But I also think both Lucas and Amber will be happier this way.
-It's interesting to me that the telepath getting together with their Tactical Commander hasn't happened before, or at least hasn't happened in recent memory. The other Telepath Units must be very different to Amber's because of this.
Amber's Unit
-GREGAS. (OK, he's not in Amber's unit, but he's seeing Buzz on a regular basis and he kind of honorary-is.) I kind of love Gregas. That mention back in Telepath of Gregas having higher odds of being a borderline telepath paid off! Also, I am fully expecting that when he goes through Lottery, he will be a spy.
-Loved seeing a character with sensory processing disorder, and getting to see Amber's view inside his head. Plus, Beckett's really fun and seems like he'll have an interesting role to play in the unit! And it's great seeing Lucas have a friend who gets him.
-Absolutely adored getting more of Buzz's backstory. And poor Buzz, OMG.
-Lucas is super-sentimental about Lottery, which I find fascinating. We got a bit about this with Juniper in Hurricane, but it really came through more in this book.
Other Telepaths
-I loved Mira SO MUCH, and I was so glad we finally got to see her! She's awesome. :D I love her having a hydroponics unit and being so proud of growing flowers and fruit, and I love that the Hive kept the other people in her learning support group on Teen Level with her. Hopefully all of them enjoy working in hydroponics? I mean, presumably Mira would know if they didn't. Or maybe some of them have different jobs in the unit.
-I think we pretty much all figured Sapphire excised her echo personalities by screwing her Strike Team members, but I was not expecting canonical confirmation. :D
-Olivia and Keith, or more accurately Olivia/Keith -- I mean. I MEAN. Amber's a nice person, and in spite of regularly being inside the heads of the worst people the Hive has to offer, she never thinks the worst of people, so of course she seems to take this at face value. I do think Keith genuinely had feelings for Olivia, as much as he's able to have feelings for anyone. But I also thought it was pretty obvious that Keith's grooming of Olivia from right after she started working as a telepath was a big part of why she lost herself to the echoes.
I have to wonder if the other telepaths knew about Keith and Olivia. They wouldn't have approved. Claire especially probably would have tried to put a stop to it, the way she did with the whole Celandine thing.
-I loved all the new Claire backstory! Gideon's been holding out, haha. (But I find it totally plausible that Amber hadn't seen any of this in his head before. She does tend to avoid reading people who aren't Lucas.)
I also wonder how Claire really did see Keith -- was she as disapproving as he claims she was? I find that hard to believe, given the other descriptions we have of Claire.
General Worldbuilding
-The duty children info is fascinating. Also, the Hive would have been so screwed if Claire hadn't had 25 duty children -- Amber maybe would have been born regardless, as the grandkid of Duty Kid #1, but Keith was all the way down as the kid of Duty Kid #23. Have to wonder how many other telepaths from the family will pop up.
-Fully expecting that an eventual book will include Amber replacing Claire as the telepath who checks the heads of candidates for very highly-placed positions in the Hive and on the Council of Gaia.
-I want to know so much more about Teen Games. :D
-It was really fun seeing the New Year festival! I did wonder what else it entailed -- there were pageants in the lead-up, but what else would happen? Is this a multi-day festival with family meals and gifts?
-I'm a little skeptical that they could actually complete Amber's new animal sanctuary area in the time given, but who knows -- maybe! And I'm very interested in why the Hive spends so much time and resources on breeding animals. Was this just something to contrast with the plotline about duty children and genetics, or is the Hive trying to keep animal species alive to release to the wild once the worst effects of climate change are over? (We know they have monkeys, and monkeys aren't native to England. It seems like their animal breeding program is about more than just giving people exposure to rabbits or whatever.) Are other Hives also working on this effort with them?
I am taking it as more or less read that major climate change happened in this world and there was a period of extremely violent storms, as established by Lucas talking about weather being a driving force behind moving to Hives, plus the discussion of the mega-storms in the past in Hurricane.
-I did find myself wondering why they didn't test teens early for telepathy while they were in the three-year crunch between Claire dying and Amber being discovered. I initially assumed it was because there's too many teens to test outside of Lottery -- but if borderline telepaths' relatives are more likely to develop telepathy, presumably they could have tested the offspring of borderline telepaths, Claire's many progeny, etc. Maybe there's some Joint Hive Treaty clause that says you can't have kids start working until age 18?
-I loved the Teen Level tomato soup. :D
-I am expecting the next book to be about the Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement visit and (hopefully) getting the next telepath from Hive Genex. And maybe we'll finally find out why Keith got stabbed?