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?
no subject
I'm also very skeptical that they could complete Amber's new sanctuary that quickly, but I guess Edwards had to have her dramatically rushed to her safe place *in front of Gregas*, and so hands were waved. And I've been wondering for books about the animals! Some farming makes sense, but what balance of ecosystems is chosen for within the Hive, and why, and what are the impacts of biodiversity initiatives outside the hive?
As I was reading Borderline, I was very pleased at how it delivered on things we all raised in our Yuletide letters - Mira expansion for Rain, Claire expansion for Rain and me, selective breeding and transfers between hives for me, festivals for you, confirming how Sapphire's unit has been at the frontline for Rain, urban legends for you (with Halloween-focused Teen Games)...
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 got the impression during the first book that they don't have a reliable means to trigger telepathy early? But that was before we learned that they have significant data on people whose genes make them likelier telepaths.
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 didn't really get that on the first read, but agreed, that was hella grooming. And a telepath is the worst person to instil boundary issues in.
I hope Beckett does become more prominent! Neat to see him, but having most of his plot being about how he had to be rescued because another character had taken advantage of his vulnerabilities was uncomfortable.
And maybe we'll finally find out why Keith got stabbed? - I hope so!
I'm so glad we've finally met all the telepaths.
no subject
I had the same thought about Yuletide letters! I also had that prompt about uncovering an area of the Unit that had been closed off since Claire died -- I really wasn't expecting that one to show up (with the expansion area).
Re: telepathy triggering earlier: I ran through that when I was writing a treat for Rain last Worldbuildingex, and if I recall correctly, they can't test for telepathy when kids are really young. But as far as I remember, canon hasn't established what would happen if they tested when someone was 15+. We do have some indications Amber had telepathic abilities she wasn't aware of before Lottery -- she got the right answer on the quiz during the lecture about Hive bulkheads, and she heard that girl crying at the end of Perilous even though Atticus didn't hear anything. And all that being said... I have other questions about how they detect telepathy! The method they used with Amber seems like it wouldn't work on a borderline telepath, because borderline telepath insights are all about luck. Or maybe the heightened stress of Lottery helps kick in?
Huh, I didn't read Beckett that way -- he had to be rescued after Keith fired him, but then he turned around and absolutely nailed the pattern analyses, and that information was what let Lucas track down Diplomat Michaela and rescue Forge. Definitely agree that I'd love to see him more in future books, though!
Absolutely agreed about being happy we've finally met all the telepaths! Mira in particular I love. I'm really intrigued by her comments about Sapphire, too -- hopefully we'll get more Sapphire at some point. Amber's perspective on Sapphire has really evolved over the series.
The ecosystem stuff is fascinating to me. We know they've got a few larger animals (Linnette saw some of them). But all the parks we've seen through Amber have been really similar -- oak trees, apple trees, flowers, lawns, rabbits, birds. But maybe different levels have different types of parks? Or maybe there's specialist parks and zoos, especially on the higher levels, that have different ecosystems. There must be people out there maintaining fish populations, etc.