Bah, I hope your week is going better! Let's see how far I get in these replies before my battery dies. I'm gonna get a bit spoilery for future chapters/books in the below. So:
What I really love about Avery in this chapter is that he is, as you say, a dick, but he's a relatable dick. Like, his behavior is so standard for someone who's moved out of mom and dad's house to live on their own for the first time, and of his age, which is the age where he thinks he knows everything and are way more experienced than he is. And the Company is definitely not the thing and the environment that's going to jolt him out of his preconceptions and ways of thinking.
Avery and Helen's initial interaction is very telling, isn't it? They're both looking at each other as possible means to the ends they think they want (Avery: beautiful bride, and Helen: prestigious husband) and not what they actually want (a companion on their same wavelength). It's interesting to think about what might have happened had Avery not been sent on the mission with Blake, because he might have been more compatible with Helen then. The Devil's Feast makes clear she was after an improved standard of living, which is exactly why Avery came to India, too. It's a shame for Helen that his experiences in TSV jolt him out of that. And yes! Total intrigue as to why beautiful, engaging Helen needed to go all the way to India to find a husband, especially when we see in TDF that men in England are perfectly solicitous of her.
I really wonder what the rational was for sending Avery as the Company's messenger. They couldn't seriously have expected him to succeed, and must have known exactly what his reception at Blake's hands would look like. I would also love a look inside Carter's head at where Blake was mentally before that first meeting. I've no doubt he was deeply withdrawn and depressed, but go back and forth on how genuine his presentation of it was. I can see it being 100 percent genuine, but I can also see him frantically ginning up a grimy disguise on the other side of the door to horrify the self-important ensign who's been sent to irritate him. XD
And oh, that second meeting. Surprise! I'm always a bit bemused on rereads that it's Buchanan that sets it up and not Collinson, because it's such a Collinson power move. "Here, two people who hate each other! Have fun cooperating!" I was very taken with Blake's flat "no" in this scene, and how he and Avery race each other to quit before the other guy can fire them, so to speak. And yes, goals. You can just see the wheels spinning in Blake's head: Fine. But I'm only doing this because I want to travel India again and find Mountstuart, and you can't make me do anything else.
I also wonder how much Blake knew about the anti-Thuggee campaign at that point.
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Date: 2021-02-09 02:26 am (UTC)What I really love about Avery in this chapter is that he is, as you say, a dick, but he's a relatable dick. Like, his behavior is so standard for someone who's moved out of mom and dad's house to live on their own for the first time, and of his age, which is the age where he thinks he knows everything and are way more experienced than he is. And the Company is definitely not the thing and the environment that's going to jolt him out of his preconceptions and ways of thinking.
Avery and Helen's initial interaction is very telling, isn't it? They're both looking at each other as possible means to the ends they think they want (Avery: beautiful bride, and Helen: prestigious husband) and not what they actually want (a companion on their same wavelength). It's interesting to think about what might have happened had Avery not been sent on the mission with Blake, because he might have been more compatible with Helen then. The Devil's Feast makes clear she was after an improved standard of living, which is exactly why Avery came to India, too. It's a shame for Helen that his experiences in TSV jolt him out of that. And yes! Total intrigue as to why beautiful, engaging Helen needed to go all the way to India to find a husband, especially when we see in TDF that men in England are perfectly solicitous of her.
I really wonder what the rational was for sending Avery as the Company's messenger. They couldn't seriously have expected him to succeed, and must have known exactly what his reception at Blake's hands would look like. I would also love a look inside Carter's head at where Blake was mentally before that first meeting. I've no doubt he was deeply withdrawn and depressed, but go back and forth on how genuine his presentation of it was. I can see it being 100 percent genuine, but I can also see him frantically ginning up a grimy disguise on the other side of the door to horrify the self-important ensign who's been sent to irritate him. XD
And oh, that second meeting. Surprise! I'm always a bit bemused on rereads that it's Buchanan that sets it up and not Collinson, because it's such a Collinson power move. "Here, two people who hate each other! Have fun cooperating!" I was very taken with Blake's flat "no" in this scene, and how he and Avery race each other to quit before the other guy can fire them, so to speak. And yes, goals. You can just see the wheels spinning in Blake's head: Fine. But I'm only doing this because I want to travel India again and find Mountstuart, and you can't make me do anything else.
I also wonder how much Blake knew about the anti-Thuggee campaign at that point.