Tangle of Need: Riaz & Adria's Story- Coming June 2012

Ming should be Sienna's. The Arrows had their chance, but they let him go. Doesn't have to be in ToN, but yeah, Ming should be reserved for Sienna.
Since she is virtually invulnerable to bullet/lasers, the only way to kill her would be through Hawke...but the council doesn't know about Changeling mates, do they? They'd be more wary of SD now. I hope Kaleb proves friendly, it seems he's the only one capable of killing Sienna now...or maybe Nikita's viruses? But she's not exactly a villain either.^^

I'm all excited for ToN right now, maybe for the wrong reasons, but I don't care!

Sascha's E has become somewhat superfluous for me.^^
I like healers, just that...well, I just thought that the physical, emotional and spiritual well being of the main character should be reserved for his/her mate to care for.^^

Sienna is definately killable. She has to be. Invulnerable CHaracters are boring
She´s kind of invulnerable when the X-Fire reaches critical level. And with Walker clearing it, it shouldn´t happen again.

I am totally looking forward to the developement in ToN, not so much the main pairing, though that could be interesting as well. But it´s the background, that drives those books and makes me hunger for more each time.

As for Sascha.. If I hear her whining one more time, that a pairing is impossible/not good/can´t have a good ending, I´m going to strangle her.

To me Sasche feels like the people that will always say, no matter what, "oh but that poor thing"
When you had to put down a horse, with a broken leg, Sascha would be the one saying "oh but that poor thing, you can´t kill it, that´s inhuman"

Or: "Oh, the Es can turn bad! What If I´m bad, a bad person and evil and what not... "

She turned out all emotion and no brain. Which strokes me all the wrong ways. Perhaps because I´m a very logical person, I just don´t "get" her.

As emotional healer, yes, she could be a great character, if she just weren´t so incredibly brainless.

I know Sienna being invulnerable makes it not only boring, but very MarySue-ish and I definitely don't want that!
And as Fluff said Walker clears out the XFire, so she shouldn't be dangerous anymore...but I still think she'll be invulnerable to the 'usual' weapons, I mean it would sound strange if she's not going to take advantage of it. But definitely, she has to have a weakness somewhere. >:3
We don't have all the Psy designations yet. So...there could still be someone out there who could balance things out. Someone among the Arrows probably, Ming must have prepared something for Sienna, he's not the council military tactician for nothing!

I think you got it right Fluff, Sascha has become so fixated on emotions, it has started to sound as if that's all she does.^^

I always thought that Sascha was pretty hopeful/positive about Sienna/Hawke. (But I do recall her not being very positive in some of the other pairings lol - Judd and Brenna in particular jump to mind.)

I think that Sienna would be fairly invulnerable in a direct, face to face confrontation. The X Fire blocks bullets and lasers. But I would think she could still be surprised, and caught off guard, with either a physical or telepathic attack when she can't raise the X fire quickly enough. She is a strong telepath but not as strong as Judd who is like 9.something. Can't remember where Sienna is on the scale for telepathy.

I think there was no one except Hawke and maybe Sienna who WERE not hopeful/positive about Hawke and Sienna.

I don't know why. Well, I suppose because Hawke wouldn't have done anything anytime soon and Sienna probably wouldn't have tried so hard otherwise. But bleh.

Even if they are fated to be mated, I don't get why everyone was supportive. Yes, apparently all the Changelings there are a super big family and their second names are two goody shoes, but.. I didn't like it. There really could've been someone to not be cool about it at all.

Come to think about it, Sienna and Hawke still feel.. unreal. : /

Sascha wasn't bad actually.. But it was as if NS wanted to make a statement with her. She was cool and all of that, but never really. As if being distanced and rational is something 'bad'. She made Sascha dream about sex and blowjobs from the beginning on - something completely unPsylike. Which is okay, because she's an E-Psy (although, maybe Sex-Psy would fit better, but you know, whatever) But it was.. too much. NS made her the most emotional person in the world in the end. And it's not bad but she was originally a Psy! I'm not saying it's not possible for a person to change, especially if they weren't as "Psy-ish" as the rest of the people anyways, but her personality in the last few books rubs me the wrong way.

I think everyone was supportive of Hawke and Sienna getting together because they hated to see Hawke alone, and because they were worried that he could turn cynical and bitter and mean over time. Which I could see happening. As everyone around him mated and were so smugly happy (didn't Sienna call them the "smug-mateds" or something like that), I could see Hawke changing and not in a good way.

But, maybe Nalini could have had Kit be more unhappy about it. Maybe have him be a little bit more attached to the idea of Sienna than he was and a little sad when it happened. But then he wouldn't have helped her out at Wild. It might have been more fun to have Walker or Judd be opposed. That could have been interesting.

I find the idea of JUDD being the new mating councilor extraordinaire extremely funny.
First Drew and then Sienna
Lol.

Haha Judd the Cupido. .... haha with white shorts, wings and a boy
hehe ....

I was expecting Walker to be more wary of Hawke...

Sienna's basically his daughter. I don't see him taking kindly to Ben (lol) sniffing after Marlee in the future.

Them pervy wolves.

Hawke was lonely, they all knew it. He has given so much to the pack, just how anyone cannot love him? He works for the pack 24/7, 7 days a week, with no day off, no vacation. And since Sienna was the one to make him happy, mate or not, then they're willing to do anything to help, this was their chance to give something back.

And no, the Changelings aren't all goody goody, there's that guy who sold Brenna to Enrique...and the reason why Hawke appointed Drew as his 'eyes and ears', we may not see the bad ones, but they're definitely there.^^

What was unrealistic to me was Rosalie. Nah, I don't want to vilify the 'other woman' so the heroine would look better, it's just...well, regardless of what nonsense she spewed about 'no strings attached', she still came to Hawke while knowing about Sienna. Surely, no woman is that 'self-sacrificing', Rosalie wanted something in return, and I don't buy her 'generous' attitude afterwards. Ok, so I applaud her graceful exit, but no way I'm buying that she's all fine with what happened.

Well ok, I ought to blame Hawke too, but since he was only there because his blue balls was affecting the unmated males, and he didn't push through his ebul plan, I'm more willing to forgive him. Nobody said he's perfect.

Judd is simply wonderful. <3
I sometimes wonder why Sienna was on first name basis with her uncles, could it be because it would be awkward for Hawke to call Judd 'uncle'? Walker is older than him, so it won't be as strange. But Judd? That would mean Hawke will call Brenna 'auntie' too.

Yurice wrote:I sometimes wonder why Sienna was on first name basis with her uncles, could it be because it would be awkward for Hawke to call Judd 'uncle'? Walker is older than him, so it won't be as strange. But Judd? That would mean Hawke will call Brenna 'auntie' too.

What do you call your uncles/aunts? In my family and as far as I can tell in Germany and almost every other country I have friends in it's standard to call all your family members except your parents/grandparents/great-grandparents by their first name. *curious*

I'm Filipina, we don't call our elders by first names, regardless if they're blood relatives or not.^^
For uncles it's always preceded by 'Tito or Tsong name'
For aunts it's 'Tita or Tsang name'
For an elder man/brother we call them 'kuya or manong'
An elder woman/sister would be 'ate, pronounced ah-teh, or manang'
For dads, it's 'itay, tatay, amang, ama'; moms 'inay, nanay, inang, ina'.
Then there's the word 'po', 'opo' while addressing elders or simply to speak more respectfully.

I didn't know people would address their relatives by first names. I mean I used to attend a bible study group held by European ladies, and we all call them Aunties.^^

OH! Well then it makes sense.

It's very similiar in my Vietnam. But I never thought of it, because it is the same there - Elders, regardless if they're blood relatives or not. So Sienna would need to call Judd and Walker kuya/manong anyways and Hawke.. well. XD

I have to call my little brother Em Anh, and my little sisters Em Phuong/Em Tuffi, there are different words for men who are older than my father and younger than my father. Same goes for women older or younger than my mom, but older than me. Girls who are just a little older than I am are Chis and guys are Anhs. (My young brother's name is Anh, too, which was really confusing in the beginning..)

How do they translate this? I mean, there are no such terms in English and I know that in German they often suck at translating.

There are books were they still call eachother "Sie" instead of "Du" 3 seconds before they start sexing eachother. (Sie is a respectful way to address someone, but it's mostly used for strangers, teachers, doctors etc. No one you're friends with or are close to in any way)

But there are actually people who even call their parents by their first names. Which I find a little weird, but if the parents don't "deserve" a more respectful name, well..

And Aunties is so cute. I wish we had something like this in German. Or maybe we do and I'm not educated enough to know LOL

Tantchen.
Lol

Yeah, we have something for the younger ones too.
I believe it's very much integrated in every Asian culture, honorifics is very much a part of the language. :3
Do you visit Vietnam often? I'm curious about the food, like how is it compared to let's say, Indian or Chinese cuisine?^^ Spicy, more sweet...that kind of thing. hehe.

In Germany (and many other western cultures) it´s pretty much:

When you´re a child, you call your Aunt/Uncle Aunt <first name> /Uncle <First Name>

Once you grow up and are considered an adult (or young adult) you switch to first names.

So basically, Toby and Marlee would call him Uncle Judd, while Sienna can very well just call him by his first name.

Thanks Fluff for clearing that up.
I remember Marlee addressing Hawke as uncle in CbI, but she's switched to first names in KoS. :3

Yurice wrote:Hawke was lonely, they all knew it. He has given so much to the pack, just how anyone cannot love him? He works for the pack 24/7, 7 days a week, with no day off, no vacation. And since Sienna was the one to make him happy, mate or not, then they're willing to do anything to help, this was their chance to give something back.

And no, the Changelings aren't all goody goody, there's that guy who sold Brenna to Enrique...and the reason why Hawke appointed Drew as his 'eyes and ears', we may not see the bad ones, but they're definitely there.^^

What was unrealistic to me was Rosalie. Nah, I don't want to vilify the 'other woman' so the heroine would look better, it's just...well, regardless of what nonsense she spewed about 'no strings attached', she still came to Hawke while knowing about Sienna. Surely, no woman is that 'self-sacrificing', Rosalie wanted something in return, and I don't buy her 'generous' attitude afterwards. Ok, so I applaud her graceful exit, but no way I'm buying that she's all fine with what happened.

Well ok, I ought to blame Hawke too, but since he was only there because his blue balls was affecting the unmated males, and he didn't push through his ebul plan, I'm more willing to forgive him. Nobody said he's perfect.

Judd is simply wonderful. <3
I sometimes wonder why Sienna was on first name basis with her uncles, could it be because it would be awkward for Hawke to call Judd 'uncle'? Walker is older than him, so it won't be as strange. But Judd? That would mean Hawke will call Brenna 'auntie' too.

Yurice, I agree with you about Rosalie. Everyone knew that there was something big between Hawke and Sienna and she still flutters her eyelashes and says OK, I'll be your f$ck buddy with no strings and then she doesn't care when he rejects her to go after Sienna. It was unrealistic. I did half-expect her to pop up again in the book, to try and seduce Hawke, but in retrospect that is just not Nalini's style. She has shown us changelings that are evil but she also can go overboard with the good ones. Rosalie is an example of that. She's gorgeous, sexy and doesn't care one little bit that she's been blown off by Hawke because she is such a generous, giving person. Hmm. . .

And I'm afraid that's how she's going to deal with the whole Riaz/Adria/Indigo thing. The changelings are soooo grown up and mature and all that so, of course, it won't matter that Riaz has basically slept with Adria's slightly younger almost-sister/niece. It will just be dismissed as no big deal and in the past and unimportant. (OK, so why didn't she have Riley sleep with Indigo when they were much younger? Hmmm?)

We readers aren't changeling lol. I can suspend reality for a lot of things and can generally accept the world and rules that an author creates but suspending your own beliefs when it comes to matters of intimacy and personal relationships is much, much harder to do. So again I hope Nalini addresses the Riaz/Adria/Indigo situation in a significant way.

I must have a weird family - the only aunts/uncles that I called that were great-aunts/great-uncles. I always referred to my parents' siblings by their names.

I am a bad southern girl.

Shame.

Also, does anyone else feel like with each book the characters are becoming flatter? Riaz (from what we've seen so far) just seems like Dev or Nate to me.

And everyone already knows how I feel about Adria - she's just Indigo/Mercy with a different type of chip on her shoulder...

It happens with all the series. Not that the characters ARE alike (which happens also) but that they feel alike.
And Nalinis are pretty distinctive.
To me Mercy and Indigo felt nothing alike.
While Mercy was considerate, calm, MATURE and had one huge moment of OMFG what am I doing (and with good reason), Indigo was just.. dunno .. she almost felt male to me at times. So absolutely unbending in her unability to give just a little.
No matter how unhappy she made her mate with it, no matter how much she hurt him.

Adria to me just feels like the epitome of a bitter woman, wounded and with her claws out.
In my head she already has her own distinctive voice. Which is, what I like so much about Nalini.
I don´t always like the characters, but most of the time, they feel like their own distinctive personalities to me.
Unlike, lets say, the women in JR Wards Brotherhood series.

Yeah, the Blackdaggers are really flat. They are boring.

*curious*

I guess it depends on whom you want to address.
We have different names for any kind of blood and not-blood related person you could think of, e.g. your wife`s/husband`s brother or sister, your wife`s/husband`s parents, and a conjugation used as a form of respect towards an older or unfamiliar person you are talking to.
However, most of the new generation does not even try to remember the terms. It is all very in-the-air till you have one of the relations yourself. Am I making any sense?
What was I trying to say? Oh, yeah. The use of first names is just an indicator of familiarity. It does not depend on age, rather on how close a relationship you have with someone. I call my 40-something neighbours by name, but I`ve known them my whole life.
I think it was Tolstoy who wrote something about the difference between Russian and French when it comes to the intimacy in language problem. Serbian is more on the Russian side.
How many different languages do you people speak? It is like you come from...everywhere. Or your families are from all around the world. It is so cool. When we are at that, can you tell from what languages do Nalini`s characters` names come from. I know some, but others are a complete unknown.
Someone, stop me from typing more.

Nalini´s characters names are from all over the place.

Many are of English origin of course.
Nikita and Sascha are russian MALE names (which I find extremely funny)
Sienna would be kind of Italian.
Devraj is Indian
Riaz is Spanish
Adria Italian (like THE Adria, an Italian coastal area)
Vasic is Serbian
Aden might or might not be derived from the Irish Aodh (Aidan) or from the Yemeni Gulf of Aden

The funniest name in my book is River Shannon (Max' brother) which actually IS the River Shannon in Ireland

Which irks me, is that the only German name so far is Dieter, who of course was the asshole who sold Bren out to Santano Enrique (name from Spanish Origin)

re:Lulu
At the very least, I want Adria and Indigo to talk about it, and I don't mean to discuss Riaz's mad bedroom skillz. lol. Maybe just to see how the two women would handle the awkwardness, come to terms with it. It may not be a big thing to the Changelings, yes, but like you said, we're not them.^^

Oh lord, I swear if Indigo became their relationship councilor, I will take a black marker and block out those passages! T_T

re:Nina
I'm with Fluff in this. Nalini's characters are distinctive...altho I can't remember much about Dev/Vaughn/Clay. >_<; But I can definitely see how different each men are, even if they're all dominant males.

re:Jelena
I understand the first name basis as signs of closeness. I once saw a Japanese animated film, discussing how when someone drops the surname and goes with the first name, is an indication of their growing relationship. Of course I don't mean children calling their parents by name as close.

Fluff, that's one informative post about names. I didn't know Nikita is a male's name. And I thought Aden is a girl's. lol Unless it's pronounced differently from what I perceive.^^

Yurice wrote:

Fluff, that's one informative post about names. I didn't know Nikita is a male's name. And I thought Aden is a girl's. lol Unless it's pronounced differently from what I perceive.^^

Aden can be both


And Nikita is definately a male name, at least in Russia.
Nikita Khrushchev for example was a former Soviet Russian president and very special friend of Kennedy´s (not )

Sascha is an endeerment of Alexander and originally was a strictly male name. And still mostly is in Eastern European countries and most of Europe. (In Germany you can use it as a given name, but only for males)

In the US both names have been used mostly for females, but in their Russian Origin, they´re male.

Another interesting note: Vasic is a Serbian LAST name, derived from greek Basileos (which means kingly/royal <---- )
Aden means fire.
Sascha (Alexander) means defender
Nikita means Victorious or victory