el1258

Hero and Heroine

Aria is the heroine and Perry (Peregrine) is a hero. They follow a journey both together and separately. The story is alternately told from their respective points of view. We start the story with Aria and it is her that is taken off to the unknown - most of the action in both books takes part in the outside. However, in the second book in particular Perry has his own unknown to face.

Plot Summary

The series is set on Earth in the future when the earth has been made a wasteland. The sky is full of Aether that poses a danger when it collects and creates storms, striking and burning the ground.

Aria is a ‘Dweller’ which means she lives in relative comfort and safety in a pod called Reverie. She spends her days using her Smarteye device visiting virtual realms and having fun with her friends (think mega virtual social networking with a very dull real existence). When her mother, who is visiting another pod called Bliss, doesn’t call in Aria gets concerned and persuades some friends to try and contact her. When she breaks into an authorised area some of the people she are with go a little crazy and she ends up being saved by an ‘Outsider’ called Perry but she is knocked unconscious and he leaves.

On the outside there is virtually no safety (it is called the ‘Death Shop’ by the Dwellers) and outsiders have reverted to living in tribes ruled by Blood Lords. Perry came to the pod to find medicine for his nephew. Some outsiders have special skills - either of sight, smell or hearing. Perry is special in that he has the first two.

Their paths cross again, however when she is cast out of Reverie by someone she should have been able to trust. The two have to work together to achieve their respective goals.

Departure

~Call to Adventure

Aria - Because her mother doesn’t ‘attend’ their weekly virtual meeting Aria decides to go looking for her. Because of her actions she ends up getting thrown out of her home - to the Death Shop.

Perry - Perry’s brother is Blood Lord for his tribe, it is Perry’s desire to take this position. His nephew Talon is unwell though and the story starts when he breaks into the Dweller’s pod looking for medicine. He saves Aria and unwittingly brings them together.

~Refusal of the Call

Aria - When she realises what the Guardians are going to do she pleads for them not to throw her out. Once she is on the outside she also gives into a coughing fit lying down thinking she will die in the Death Shop.

Perry - Perry has decided not to challenge his brother for Blood Lord for a number of reasons. Talon has lost his mother recently and whoever loses the challenge has to submit fealty, die or leave the tribe.

~Supernatural Aid

Aria - This is a tricky one to identify for Aria because it could be Perry but I’m going to suggest it is Roar. He teaches her to fight and helps her with her skills when she is identified as an Aud like him.

Perry - Again this is tricky but I would say either Cinder or Marron. Each have their own skills that they use to help him later in the story (rather than giving him objects).

~Crossing of the First Threshold

Aria - This is probably when she comes across Perry again - until then its just a place but then she has to deal with people unknown too - different customs and ways of living.

Perry - I can see two possibilities - straight away when he breaks into Reverie and enters the unknown or later when he becomes Blood Lord and has the unknown of that new position.

~Belly of the Whale

Aria - I don’t think Aria does this until after she finds out about her mother then she realises she can’t go back so goes back to Marron’s.

Perry - I think the Crossing of the First Threshold and Belly of the Whale for Perry might be the same - when he becomes Blood Lord. He is disgusted by his brother’s actions and decides wholeheartedly that he needs to take over from him. It’s not something he steps away from even when he has challenges later.

Initiation

~Road of Trials

Aria - Overcoming her coughing and becoming acclimatised to the outside. Dealing with Perry, learning how to identify safe food to eat, avoiding becoming food from the Croven, linking back up with her past world (and probably lots more).

Perry - He has to challenge his brother, win the respect of the tribe, try and get Aria accepted by his tribe, let Aria go and stay where he is needed, make a decision about saving someone, resist temptation, decide whether or not to move everyone away from their homes, etc, etc.

~Meeting with the Goddess

Aria - If we assume that for the heroine this means meeting with the God and parallel love for the father then Perry is her God. This happens really early in the story though.

Perry - Aria is his Goddess. Although the meeting happens early, the feelings and emotions do come later - they aren’t all that fond of each other to start with.

~Woman as Temptress

Aria - For Aria there is an indication that Roar is physically attractive and he shares similarities to her, he is in love with Liv (Perry’s sister) but she has abandoned him and there is on a few occasions indications that there could be something between them. Also Marron’s and the comfort she feels there is a temptation that keeps her from finding out what has happened with her mother.

Perry - Aria and helping her is woman as temptress, his love for her does make him hold back from going back to the Tides and challenging his brother. In the second book Kirra is an actual temptress - I wasn’t a fan of her!!

~Atonement with the Father

Aria - There is an early point where Marron accepts her and recognises her as belonging to them but then in second book Perry actually approves her being marked as an Aud.

Perry - Gaining acceptance from the Tribe I think gives him that power but it does come later. Reef, who accepts fealty to him becomes a father figure offering guidance.

~Apotheosis

Aria - She is poisoned when being given her markings and nearly dies - she realises that she has to leave to allow Perry to do his duty.

Perry - Nearly dies when rescuing Old Will in the sea. It does make him question how he should act now.

~Ultimate Boon

Aria - Aria’s ultimate boon was to find her mother - when this doesn’t happen it becomes the same as Perry’s - she is looking for the Still Blue (in fact she is doing this for Perry because Hess has Talon and offers him in return).

Perry - Being with Aria, becoming Blood Lord and leading his tribe to the Still Blue and, he believes, safety.

Return

I think this is tricky because there is still another book but I’ll give some tentative suggestions.

~Refusal of the Return

Aria - Maybe her insistence on leaving Perry and not being with him - she thinks it is for the best though it is what they both want.

Perry - Maybe his moving everyone to the caves rather than going straight after the Still Blue.

~Magic Flight

Aria - The location of the still blue is hidden from her and Talon not offered in reward - she liaises with Soren (an unlikely ally) for the boon and her and Perry race to find Talon.

Perry - Maybe the same as Aria because their journeys are converging again - racing to reduce Talon.

~Rescue from Without

Aria - Roar and Liv help her to escape from Horns, Perry and Soren from Reverie.

Perry - Once he has left Aria finding her mother Perry gets himself in trouble with some ‘wanderers’. They end up submitting fealty to him and continue to help and protect him. Cinder also helps them escape the Croven and return to the Tides. Marron comes and helps with his plan to move to the cave.

~Crossing of the Return Threshold

Aria - Aria is unsure where she belongs - who she is - she is half Dweller, half outsider but still not sure how to apply both of these aspects to living.

Perry - Perry experiences this on a number of occasions when trying to lead the Tides. They are not accepting of Aria and this challenges him and keeps making him question himself. He holds himself back from moving forward with his plan to aim for the Still Blue.

~Master of Two Worlds

Aria - There are points where Aria is interacting with her old world and settled in the new one. But I don’t think she has reached this stage of comfort because her old world now seems both unreal and undesirable and although she has taken to the outside world well she isn’t fully accepted yet.

Perry - I think Perry is more comfortable with balancing his role as Blood Lord and lover to Aria - more so than she and other people are.

~Freedom to Live

Aria - Because we haven’t reached the end of the series we aren’t there yet. Though at the end of book one she is happy with Perry and at the end of book two they are back together but they are still at risk from the Aether storms which have been building in intensity.

Perry - Because we haven’t reached the end of the series we aren’t there yet. Though at the end of book one he is happy with Aria and at the end of book 2 he is both with Aria and leading the Tides. He has Talon back but Cinder has been taken.

Ask me again after the third book.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed this class and it was good applying it to another story. It is tricky to pick this apart and, as I’ve said elsewhere, it doesn’t necessarily seem to be a particularly linear/cyclical journey though aspects of many of the steps are present - they aren’t always in the order you might want them to be. However, I did think the basic structure was there. I do wonder if this is more clearly identified in stand alone works rather than in series.

Yes I do see aspects in other stories - originally I was going to look at All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (2013) and I definitely saw this structure as I was reading it. I left it too long after reading (and read too many other books in-between to remember enough to do the lesson in detail though). As with the series I did review for the project I’m seeing a number of stories with two main characters who each appear to undergo their own journey. I saw Disney’s Frozen and both Elsa and Anna have their own journeys in this.

I think I need to read up on this more and in terms of my own writing I think I would use some of the concepts but not necessarily worry about getting them all in, in the order outlined here.

Hope if you haven’t read these books it doesn’t spoil you too much. If you haven’t read them they come highly recommended.