Monday 30 June 2008

On Phury and Cormia

'Cause my thoughts on the main couple of Lover Enshrined are a little too much for one review I'm posting them separately here. This is just my interpretation of the relationship based on my thoughts of the book. I am hoping that because Phury and Cormia are living in Rehv's house we'll get to see more of them in the next book because I'm not that keen on the ending of LEn, it kind of just wound down.

One thing that I don't think served any of the relationships in Lover Enshrined was the time lag between it and LU. I'm not sure why there had to be a gap of months between the books. Personally as a reader it meant that Phury's relationship with Cormia somehow remained in limbo even though it feels like it essentially picked up directly from the end of LU. And the attitudes of the Brothers to Phury feel overly harsh because we can't appreciate his decline. So time has moved on (quite a way) between the two books, but the action feels static. (Hope that makes sense.)

Phury

He was never one of my favourite Brothers, was always a pale reflection of Z - up until the moment he carved into his face and cut off his hair at the end of Lover Awakened. Considering this is his book, he's perhaps not best served by it. But the style of the series is changing and given his circumstances I'm not sure it could have gone down any other way.

Phury has an addictive personality which when focused postively allows him to achieve the impossible - finding his twin after Zsadist was lost for a century. But this also leaves him vulnerable when he loses that focus. This is one reason why he's actually an excellent choice for Primale. It's a responsibility that he will be more than able to cope with - now he's worked out a way to make it acceptable.

At the beginning of the book what Phury needs is another Phury, or maybe even a Darius figure. (Remember at the end of Lover Awakened it was JM who stopped him taking the heroin the first time). Instead Rhage, Butch and Vishous are notable only by their absence. Wrath doesn't seem to know how to handle the situation and Zsadist is far too messed up - if he tries to save Phury he risks being pulled under himself and he's got Bella and the baby to worry about. Essentially it appears that they wash their hands of him.


Cormia

I would rank Cormia as equal to Bella in this series, only behind Beth and Mary. She sees through Phury.
Don't lie," she snapped...
She won't let him get away with lying to her. Him or anyone else. When JM slips up and confesses he's mute, she calls him on it.

If Butch and Marissa were an attraction of opposites then Phury and Cormia are soulmates. She could choose not to return to the other side when he takes another First Mate, but like Phury she's got the self-sacrifice and martyr thing down pat.

There is strength in her though, there is backbone, and if she can't admit her feelings to other people she at least has the courage to be honest with herself.
She did not want to be one of many.
Not with the Primale. Not to him.
And not to herself.

Four months is too long for someone who is this self-aware to have been hanging around the mansion not doing anything.

This is what Phury has lost, this is the part of himself he can't or won't face - the ability to look at yourself and not flinch at what you see.

Phury & Cormia

For most of this book when Phury says or does something, he's actually saying or doing something else. ( :) - remember this is my interpretation).

At the beginning of the story he's drawing Cormia, consciously he may be trying to draw Bella, but Cormia is fighting through - that's why he thinks the eyes and the hair are wrong, when in actual fact they're right.

When he talks about the Puccini lovesong he's talking about Cormia - his dream of Bella (his castle in the air) is replaced by hope (Cormia).

Whenever he says I can't do this...I'm a virgin...I've been with a prostitute. What he's really saying is - I'm a drug addict. And it's not until after he confesses his addiction to Cormia that they really make love for the first time. After that confession before he decides to take Cormia as his shellan, if he had chosen the traditional path of the Primale, the only Chosen he would ever have loved would have been Cormia.

The scene where he confesses his addiction to her and tells her he loves her is actually my favourite scene between the two of them, because it's honest, painful and beautiful. That's the moment that made their relationship work for me.

13 comments:

Bridget Locke said...

Hey, Lesley! :) I came across you on the blogosphere (either through Nalini or somewhere else). Anywho, just wanted to tell you how much I like your blog. In fact, I've come across a couple of new authors I might need to look up. :)

I'm going to put you on my blog roll. Can't wait to see what you have to say next.

And can I say I agree w/ you about LEn. I love, love, love the triad of JM, Qhuinn and Blay. That scene between Qhuinn and Blay as Q is putting the bandages on B's wounds. *sigh* I almost cried. *sniffle*

Kristie (J) said...

This isn't so much a comment on LE as I haven't read past the second one of this series yet. It's more of a drop in to say hi!
Like Bridget before me, I haven't really had a real visit here until today.
I love finding new reader bloggers so you've made me day *g*

DonnaB said...

>>Four months is too long for someone who is this self-aware to have been hanging around the mansion not doing anything.<<

See, that's my problem. If Cormia is so strong, why'd she hide in her room for four months making buildings out of toothpicks and peas? And why didn't anyone else in the house -- Mary, at least -- step in and help a girl out? In the end, it was Bella who finally does something, largely because of her own tie with Phury through Z.

I get frustrated with books that have their characters constantly heading toward a particular action -- in this case Phury and Cormia finally doing the deed -- and always pulling back at the last moment. Do it or not, but GET ON WITH IT!!

As I said somewhere else, having re-read the first three books of the series, I could see in retrospect the addictive quality of Phury's personality. But Cormia just didn't interest me. My ranking of the BDB women would be Beth, Bella, Mary, Cormia and way down the list Marissa.

Love your psychoanalysis of Phury, though!

Donna

Tracy said...

I completely agree with your views on Phury.

Cormia - I know you like her but she just wasn't doing it for me. Maybe it's because she spent all that time in her room...it just didn't mix with who she became...how could all that time have passed? Just my thoughts. :)

Jill D. said...

I get frustrated with books that have their characters constantly heading toward a particular action -- in this case Phury and Cormia finally doing the deed -- and always pulling back at the last moment. Do it or not, but GET ON WITH IT!!

LOL! I can totally relate. Stop talking the talk and start walking the walk - Damn it!

Lesley, You make some wonderful points about Phury and Cormia. I thought that Cormia was strong too. Sure she had her moments of weakness, but who hasn't.

Brie said...

Hi, Lesley. I liked reading your thoughts on P&C.

I liked Cormia and was pleasantly surprised by her in LEn. I didn't like Phury and was trying to figure out what happened to the Phury prior to his own book. Luckily, by the end of the book he was somewhat back on track. I found their romance lacking in most ways, probably because they hardly shared page space together.

I'm still trying to figure out how Cormia could live in a house for five months and none of the females in the house bothered to talked to her. Not even Beth who owns the house. Pretty strange.

Anonymous said...

I, too, don't know how the other women allowed Cormia to languish as long as she did, but I can certainly see how she didn't reach out to anyone on her own. If you think about it, there was the initial sensory overload--all those colors, sounds, etc.--her constant struggle to keep her "self" buried, and also, I don't think there's any sense of time in the temporal realm, right? In a way, perhaps, she was merely existing, without the regimen of her old life to provide structure or purpose. And there went those months.

I hope one day we'll find out why the rest of the house abandoned her. After all this time, we know when a Brother brings a female to the mansion that his intentions are serious, so shouldn't they know that, too?

Nice review, Lesley.

LesleyW said...

bridget - glad you like the blog. :)And the Blay/Qhuinn scene was one of my favourites too. I think I may have to sneak reads of Qhuinn's bits as well as JM's.

kristie - hi and welcome to my blog. :)

LesleyW said...

Donna - glad you liked my Phury thoughts. I think the mistake is more having the four months, so in a way I ignored that. The only reason I can see for having that is so that Bella can have her baby at the end of the book.

Tracy - I think that's why a lot of people have the problem with Cormia, that she just hid in her room. As I said above, I ignore that and pretend it picked up from the end of LU.

Jill - I think it came out a little Cormia-lite in the end, but I think my thoughts were maybe more centred on Phury than I imagined.

LesleyW said...

Brie - those four/five months keep coming up again and again. :)

I think the conversation they have at the end when he goes to see her in her scribes quarters clinched the relationship for me. Without doubt it's my favourite scene between the two of them. At the moment he's willing to give up his self-sacrifice she's not willing for him to do it. But they're so honest in that scene - and actually talking to one another - love it.

darlynne - thanks. I would definitely like to know what's going on with Mary. Miss her.

Sarah said...

Have not read this one yet... bit nervous as I did not enjoy the last one. Great review.

LesleyW said...

Sarah - Thanks. Glad you liked the review. Lover Unbound was my least favourite of the series so I shared your nerves about Lover Enshrined. There isn't as much romance in it, as in previous books. But there is a lot of John Matthew, and as he's my favourite character this book was a big improvement for me over LU.

Jordy said...

Hi there :) ...I recently caught up with the brothers. I don't know why it took me so long to read the last 4 books...maybe because of all the negatives I heard about Phury's book. I so agree with Qhuinn, Blay, JM secondary plot...I LOVE Qhuinn and Blay, but by the end of Unleashed, I wanna slap him!!