This review contains mild spoilers - read with caution! You can read my reviews of The Raven King, The King's Men, and The Sunshine Court on my blog, now! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion is advised.
Jean Moreau I will lay down my life for you. Discovering that we share the same birthday... my heart was ripped out of my chest. There is nothing that Jean could do wrong in my eyes - he has been completely beaten and broken by the Ravens and his "rigidness" towards the Trojans when it comes to corrections and willingness to win is clearly a result of the horrors he went through. Yes, he is direct and more often than not, harsh, but it is the only way he knows - anything else meant facing the consequences at Edgar Allan. That being said, I think Jean is absolutely hilarious and the fact that he called Neil a cretin had me rolling on the floor. Telling Andrew that he has "brisket lungs" had me falling off my bed laughing.
Every single scene in which Jean is put through The Horrors or has to recall what he went through with the Ravens, I could literally feel my heart breaking into pieces. He has been through so much and frankly we seemed to only scratch the surface in The Sunshine Court - seeing the aftermath of that installment play out in The Golden Raven makes readers fiercely protective of Jean, and by extension, Jeremy. We hold Jean and Jeremy in our hands like they are ours to protect and we watch them dance around one another as Jean struggles to leave the Raven teachings behind and Jeremy navigates challenges in his life - the biggest including helping Jean adapt to the Trojans and open up. I do get a good chuckle any time they put Jean or Kevin in front of a camera for an interview - considering Kevin's last interview, you would think the Foxes wouldn't let him within five hundred feet of another reporter.
"I'm not learning French for anyone but you." The way I sat up straight in my chair when this came out of Jeremy's mouth... Nora truly feeds us well. Watching this conversation transpire knowing that Jean is multilingual not by his choice and knowing that he was not allowed to speak French at Edgar Allan makes this gesture so genuine from Jeremy. I could sense the gears turning in Jean's head, wondering why someone of no consequence would seemingly teach themselves his native tongue without an ulterior motive. Sure, he may be at the Sunshine Court, but his body and mind have been conditioned to follow the rules and understand the consequences of the Ravens that occurred while at the Nest. Both Jean and Jeremy being hesitate to go into uncharted waters with each other leaves them in this limbo of yearning and weariness. Jean, haunted by the past torture and torment endured by Riko and others, and Jeremy, being crushed by familial expectations and leading the Trojans while taking care of Jean.
I felt like I was being attacked on all fronts - just when you think the Ravens have been dealt with or that we have seen the last of them, another pops up out of thin air and attacks Jean at the first chance they get. With these attacks come more questions and concerns from the Trojans, especially when Jean lets little things slip that he wants no one to know about. Watching "the master" come out of his mouth before he could catch myself, oh how my heart ached. The concern that comes from his newfound teammates is something he could not care less about, but it is clear that his suffering is taking a toll on them as they try to understand how anyone could have been put through what Jean has experienced. Even as Ravens started dropping like flies, whether it be suicide or murder, there still was this major sense of uncertainly surrounding Jean and how these actions affect the Trojans that surround him.
Not being used to having people care about him beyond his Exy skills, Jean continues to walk the line of closing himself off from others and slowly becoming more comfortable with the teammates he is reluctant to socialize with outside of practice. We watch his reveal very small bits of his past, both intentionally and by accident, and brace for the consequences he think will follow. No one can catch a break in this book and just when things start to feel semi-normal, something insane happens or we are watching multiple people get attacked on and off the court. I can only imagine what Nora has in store for us for the next installment, but for now, I can only hope that everyone (that we like) makes it out alive by the end.
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