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lynnhowls 's review for:
Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf
by C.L. Clark
There is something so deeply wrong with the Medarda family…I love them so much.
[This contains spoilers for Arcane but only season 1]
I had a lot of apprehension going into this mainly because I already had a pretty strong characterization of Mel and Ambessa and would be devastated if this didn’t align with my read of them. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. This book goes into how Ambessa became the matriarch of House Medarda. It starts out describing what occurred during the Blood Sweat and Tears music video and the flashback of young Mel we got from s1 of Arcane. Mel is featured throughout the book and it reveals a bunch about her upbringing and the events that led to her exile. This book is full of political intrigue that’ll have you on the edge of your seat, assassination attempts, plotting, betrayal, magical and fantastical elements, and most of all — which I think is the factor that shines through the most — intergenerational trauma. In addition to loving Arcane, if you love Mel and still have questions about her story I encourage you to pick this up.
I love fucked up mother/daughter relationships and CL Clark was able to capture the complexity of Mel and Ambessa’s dynamic and the complicated feelings they have about each other. The amount of inner conflict and turmoil Ambessa experiences throughout this book is extensively and masterfully explored. She is a ruthless warlord, groomed for the battlefield since before she could walk, who lies and schemes and has little room to allow herself to give in to true affection and vulnerability. She is prickly and made of sharp edges, she was taught to associate love with weakness or discipline and prioritize strength overall: a ripple effect that no one around her is spared from. But she is so full of depth, so full of verve, and an incredible amount of repression due to her upbringing that you (I) can’t help but understand where she’s coming from and why she is the way she is and does the things she does.
I also have to give a quick shoutout to my man Rictus, what a guy! I loved his dynamic with Ambessa and you could tell how deep their history went and the mutual respect and genuine love and care they had for each other.
Mel, my sweet princess who recoils at the thought of war and ruthlessness. Seeing Ambessa’s interactions with her family as well as other Noxians, it’s a miracle Mel survived this long in Noxus. She hasn’t changed much aside from gaining some wisdom. Mel is reasonable, caring, willing to see the potential for good in people, and is far more politically savvy than any 15 year old should be. This is exactly what puts her at risk with other Noxians and at odds with her mother who we know has the complete opposite ideology: shoot first, ask questions later. We see this play out on different occasions throughout the novel, it’s one of my favorite dynamics in the book as well as in Arcane because aside from being compelling characters in general, both make good points. Can’t say it was a delight to learn about her origins because her life is so tragic but I loved it. A corruption arc would be cool to see but the fact that Mel could’ve been much worse and is able to retain her convictions and keep herself open to others despite the people she grew up with is so special to me and I love her all the more for it. You don’t see this often, especially not for a dark-skinned black female character. She is flawed but complex and I find that beautiful. I love her in her entirety.
Rell also features quite a bit and her character shines so brilliantly! League players have expressed their disappointment to her retcon which I can understand, but if it helps — if you’re one of those players — the only major difference to her original lore is her age and the timeline of events. I slowly but surely came to love her as a character. Rell is an incredibly skilled 15 year old arena fighter, desperate to prove herself without compromising her dignity. She’s bright-eyed, curious, smart, loyal, and a tad bit shy when it comes to romance :3 she makes an amazing foil to Mel and I can’t wait for the Noxus spin-off to see how their dynamic develops. I enjoyed seeing her interactions with Ambessa, very excited to see what they do with her in the future.
That being said, I was a bit disappointed a certain someone's storyline turned out to be a carbon copy of a MC in Arcane and I also would've liked certain elements explored further (Mel and Elora for one, Mel and Kino for two, and this may be greedy but mentions of Ambessa's queerness for three...the setup was right there bro, throw me a crumb or something).
While this wasn't perfect, I had a lot of fun learning more about Mel's lore through Ambessa and I actually cried several times, especially towards the end.
I definitely recommend picking this up, especially the audiobook as it’s narrated by Ellen Thomas, Ambessa’s VA, which just adds so much more flair to the text. There are still some questions that remained unanswered, but I greatly enjoyed this.
Wow, the Medardas….what a family!
[This contains spoilers for Arcane but only season 1]
I had a lot of apprehension going into this mainly because I already had a pretty strong characterization of Mel and Ambessa and would be devastated if this didn’t align with my read of them. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. This book goes into how Ambessa became the matriarch of House Medarda. It starts out describing what occurred during the Blood Sweat and Tears music video and the flashback of young Mel we got from s1 of Arcane. Mel is featured throughout the book and it reveals a bunch about her upbringing and the events that led to her exile. This book is full of political intrigue that’ll have you on the edge of your seat, assassination attempts, plotting, betrayal, magical and fantastical elements, and most of all — which I think is the factor that shines through the most — intergenerational trauma. In addition to loving Arcane, if you love Mel and still have questions about her story I encourage you to pick this up.
I love fucked up mother/daughter relationships and CL Clark was able to capture the complexity of Mel and Ambessa’s dynamic and the complicated feelings they have about each other. The amount of inner conflict and turmoil Ambessa experiences throughout this book is extensively and masterfully explored. She is a ruthless warlord, groomed for the battlefield since before she could walk, who lies and schemes and has little room to allow herself to give in to true affection and vulnerability. She is prickly and made of sharp edges, she was taught to associate love with weakness or discipline and prioritize strength overall: a ripple effect that no one around her is spared from. But she is so full of depth, so full of verve, and an incredible amount of repression due to her upbringing that you (I) can’t help but understand where she’s coming from and why she is the way she is and does the things she does.
I also have to give a quick shoutout to my man Rictus, what a guy! I loved his dynamic with Ambessa and you could tell how deep their history went and the mutual respect and genuine love and care they had for each other.
Mel, my sweet princess who recoils at the thought of war and ruthlessness. Seeing Ambessa’s interactions with her family as well as other Noxians, it’s a miracle Mel survived this long in Noxus. She hasn’t changed much aside from gaining some wisdom. Mel is reasonable, caring, willing to see the potential for good in people, and is far more politically savvy than any 15 year old should be. This is exactly what puts her at risk with other Noxians and at odds with her mother who we know has the complete opposite ideology: shoot first, ask questions later. We see this play out on different occasions throughout the novel, it’s one of my favorite dynamics in the book as well as in Arcane because aside from being compelling characters in general, both make good points. Can’t say it was a delight to learn about her origins because her life is so tragic but I loved it. A corruption arc would be cool to see but the fact that Mel could’ve been much worse and is able to retain her convictions and keep herself open to others despite the people she grew up with is so special to me and I love her all the more for it. You don’t see this often, especially not for a dark-skinned black female character. She is flawed but complex and I find that beautiful. I love her in her entirety.
Rell also features quite a bit and her character shines so brilliantly! League players have expressed their disappointment to her retcon which I can understand, but if it helps — if you’re one of those players — the only major difference to her original lore is her age and the timeline of events. I slowly but surely came to love her as a character. Rell is an incredibly skilled 15 year old arena fighter, desperate to prove herself without compromising her dignity. She’s bright-eyed, curious, smart, loyal, and a tad bit shy when it comes to romance :3 she makes an amazing foil to Mel and I can’t wait for the Noxus spin-off to see how their dynamic develops. I enjoyed seeing her interactions with Ambessa, very excited to see what they do with her in the future.
That being said, I was a bit disappointed a certain someone's storyline turned out to be a carbon copy of a MC in Arcane and I also would've liked certain elements explored further (Mel and Elora for one, Mel and Kino for two, and this may be greedy but mentions of Ambessa's queerness for three...the setup was right there bro, throw me a crumb or something).
While this wasn't perfect, I had a lot of fun learning more about Mel's lore through Ambessa and I actually cried several times, especially towards the end.
I definitely recommend picking this up, especially the audiobook as it’s narrated by Ellen Thomas, Ambessa’s VA, which just adds so much more flair to the text. There are still some questions that remained unanswered, but I greatly enjoyed this.
Wow, the Medardas….what a family!