Burying the Shadow: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
No edit summary
Line 4:
{{quote|''"A renegade burned out among the stars last night."''}}
 
'''''Burying the Shadow''''' is a novel by [[Storm Constantine]] first published in 1992, written in response to demand for vampire novels without actually giving in and writing a straight vampire novel. The plot follows two protagonists, - one is an [[Fallen Angels|eloim]] [[Our Vampires Are Different|actress]] named Gimel Metatronim, and the other is a human woman and [[Dream Weaver|soulscaper]] named Rayojini. For thousands of years, the eloim have been living among the humans, bringing them culture and art and philosophy, while hiding their true nature. For just as long, the soulscapers have been [[Journey to the Center of the Mind|treating mental and spiritual injuries and illnesses]].
 
But now the eloim are falling victim to an illness called [[Enemy Within|the Fear]], which is leading them to commit suicide. Gimel and her brother Beth go seeking a soulscaper to heal their people, but all their attempts with adults fail. They decide then that they need to find a child, which leads them to Rayojini.
Line 12:
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[A-Cup Angst]]: At one point, Rayojini expresses dismay at being flat-chested.
* [[Achilles in His Tent]]: Sammael spends centuries alone in a tower because [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|he gets fed up]] with the eloim and their ideas of how to live on Earth.
* [[Archangel Michael]]: Mikha'il.
* [[Archnemesis Dad]]: Eloat is Sammael's father. He- is,and technically, the father of all eloim.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Rayojini's favorite coat is fairly long, long enough to get all muddy when trudging through rain.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Rayojini, when not in the soulscape. Part of the whole [[Walking the Earth]] part of her job is knowing how to fight well in case of trouble on the road.
Line 28:
* [[The Clan]]: The eloim throngs e.g. the Metatronim, the Sarim, the Tartaruchi.
* [[Creepy Child]]: Salyon Tricante
* [[Creepy Twins]]: Perdina and Voile Tricante always struck Rayojini as being more than a little odd as- all they seem to do is [[Incest Subtext|stay in their room]] and read strange poetry. CreepinessThe creepiness factor is upped by them being [[Old Maid|women in their mid-twenties]].
* [[Cursed with Awesome]]: Rayo is exceptionally powerful, but she pays for that with a life of inexplicable events that lead her to believe she is losing her mind.
* [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday]]: Two varieties.
Line 41:
* [[Eldritch Location]]: Nothing in the soulscape makes sense physically.
* [[Enemy Within]]: The Fear.
* [[Ethnic Magician]]: Q'orveh and the other shamans of the nomad tribes., Possiblyand possibly the soulscapers and scryers as well.
* [[Everyone Can See It]]: Rayojini wants Q'orveh ''really'', really bad.
* [[Fallen Angel]]: Sammael and the eloim are a clear retelling of Satan and his fallen angels.
* [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]]: The eloim took on human forms to avoid overwhelming humans by merely existing.
* [[Fusion Dance]]: Actual eloim sex is apparently this, and it is taboo to the ones on Earth. This is also how the Harkasites are formed. {{spoiler|At the end, Sammael and Mikha'il fuse to become Sammikha'il.}}
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Rayojini and her actions become the focus of a few characters' plots.
* [[Gender Blender Name]]: Beth Metatronim is a man - per the [[Theme Naming]], Beth in this case doesn't stand for Elizabeth, but for the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet. NoHis sister is named after the third letter, reallyGimel.
** That's due to the [[Theme Naming]]. Beth in this case doesn't stand for Elizabeth, but for the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet. His sister is named after the third letter, Gimel.
* [[Go Mad from the Revelation]]: When a soulscaper looks into an eloim soulscape, they immediately go mad.
* [[God]]: Eloat.
* [[God Is Evil]]: More like God refuses to accept that he is screwing up the cycle of the universe.
* [[Hermaphrodite]]: The nomad's god, Helat. {{spoiler|Revealed later to be Sammael.}}
* [[Humanity Ensues]]: Sort of. The eloim living on Earth had to take human form to survive, and have become increasingly human over generations because they don't remember their home world. This doesn't exactly make them humans, though.
* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: "The pale lady rises, the pale lady falls. Up again, up again, smelling out souls."
* [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]]: All in a day's work for a soulscaper, but Rayojini takes this [[Up to Eleven]]. Subverted in that it is done with consent.
Line 68 ⟶ 67:
* [[Our Angels Are Different]]/[[Our Vampires Are Different]]: The eloim are spiritual beings that require human blood to maintain human form.
* [[Parental Incest]]: Metatron has apparently taken Gimel to his bed hoping to sire a child on her. Gimel hints that Metatron has sex with Beth, too.
* [[Plot Allergy]]: Salyon is deathly allergic to eloim bites. It spurs plot.
* [[Power Tattoo]]: A variation, involving dyeing the teeth.; Soulscaperssoulscapers dye their teeth cyclamen pink., and Scryersscryers dye their teeth indigo.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: This is a [[Fallen Angel]] story, after all.
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: The eloim, to the point that they have an elaborate system of who is put in public view when to keep humans from catching on.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Sammael.
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|Keea is Mikha'il.}}
* [[Satan]]: Sammael.
* [[Satan Is Good]]: Sammael actually deeply cares for both humanity and his own people and only wants to [[Kill the God|overthrow Eloat]] because it's his duty.
Line 80 ⟶ 79:
* [[Token Minority]]/[[Magical Negro]]: Averted. Rayojini is the protagonist of the story and only fixes other people as part of her job.
* [[Training from Hell]]: Normal soulscaper training is implied to be this, but Gimel put extra pressure on Rayojini.
* [[Truly Single Parent]]: Eloat and Sammael. Averted with other eloim, as they are taught to reproduce like humans.
* [[Victorian Novel Disease]]: Salyon has been sickly (and a [[Sanity Slippage|little touched in the head]]) since Rayojini's mother healed him as a child.
* [[Walking the Earth]]: Another typical part of a soulscaper's job in order to find work.