The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
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Jon
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Clara
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rated it 5 stars
Jan 12, 2012 06:06PM
Who, besides me, thinks that Jon is a jerk in this book?? I actually liked him before this book and now I really want to punch him in the face!! Your thoughts?
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It's been a while since I've read it, but I got that impression too. But he eventually grows up, which is good. I love the classic Alanna slap-in-the-face moment, where men are put in their place!
He was quite a jerk in this book. But it is made pretty clear that it has a lot to do with the fact that him and Alanna are not good for each other. When he finally ends up with someone who does not appear to care he is a Prince, can take his arrogance with grace and I like to think a good bit of laughter and loving sassiness he grows up.
Firstly, I'll admit to a conflict of interest: definitely a bigger fan of Jon than George. I really quite disliked the treatment Jon's character gets in this book- he seems to change a lot in Alanna's absence and I thought it was a bit annoying that as a reader I didn't get more information about how/why those changes took place, given that Jon had been such an important character in the 1st and 2nd books.
Before this book I liked Jon better than George. I actually had to put down the book for a week after the big fight scene between Alanna and Jon, because I disliked the way the author treated that conflict. I disliked both Jon and Alanna at that moment. I too would have loved to see a bit more about why Jon seemed to change that much.
I don't think that Alanna cared that he personally was a Prince, just that she wouldn't fit in if she had to be a queen and she always wanted to be a knight (thats what I think, but it has been a few years since I read it)
I always liked the way that Jon was protrayed, but then I also always preferred George. I think the way he was portrayed was quite natural - we knew he was stubborn and I always took it that he thought his love with Alanna was perfect and so they would continue to be so. Take for example the end of the first book - he was quite sure Alanna would want to be his squire and that is the same attidue he is showing here.
When you see the way he reacts to another character in the last book you can see that he and Alanna were never meant to be together that long. They had a sexual romance based off friendship which I do not think would every really work.
I quite liked that they fought - it showed how much they cared for one another - and how much more willing Alanna came to showing her emotions.
Alanna was as deeply conflicted as Jon was in this book, and the book itself seems to go nowhere for a big chunk. The problem is not that Jon acted like a jerk (he certainly did "big time") but the way in which he and Alanna view their relationship. If circumstances would have been different, Alanna would have said yes to his marriage proposal in a heart beat, but that is only a part of the actual transformation Jon experiences.
He is set to be king, he sees his father as a weak ruler and he wants to appear as competent to his subjects. On the other hand, he welcomes any help he can get and to obtain the support of the Bazhir is as good as any he can get from outside sources.
There is a part of him that wants to be rebellious, and that is when Alanna comes in. That this was meant or not to last depends on them and I do believe they could have made this work out, but alas, would come at a great price for both; life is different when the formal responsibilities of a royal marriage come to place.
As for his demeanor, he acted like a selfish brat that only thinks about himself and his throne.
I feel like the book was the least interesting of the 4. Alanna and Jon both annoyed me, and the plot went no where. But it was still a good book.
Jon was cute in the first book but then I feel he becomes a Lethe self absorbed and very into the whole kingly aspect and that makes himself into an unsufferable character George was good all the way through
Here is my take on Jon: He was okay and a nice friend in the first book,(but my fave character in the first book was Raoul) in the second book he was cool, but then they started having sex. and then he turned into a complete ass and now I hate him.
Jon is a good character with natural flaws, I liked him. I liked Pierce's justification of why they couldn't be together. HOWEVER, and this is a big fat thing that drives me up the wall, is that the writing of the first two books does not in any way indicate that anything but "true love 4ever" is going on between them. Yes, these books were originally drafted that Alanna marries Jon, becomes queen, yadda yadda yadda. And half this series, it still seems canon for those books. It is written to milk the hell out of how closely romantically tied these two are. And I get it, their strong connection is a King and his champion. Honestly, I thought George was better suited for her. But still. They never really, truly feel broken up. They never really end their relationship. She just bangs other guys. He just bangs other girls. They flirt, she rejects him again and....I just felt very teased by their relationship, in the end. So this did bother me. Still love Jon, just wished for a draft that focuses more on their love as a blossoming young romance and not the be all and end all true love destiny wow so romantic portrayal it had in the first two books.
Clara wrote: "Who, besides me, thinks that Jon is a jerk in this book?? I actually liked him before this book and now I really want to punch him in the face!! Your thoughts?"You just took the words out of my mouth. He's a jerk that Alanna would have been good to shove out of her romantic spectrum with a kick in the pants. In other words I did not like him at all :D
Much later to the party. I read this years ago, and don't remember much about Jon. As a teenage male at that time, I may have been sympathetic for him?I am re-reading the series (now as a parent and such), so I paid a little more attention to him.
Jon knows he will be King, knows that becoming the Voice is an important step to that future. He'll be bounded in for the rest of his life, a life that will run on rails. Jon seemed to want to defy tradition & expectations to propose to Alanna, and certainly didn't expect her to say "no". He saw his future, big and scary, looming before him, and wanted her beside him to face that. That she did really shocked him, and he said what he shouldn't have.
I don't think Alanna would have been happy to become Queen, either, because that's not the life of knightly adventure that she (and perhaps the goddess) desire.
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