Line #64 Literature/FalconQuinn


1	The ''Falcon Quinn'' series is a series of children's fantasy novels by Jennifer Boylan, previously a writer for adults.
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3	[[CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase The titular Falcon]] is an almost-thirteen-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother in a small town in Maine. One day, on the freezing cold Spring Equinox, he nearly falls through the frozen pond in pursuit of his tuba. He doesn't think too much of it at first, and gets on the schoolbus with his classmates Max and Megan. But rather than winding up at school, they find themselves taken to a strange building with no architectural solidity, and are greeted by a strange woman who informs them that they're all monsters!
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5	They've come to an Academy for Monsters, a place which seeks to educate them and their many fellow students about their monster nature... and how to repress it. Monsters, in addition to scaring humans, are hunted by the guardians--so-called "protectors" of humans. Of course, many monsters hold no love for humans, either. To top it all off, Falcon doesn't even know what kind of monster he ''is!'' Now he and his friends must make a choice: Do they stick with their cool new powers despite the odds, or do they try to blend in to survive?
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7	Despite that somewhat-grim descriptor, this is a [[MoodWhiplash mostly]] [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism lighthearted]] series that relies heavily on humor (as well as strong dialogue and characterization) to help tell its story and build its world.
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9	----
10	!! This series contains examples of:
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12	* AloofBigBrother: Jonny, though not a big brother, otherwise fits quite well.
13	* AlphaBitch: [[spoiler: Merideath, who completely abandons Destynee when she finds out Destynee isn't a vampire.]]
14	* AnIcePerson: Vega has an amulet that can freeze people.
15	* AnimalThemeNaming: Falcon [[spoiler: and his father, Crow]] follow a bird theme.
16	* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: For centuries, monsters and guardians have been in balance. [[spoiler: Both sides want Falcon to choose them, as he could tip the balance... but he choses to be both, becoming an angel and maintaining the balance. For now.]]
17	** In the second book, it's taken further by revealing that the balance is ''literal:'' [[spoiler: All monsters have a guardian counterpart, and vice versa. Falcon is the only monster without one, which is why he is quite important to said balance.]]
18	* [[spoiler: BecomingTheMask]]: "Never forget, Falcon, whatever happens... [[spoiler: I truly was your friend.]]"
19	* BewareMyStingerTail: Beware the poison of La Chupakabra, the famous goatsucker of Peru!
20	* BeYourself
21	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Max is a sasquatch, and ''quite'' [[BoisterousBruiser proud of that fact]].
22	* BlessedWithSuck: Destynee, who finds out that she is [[spoiler: a ''giant enchanted slug.'']] However, she does eventually figure out it's more [[CursedWithAwesome blessed than suck.]]
23	* BrainInAJar: Quimby, though he's less a brain and more a strange, disembodied head.
24	* BoisterousBruiser: Max!
25	* CatchPhrase:
26	** Max: "Excellent!"
27	** Pearl: "La Chupakabra, the famous goatsucker of Peru!"
28	** Jonny: "It's just this thing I can do."
29	** Mr. Slate: "Shaddap!"
30	* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
31	* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: Falcon's tuba-playing ability, which ressurrects his friends who were turned into music.]]
32	* DeadpanSnarker: Quimby does well for being a head in a jar.
33	* DefeatMeansFriendship: Played with--Pearl insists on "defeating" Falcon and Megan in a fight (by swatting them with rolled-up magazines, as you do) before declaring that this defeat has made them friends. Which is all a part of...
34	* TheDulcineaEffect: Pearl suffers from a platonic version, in that she is willing to swear herself the lifelong friend of pretty much everyone she meets and is willing to die defending them. Quimby even {{lampshades}} this tendency: "Are you sure you want to be tied to these kids for life?]]
35	* ElementalPowers: Elementals, natch, of which Megan is one.
36	* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: A variation--Shakespeare is said to have [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy secretly been a Frankenstein]], and the monsters consider his original "Frankenstein" drafts of his plays (which are written in HulkSpeak) to be far more beautiful and lyrical than the "human translations."
37	** Similarly, Sparkbolt's poems, despite being written in the same HulkSpeak, are considered to be quite eloquent by his Franken-peers.
38	* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: Falcon's guardian half. Or his monster half, if you look at things from the guardian point of view.]]
39	* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies
40	* EyeBeams: [[spoiler: Each of Falcon's eyes has a different kind. The black one has more typical HeatVision, while the blue one can [[HealingFactor heal people, even from the brink of death.]]]]
41	* FeatherMotif
42	* ForgotICouldFly: [[spoiler: Falcon often forgets to use his wings.]]
43	* FrankensteinsMonster: Generically called Frankensteins here. And before you fly into an InsistentTerminology rage about that, note that this is a school that plays home to 30+ different species of monsters; what ''better'' is there to call a reanimated corpse with bolts in its neck when the "accepted" term is just "monster?"
44	* FreakinessShame: [[spoiler: Weems likes Destynee's slug form.]]
45	* FreakyIsCool
46	* FriendlessBackground: Prior to coming to the school, Falcon lamented that he didn't really fit in with any of the school cliques (prep, jock, emo, etc.) and was thus usually excluded. At the school, this continues--first he doesn't know what kind of monster he is, and even when he does, [[spoiler: he's still the only angel]].
47	* FunPersonified: Mr. Hake ''wishes'' he could be this. He is not, however, quite there.
48	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: [[spoiler: Vega, with shades of EvilMatriarch.]]
49	* [[spoiler: GoodThingYouCanHeal]]
50	* GratuitousSpanish: Pearl, though she is Peruvian.
51	* HappinessIsMandatory: Mr. Hake tries to enforce this.
52	* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Destynee's [[spoiler: slug-form]]. Great, she can turn into [[spoiler: a garden mollusk]]... Oh, but she can also [[spoiler: turn into slime and reform herself, letting herself sneak through cracks and hide efficiently.]]
53	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Gone to extremes with [[spoiler: Max and Pearl]], one of whom is [[spoiler: a seven-foot sasquatch]] and the other of whom is [[spoiler: a fourteen-inch fairy-like chupacabra]].
54	* HulkSpeak: Most Frankensteins speak like this, with the most notable being Sparkbolt. [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue He's considered quite eloquent for a Frankenstein, though.]]
55	* IAmWho: Given quite a send-up by Ms. Redflint: "We're not going to have ''that'' conversation, are we? The one where you say, 'Oh, but monsters don't exist!' and I say 'Ah, but that's where you're wrong...'" on and on, et cetra.
56	* TheIgor: Algol, though he has an atypical Cockney accent. [[spoiler: And TheStarscream tendencies where the staff's concerned.]]
57	* InsistentTerminology: At [[spoiler: Guardian Academy]], the teachers insist that Falcon isn't a monster, he's a [[spoiler: ''Celestial.'' Totally different.]]
58	* IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: "HOORAY CAKE!" However, due to the cake being promised by the HappinessIsMandatory MoodSwinger Mr. Hake, it's somewhat... off-putting.
59	* LittleMissBadass: Pearl!
60	* MarkOfTheSupernatural: Falcon has heterochromia, which, for a long while, is the only real sign of his monster-dom. [[spoiler: It's still not clear which of his eyes is his "monster" eye and which is his "guardian" eye. While it initially ''seems'' obvious that blue is guardian and black is monster, his black eye also seems to have a hatred for monsters and a guardian-esque lust for destruction, and in terms of ColorCodedForYourConvenience, Crow's fireballs are blue, like Falcon's healing powers. And healing is more fitting of an angelic nature than fireballs.]]
61	* TheMasochismTango: [[spoiler: Crow and Vega.]] "Has anybody ever told you two that you have the weirdest marriage ''ever?!''"
62	* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler: It's debatable whether Crow is this or a more standard LonersAreFreaks example. On the one hand, he truly does seem to regret being separate from Falcon and his reasons for being trapped in the tower really do suck. On the other hand, he's shown to have no problems with [[WouldHurtAChild threatening to kill children]] if their allegiance would waver. He's scary.]]
63	* [[spoiler: TheMole]]: [[spoiler: Jonny.]]
64	* MonsterMash
65	* MoodSwinger: Mr. Hake, who goes from saccharine to RAAAWRG in less than a second.
66	* MostWritersAreWriters: Sparkbolt, the writing Frankenstein, tends to get a lot of writer-based in-jokes in his dialogue.
67	* MyBrainIsBig: Dr. Medulla.
68	* MyNaymeIs: Many monsters have these, with the most notable being "Merideath."
69	* NoodleIncident: "Chamber X." A DeletedScene (available on the website) shows what happened there, though.
70	* OnlySaneMan: Lincoln firmly believes himself to be this, and thinks the Academy is an asylum.
71	* '''OurMonstersAreDifferent'''
72	** [[spoiler: OurAngelsAreDifferent]]
73	* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Anhk is from Cairo... [[spoiler: Indiana.]]
74	* PrisonBreak
75	* PsychicDreamsForEveryone
76	* PuppyLove: Many, InUniverse.
77	* RaisedByGrandparents: Falcon was raised by his grandmother. [[spoiler: His father can't leave a tower due to a curse and his mother's insane.]]
78	* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler: The Academy's first few weeks, to see who has the courage to remain a monster. However, given a few lines from Falcon's grandmother early on, the results of the test might be debatable...]]
79	* ShoutOut: Zombies can gain powers by singing and dancing. [[{{Thriller}} Hmmm...]]
80	** There's a band that plays strange kinds of percussion. It's composed entirely of [[Music/BlueManGroup green men.]]
81	* SimilarSquad: When Falcon ends up at [[spoiler: Guardian high school]] in the second book, he encounters a number of people who are ''eerily similar'' to the people he knows at the Academy. [[spoiler: Jonny reveals that this is because monsters all have a guardian counterpart, which sheds some new light on the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil subplot.]]
82	* StellarThemeNaming: [[spoiler: The guardian elite have names like Vega and Cynus.]]
83	* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Mr. Pupae, the mothman. It speaks this way to us!
84	* TotallyRadical: Max, like, could totally be Franchise/BillAndTed's excellent lost third amigo! Dude! (It seems to be a sasquatch thing; Woody and Peeler are the same way).
85	* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler: Vega offers princedom of the guardians to Falcon.]]
86	* WingedHumanoid: Crow. [[spoiler: And, by extension, Falcon.]]
87	* WhoYouGonnaCall: The guardians hunt monsters. Of course, when your good guys ''are'' the monsters, well...
88	* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Pearl takes Falcon and Megan for a ride through the sky, which delights them both. [[spoiler: And foreshadows that they'll both be able to fly on their own soon.]]
89	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Both Vega ''and'' Crow seem to have no problems with this, which ''highly'' distresses Falcon (seeing as they're his parents and all).]]
90	* YourVampiresSuck: Ms. Redflint does not think highly of vampires, and considers them walking superiority/inferiority complexes. What with the angst and the "[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga twilight]] brooding" and all.
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Context Literature / FalconQuinn