Line #20 Literature/GloryInTheThunder


1	[[quoteright:303:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gloryinthethunder_5518.jpg]]
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3	->''"The gods have come out to dance. Whenever they do, people die. The best one can hope for is that they turn only inwards."''
4	-->-- '''Ziazan'''
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6	''Glory in the Thunder'' is the first book in the planned ''Aspects of the Divinity'' series, released on October 20, 2013.
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8	Hayr is a young lad of the Tokhar protectorates, forced to flee home after his brother discovers [[{{Gayngst}} his true nature]]. Alone and vulnerable on the road, a [[YouCantFightFate suspiciously convenient]] chance encounter sees him pulled into the company of {{Mad Oracle}} Rashk and his coterie of {{Artificial Humans}}. The four nations of the Tarim region are embroiled in a flow of events which the gods themselves do not fully understand, with [[TheShortGuyWithGlasses Barsamin]] of Chald, [[ActionGirl Ismyrn]] of Petragon, [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Katarosi]] of Antaram and Hayr locked in the center. Meanwhile, KnightInSourArmor Tsovinar seeks the unsettling truth that lies at the heart of her world.
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10	A GaslampFantasy novel set in a fictional counterpart to UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad, with themes of [[GodIsFlawed non-standard theology]], [[CastFullOfGay tolerance]], and deconstructing YouCantFightFate. Involves numerous characters and lies somewhere on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism between ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' and ''Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire''.
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12	The author is JustForFun/OneOfUs and maintains a [[http://gloryinthethunder.com Tumblr]] related to the novel.
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14	----
15	!!Glory in the Tropes:
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17	* ActionGirl: Ismyrn Galatti, Tsovinar, Evren, {{Ninja Maid}} Ziazan, Thalass Veraldo, {{Friendly Sniper}} Oseni, and that’s without bringing up the lore characters.
18	* AGodAmI: Pretty much the general premise; the entire original biblical passage is quoted almost word-for-word.
19	* AllThereInTheManual: Several otherwise anonymous characters have names listed in the back. There is a good deal of information not made explicit in the story which can be gleaned from the map.
20	* AltarTheSpeed: As in like right about ''now''.
21	* AmbiguouslyEvil: Rashk is ''up to something'', that much we know.
22	* AnimalEyeSpy: Rashk has artifices created for this purpose.
23	* AnimalsHateHim: Tsovinar and animals do not mix. Probably because she has all the empathy of a clay brick. Also, artifices smell weird to normal animals.
24	* ArcWords: a l w a y s
25	* ArrangedMarriage: All over the place. The Tokharika culture seems to be built entirely on them.
26	* AStormIsComing: The {{Deuteragonist}} is apparently “a storm on the horizon” for many people.
27	* BadassNormal: Despite being a world filled with gods and artifice people, Ismyrn is the one who seems to deploy violence most effectively. Of course, she learned it from her master Rodomond Veraldo, who is also this.
28	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Deconstructed. Destiny in this case seems to be unhinged if not outright malicious, and characters often wonder why they’re listening to it at all.
29	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Everything is terrible but we’re just gonna have to take it one day at a time.]] Pretty clearly not the end of the story as a whole... one hopes.
30	* BornInTheSaddle: the Tokharika. ''Proper'' Tokharika, anyway.
31	* BreakTheCutie: Barsamin’s backstory.
32	* CapsLock: Cruise control for divine meddling.
33	* CastFullOfGay: Four gay teenagers, one bi teenager, two old gay guys, the jury is still out on Houri. There are also explicitly asexual characters.
34	* CessationOfExistence: The eventual fate of artifices - but only a few are smart enough to know it. The very fact that such intelligent artifices exist is considered unspeakably cruel by many people.
35	* ChekhovsVolcano: Subverted in that nobody has died in the volcano dominating the horizon of one of the cities... so far. But we do get to see multiple characters fall off Chekhov’s Waterfall.
36	* CitizenshipMarriage: The process takes four years.
37	* CreatingLife: In fact, a large portion of the cast were given artificial life by other people in the cast.
38	* {{Crossdresser}}: A much younger Rashk’s clothing choices are expressed in unambiguously feminine terms, to the point that the narrative itself briefly succumbs to {{Viewer Gender Confusion}}.
39	* CrypticConversation: Rashk, the God of Sight, revels in these to the extent that multiple other characters call him out on it.
40	* DecoyProtagonist: Establish {{Woobie}}. [[spoiler: Kill her.]]
41	* {{Deuteragonist}}: The plot largely bounces back and forth between two boys of very different background.
42	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Tsovinar. Briefly.]]
43	* DivineDate: The reason Katarosi has been set up with Barsamin in particular is due to religious perception.
44	* DoWrongRight: Rashk lectures Vahagn about the ''correct'' way to murder a good person who doesn’t deserve to die.
45	* DramaticThunder: It’s right there in the title.
46	* DueToTheDead: Ziazan stops and takes the time to dispose of the undead men she just re-deaded, even though she suspects something terrible just happened.
47	* EmotionsVersusStoicism: Tsovinar’s driving inner conflict.
48	* EngagementChallenge: Deloram throws one of these at Barsamin: win the approval of swordmaster Rodomond Veraldo. [[spoiler:It’s been rigged.]]
49	* EveryoneIsRelated: Justified; since divine potential seems to have a genetic component, there is a complex network of intermarried gods and relatives of gods.
50	* EvilUncle: A rare maternal uncle example.
51	* EyeScream: One of the most important characters is the God of Sight… so this is everywhere, subtle or blatant.
52	* EyesNeverLie: The basis of the Aspect of Secrets, it seems.
53	* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Clarion is repeatedly described as the most beautiful and charming girl who evokes pleasant memories in onlookers. She either kills someone or threatens to in every scene she has.
54	* FamilyOfChoice: Rashk left his real family behind and has since accrued quite a large assortment. He characterizes family as those who “save each other from themselves.”
55	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Tarim Peninsula is loosely based on the Silk Road. As for Petragon - a republic to the west, characterized by wealth, interfering in the interests of smaller countries, and even specifically mentioned to have an unjust health care system? [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Hmm]]. When Ziazan meets a man from the Vrie Countries they start speaking Fake Dutch.
56	* FirstNameBasis: The people from Tarim have no last names, but they all seem to understand they’re supposed to call the Occidentals by last name. Notably, Barsamin refers to Ismyrn by first name. No wonder Katarosi thinks he ''likes'' her.
57	* FounderOfTheKingdom: We get quite a few dropped on us in lore interludes, most prominently Sparkasuki, the bloodthirsty conqueress.
58	* FriendlySniper: Oseni. Nice enough to stop [[spoiler:Barsamin]] from making himself a murderer. Dutiful enough to try to take down [[spoiler:Luzcrezo]] when he threatens her lord.
59	* FromNobodyToNightmare: Clarion was apparently once a perfectly ordinary rustic girl before she became an immortal clingy {{yandere}} with power over iron.
60	* GaslampFantasy: Technology is not evenly distributed across cultures but electric lighting, automobiles, steamboats, drilling machines, typewriters, and most importantly [[FantasyGunControl guns]] all exist.
61	* {{Gaydar}}: Luzcrezo has one. So does Rashk.
62	* {{Gayngst}}: The root cause of why Hayr ran away from home.
63	* GenderBender: Heavily implied to have happened to [[spoiler:Erasmin Arcocelli]] as we know her.
64	* GeniusBruiser: Tsovinar, tall and strong and a published author.
65	* GodIsFlawed: The “gods” are ordinary people and hence quite flawed. “God” in the grander sense might be also. Or maybe she just knows something we don’t.
66	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Queen Anahit abolished slavery throughout Antaram and is generally viewed as a lovely person. Her ancestress, Sparkasuki … threw people off waterfalls.
67	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The off-page fate of Diadem Correl, and presumably most other Gods of Truth.
68	* HellSeeker: “And may I be damned for it.”
69	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: It turns out that the good lady [[spoiler:Deloram]] worked in harlotry and thievery before she got married and settled down.
70	* IAmXSonOfY: The peoples of the Tarim Peninsula do not have last names; they tend to fall into doing this when they’re being particular.
71	* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: Evren warns Hayr concerning her little sister. Katarosi places down one of these ultimatums regarding ''herself''.
72	* ImmortalityInducer: An Aspect of the Divinity will do this when it decides it’s finally found the right person. By whatever measure it may be using.
73	* ImpoverishedPatrician: The royal family of Antaram is running on borrowed money from across the sea.
74	* InadequateInheritor: [[spoiler: Vahagn murders his own young daughters, knowing they will never be able to wield his Aspect.]]
75	* ItIsNotYourTime / ForeseeingMyDeath: Rashk gets away with an awful lot simply because he feels certain it is not his time.
76	* [[spoiler: KillTheOnesYouLove]]: [[spoiler: Solornel ultimately falls not to the potential successors he fears, but to a snake bite courtesy of Rashk.]]
77	* KnightInSourArmor: Tsovinar literally sets her hopes and dreams on fire after accepting they can never come true, and wonders aloud why she even bothers intervening for the good of others, but she just keeps doing it.
78	* LightningReveal: The God of Thunder. Pretty inevitable.
79	* LineageComesFromTheFather: Subverted and in one case inverted. Aspects bounce around between men and women with no particular pattern, except for the Queen of Birds, which has centuries of tradition that the successor should be a woman.
80	* LongLostRelative: Hayr’s father was forced to abandon his wife and sons to go back to his “proper” wife chosen by his parents. He was never heard from again… we can all see where this is going.
81	* LoserSonOfLoserDad: Everyone’s opinion of Aramaz.
82	* MagicalEye: The Aspect of Sight, as one would assume.
83	* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: An unusual case in which [[spoiler: Rashk plots Tsovinar’s death against her will, knowing that she will return immortal.]]
84	* MyParentsAreDead: Barsamin’s father is dead!
85	* NayTheist: Said to God Herself: “I do not much care what ''you'' want.”
86	* NobilityMarriesMoney: Eodar turned down his one chance to marry into money, and now he is pressuring his daughter not to make the same mistake.
87	* NoEyeInMagic: Aspected powers can be limited by line of sight - or by hearing.
88	* NonHumanUndead: Most artifices are patterned on animals rather than people. In some countries, person-shaped artifices are outright illegal.
89	* OhMyGods!: Well, naturally. By the shattered godhood what else would they say?
90	* OldShame: An in universe example: [[spoiler:Tsovinar]] is the opposite of proud of the work she put out when she was young.
91	* OurSoulsAreDifferent: The soul is characterized as the personable component of existence which interacts with the physical mind. Everyone has one, but artifices are using “borrowed” ones, which are apparently being temporarily barred from afterlife.
92	* ParentalMarriageVeto: Hayr’s father had no legal right in the eyes of the Tokharika to marry his mother without permission. It is also the premise of the historical lore of Arakel and Kandakari.
93	* PhysicalGod: Each Aspect can only be held by one person at a time, so religious fervor and tradition tends to pop up around the wielders.
94	* PosthumousCharacter: The plot is advanced with many flashbacks so there are quite a lot of them.
95	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Artifices, in some cases extremely literally.
96	* ProphecyTwist: Rashk seems to be trying to set these sorts of things up deliberately.
97	* ReligionIsMagic: One night magic just sort of fell from the sky in a finite number of chunks. It seems to be universally agreed that these are {{PiecesOfGod}} in some sense.
98	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Antaram is small enough that Eodar and Deloram manage many things directly.
99	* SadBollywoodWedding: It’s a western work, but the marriage of [[spoiler:Katarosi and Barsamin]] follows this pattern - with the twist that they’re pretty clearly both [[spoiler:gay]].
100	* SelfFulfillingProphecy: If young Rashk had kept his mouth shut concerning the details, Clarion would never had taken actions towards fulfilling his own vision of his own death.
101	* SoulJar: Evren postulates that Rashk has a large collection of these. He probably does. Golem Artifices blur the concept of golems and the undead.
102	* TakingTheVeil: Houri has this to look forward to.
103	* TheConqueror: The lore focuses on one; the plot raises the worry that another is coming. [[spoiler:Or coming back, really.]]
104	* TheGlassesGottaGo: subverted: both Barsamin’s mother and Katarosi’s grandmother claim this. Barsamin and Katarosi both think the other looks better with glasses.
105	* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Katarosi and Houri are prone to bickering.
106	* TheTheocracy: Antaram is this, but the requisite goddess is MIA.
107	* VirginPower: Played with: Anahit is passed off as this in folklore but in reality she was a lesbian.
108	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Well Solornel sure does, and [[spoiler:Houri]] is in favor, but [[spoiler:Tsovinar]] is absolutely terrified of the potential consequences.
109	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Gods have a reputation for going quite mad. Holding an Aspect is a challenge of mental and moral fortitude that many characters are unable to overcome.

Context Literature / GloryInTheThunder