America decides that it’s just vital that Maxon know the other girls know she saw him shirtless.  She’s even nervous about telling him.  Because…

Because….

Because this series ran out of legitimate drama two books ago and this is what we’re left with.  God, this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Why is this important?  Who cares?  They’re in a Bachelor competition and all of them have admitted to at least some form of intimacy with the guy, which means that not only is that expected but they’re all basically on the same level.  Plus, why should I care that the other girls know that.  What’s it going to affect?

Maxon does, in fact, get mad because he ‘has no privacy’ and shit, if you wanted privacy, don’t date four girls at once.  Even dating one person at a time, this stuff comes out.  Do you know how many people (guys and girls, everyone does it) have told me intimate details that I didn’t want to hear?  I can’t even imagine what they tell to people that are actually interested.  Besides, it’s not like these gals shared it with the whole country, just with each other.

After a little spat, America goes off in a huff and refuses to see him the rest of the day.

It was strange tucking myself into bed, knowing something was hanging between Maxon and me

It shouldn’t be; that’s the standard state of things throughout all three books so far.

Early the next morning, someone wakes up America and tells her she’s needed.  It seems a couple of rebels have shown up, but diplomatically, asking to talk.  They want to see Maxon and America.

The rebels in question turn out to be a guy and gal, and the girl is the same one that winked at America while she was treed in the last book.  The rebels ask for some privacy, but thankfully they do the reasonable thing and just have the guards far enough away to be out of earshot while still in the same (giant) room.  The dude introduces himself as August Illéa.  The girl is Georgia Whitaker, and they’re engaged.

Maxon seems unsurprised at this news and says his father always warned they’d come after the crown.  August says he’s not interested in that.

Destroying the monarchy is more up the Southern rebels’ alley. We have other goals.

Well, then, I kind of hate you already, because this monarchy is pretty shit.

They are after the diaries.

Is anyone here actually surprised?

We knew they existed long ago and had a recent confirmation from a source I cannot reveal.” August looked at me. “It wasn’t your presentation on the Report that gave it away, just so you know.”

So, America’s dad is a rebel.  Wonder how long it’ll be before the book gets around to yet another thing that we already know.

August says he’s fine with a monarchy, he just wants some changes, one of which being the end of the caste system.  Alright, fine, you get your brownie points back, but they’re on probation.  You’re idea of a limited monarchy is pretty sparse, but then again, there’s no point in laying out a whole constitution on the first meeting.

August gives the family history for America.  Dear old Granddaddy Illea had two sons and a daughter.  The sons both died, so the daughter’s kids took over, thus why the last name is Schreave.  But apparently the middle son didn’t die, he fled.

He hid with relatives and friends, eventually making a camp with some like-minded people in the north. It’s colder up there, wetter, and so hard to navigate that no one tries.

Hey, Canadians!  Guess what?  You don’t exist.

Maxon points out that, while he’s sympathetic, he’s still not king.  August says his group will stop attacking the palace and give support to Maxon if he promises to do the right then when he is. 

And…killing Daddy Clark isn’t an option because…???

I mean, there’s a lot of people dying right now, and no indication that Clarkson won’t live to a ripe old age.  Look at Queen Elizabeth; do you really want to wait that long?

Granted, I can imagine waiting, because an upheaval like this takes time to organize.  Except they’re not really talking about doing anything while waiting, just…waiting.  As if they can sit on their thumbs until Maxon gets crowned and then *boom* all done.

August then starts dumping on the Southern Rebels because…jfc, I can’t even.

I can’t go through with this unless I give them a new name, because tacking ‘Southern’ onto all this just hurts me.

From here on, let’s call them the People’s Army for Liberation.

So, August doesn’t like PALs because he says they’re all stupid, greedy, and poor. 

I shit you not.

He says that because they’re at the bottom of the system they blame those at the top (and there is a truly disturbing subtext of ‘those filthy underclass rabble-raisers,’ even as he says they’re right), but when they get what they want (death of the monarchy) they’ll just keep all the wealth for themselves instead of actually sharing it.

have no intention of sharing the wealth. When in history has that ever happened?

…lots of times.

Okay, so it’s never happened that we’ve made a perfect communist utopia, and it backfires a lot, too, but seriously, there’s been lots of times where throwing off an evil dictator regime results in, if not equal, then at least better situations for most of the country.

August says they plan to leave everyone in the current caste and just put themselves on top, but that seems really fishy to me.  That’s the sort of plan that someone already in power has, because that’s really the only way you can work it.  If you have to build your power base out of the oppressed people, then…well, all those people are also fighting along with you, and at the end of it they have experience on how to take shit over.  The only way you could suppress them is with an army, but they are your army, so how the fuck would you do that?  With the previous king’s army…which you just defeated?

Furthermore, what proof do we have that August isn’t just pulling this all out of his ass?  I don’t believe you, August.  Brownie points revoked.

PALS FOREVER!

I really have no idea why I’m so against all of this, other than just I don’t like it and spite.  I mean, it’s fishy as hell and makes no sense, but it’s par for the course as far as this series goes.  Maybe it’s just that August is so…unilateral about it all.  He’s putting this other group down to make his own group look more reasonable, and he’s doing it without anything but a ‘because I said so,’ and just…if anyone gave this story to mean for real, I’d immediately have them locked up somewhere (somewhere nice, though, house arrest) until I could get a better picture, because this person is obviously trying to manipulate me.

Then again, if I were in charge, I would have actually sent some spies into the rebels to begin with and I’d already know what’s what.

Where do spies fall in this caste system?

“If there are no pop stars churning out those mind-numbing songs, then there are no musicians in the booths backing them up, no clerks running back and forth with tapes, no shop owners selling the music. Taking out one person at the top destroys thousands at the bottom.”

That only holds true if you build your economy around pop stars.  What if you take the pop stars out of the equation and then all those other musicians fill in the gap?  Huh?  What about that?

Honestly, the only way anything he says makes sense is if you’re invested in upholding the status quo, which no one should be because the status quo sucks.

PALS FOREVER!

August says they want a sign of good faith from Maxon, and that sign is that he pick America to marry.

“I will not have anyone else telling me who I can and cannot marry! This is my life you’re playing games with!”

…weren’t you going to do that anyway, though?

Grow up, Maxon. You’re the prince. You want your damn crown, then keep it. But responsibilities come with that privilege.

Very well, August.  When the PALs take over, we’ll kill you last.

America storms out of the room, since everyone keeps talking about her like she’s not there, and Georgia follows her.

“We’re sorry. We thought you two were in love. We didn’t realize we were asking for something he’d be opposed to. We were sure he’d be on board.”

Well then you could have said that better.  You guys suck at diplomacy.

Georgia is just there to fangirl all over America and tell her that she’s awesome, as per usual for these books.  Of course, since America is such a lifeless lump most of the time, there’s only a couple of things that anyone can use to praise her, and things like ‘sticking up for Marlee’ get far more page time than they deserve as a result.

After all, what came out of that?  Oh, right, nothing.

Her reasoning was so silly, it made me laugh again. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to talk to a girl I’m not competing with.”

…what about your maids?  You know, the ones that Georgia just got done praising you for being close to?

She smiled. “Not wanting the crown means you’re probably the best person to have it.”

BULLSHIT.

BULLSHITBULLSHITBULLSHIT.

AND ON TOP OF THAT MORE BULLSHIT.

I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF SEEING THIS LINE IN BOOKS.

I AM SO FUCKING TIRED OF THE IDEA THAT AMBITION = EVIL.

I AM SO FUCKING SICK OF THE NOTION THAT ONLY THOSE WHO DON’T WANT POWER ARE DESERVING OF IT.

Occasionally it works out, fine, but someone who doesn’t have a passion for leadership is going to do very poorly at the top.  Because that shit’s hard, it is ungodly hard, and only if you’re truly committed to it are you going to be any good at it.  Someone who just accidents their way into it is going to drop the ball, not to mention the fact that they haven’t prepared themselves for the task, so they’re untrained and untried.

Ambition is not a bad thing.  Ambition for power is not a bad thing.  Being ruthless and cutthroat and amoral, sure, but not ambitious. 

And yet again and again and again and again and again I see books where only the person who doesn’t want the job is considered good enough to have it.  And I think it’s born out of this idea that ambition is evil, but at the same time they need to be in charge for the story to work, so we end up with this fucking trope that is literally the opposite of sense-making.

God, I hate it so much.

Everyone parts ways and America’s final thought of the chapter is how she doesn’t know what her relationship status with Maxon is, because…yeah, that’s real important right now.  Uhg, not only is it yet another romance line, it’s not even a new one.