EATW – Book 1 – Chapter 3 – The River, The Woods
Her voice rang clear as bells across the landscape, as melodic and confident as Finner’s music, beautiful and haunting as kulning ringing over the fields and mountains.
For the LGBTQ+ youth out there, the strongest fighters I’ve ever seen, brave and resilient to the bone.
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When young trans man Esko Virtanen is thrown out into the wild to be killed by the things in the woods, as per the wishes of his dystopian government, he is swiftly faced with something greater than he has ever known. With terror around every corner, he bands together with a ragtag group of Trolls to avenge both himself and the ravaged Earth, all while the team grows from their grief and learns to accept themselves and one another for who they are.
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Content warnings: Implied/referenced suicide, LGBTQ+ discrimination, blood, death, drowning, dystopian society
Her voice rang clear as bells across the landscape, as melodic and confident as Finner’s music, beautiful and haunting as kulning ringing over the fields and mountains.
Esko tried to convince himself he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the implications of what might happen if he got his revenge. He didn’t care about who might die if he let the Trolls through the city walls. He didn’t miss his mother and father. He didn’t want to see them again. He was doing just fine living in the woods as a societal outcast with a water monster who was so caught up in his pride that he…
CONTENT WARNING: Implied/referenced suicide, drowning
Ellen wouldn’t have wanted this for Esko. She would’ve sobbed openly and kicked and screamed and punched every officer as Esko was lead to the city gates. She would’ve broken free and ran out there alongside him, promising that if he was going to die in the wilderness, she’d be there with them. Ellen would’ve never left his side.