Just two weeks after its debut, Pluribus has quickly become a new favorite show of mine. In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, a miserable woman has to save the world from… happiness. As someone who is somewhat moody, tends to be pessimistic and finds overly peppy and happy people annoying, I identify with Carol (the main character) and can’t wait to see where this show is headed.
Before the whole world turned upside-down, Carol was a best-selling author of romantasy fiction. She is on tour promoting her latest book, Bloodsong of Wycaro, when the events of the apocalypse unfold. (Can you even call it an apocalypse when said apocalypse causes practically everyone in the world to join a hive mind and become happy? I guess you can, because a lot of people die.)
Well, just as AppleTV released the actual book The You You Are from the show Severance, it has also released a chapter from Pluribus’ Bloodsong of Wycaro. Not only that, the chapter is a critical one that is discussed between Carol and a fan on the show.
The free 11-page excerpt is available on Apple Books here. Along with the chapter, there is a letter from the author in addition to an author bio.
I don’t read romantasy so I have no idea how the excerpt compares to other bestsellers in the genre. But as I read the first few pages, I couldn’t help but think that it was all a bit too…flowerly? Cheesy? Did they purposely do this? Is all romantasy like this, or did they purposely make Bloodsong overly ornate?
Can anyone who reads romantasy chime in here? How does this excerpt from Bloodsong compare? Do you think it would be a bestseller in our world?
Via Gizmodo.
Tara Tulip
First, hiiiiii! It’s always such a little hit of joy when I see one of your posts come across my feed!
I am addicted to Pluribus and had no idea they were doing (portions of?) a book tie-in. Like you, I’m not a romantasy reader, so it’s hard to judge something like that. But even Carol was skeptical of her own work in episode 1. Sure, you could dismiss that as coming from someone who really wanted to write “serious” fiction and secretly judged romantasy and everyone who enjoyed it. But it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for me to check it out!
Geek in Heels
So good to hear from you, Tara! Yes, I remember that Carol was doubtful that her writing was anything great and even seemed to judge her fans. I admit that I couldn’t get through the entire chapter that AppleTV released because it’s just not my cup of tea. But it’s still a fun tie-in that they did and the letter Carol wrote at the beginning of the excerpt is amusing, in that “this is so not like her but she did it for the fans” way.