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* RealityEnsues:
** Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].
** Maeve gets into a StarCrossedLovers type romance with Odran, even planning to run away with him at one point. [[spoiler:When they actually get to live together for a short while, they realize that even if they love each other, they are incompatible as a couple, for the exact same reasons that they couldn't be together in the first place.]]
** n ''Temping Fate'', it's acknowledged that the Greek gods are better than they were in their heyday, but they are still JerkassGods by modern standards. Also, if they screw you over, you have every right to call them out. [[spoiler:Apollo really did like Dyllin, which was why he courted her in mortal guise, but he also bewitched her into loving him. There is also a power imbalance in that she was a temp and he was ostensibly one of her employees. The spell wears off at the wedding, and Dyllin calls him out for lying to her and messing with her mind]].

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* RealityEnsues:
** Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].
** Maeve gets into a StarCrossedLovers type romance with Odran, even planning to run away with him at one point. [[spoiler:When they actually get to live together for a short while, they realize that even if they love each other, they are incompatible as a couple, for the exact same reasons that they couldn't be together in the first place.]]
** n ''Temping Fate'', it's acknowledged that the Greek gods are better than they were in their heyday, but they are still JerkassGods by modern standards. Also, if they screw you over, you have every right to call them out. [[spoiler:Apollo really did like Dyllin, which was why he courted her in mortal guise, but he also bewitched her into loving him. There is also a power imbalance in that she was a temp and he was ostensibly one of her employees. The spell wears off at the wedding, and Dyllin calls him out for lying to her and messing with her mind]].


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* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].
** Maeve gets into a StarCrossedLovers type romance with Odran, even planning to run away with him at one point. [[spoiler:When they actually get to live together for a short while, they realize that even if they love each other, they are incompatible as a couple, for the exact same reasons that they couldn't be together in the first place.]]
** In ''Temping Fate'', it's acknowledged that the Greek gods are better than they were in their heyday, but they are still JerkassGods by modern standards. Also, if they screw you over, you have every right to call them out. [[spoiler:Apollo really did like Dyllin, which was why he courted her in mortal guise, but he also bewitched her into loving him. There is also a power imbalance in that she was a temp and he was ostensibly one of her employees. The spell wears off at the wedding, and Dyllin calls him out for lying to her and messing with her mind]].
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* ''Up The Wall & Other Tales of KingArthur and His Knights''

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* ''Up The Wall & Other Tales of KingArthur Myth/KingArthur and His Knights''
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* ''E.Godz'' (with Robert Asprin), 2003

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* ''E.Godz'' (with Robert Asprin), Creator/RobertAsprin), 2003
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* {{Bridezilla}}: ''The Wedding of Wylda Serene'' starts with the narrator talking about his sister's bridezilla antics, which eventually leads to her being forced to ask one of the decorators to be a bridesmaid, thus kicking off the backstory. People later start to suspect that the title character is like this because she insists on having the wedding at the Club, but it later turns out that she was put up to it by her mother, who insisted that Wylda get the wedding that she never did.

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* {{Bridezilla}}: {{Bridezilla}}:
**
''The Wedding of Wylda Serene'' starts with the narrator talking about his sister's bridezilla antics, which eventually leads to her being forced to ask one of the decorators to be a bridesmaid, thus kicking off the backstory. People later start to suspect that the title character is like this because she insists on having the wedding at the Club, but it later turns out that she was put up to it by her mother, who insisted that Wylda get the wedding that she never did.did.
** Illiana's sister Dyllin becomes this in ''Temping Fate'' when she gets engaged. Their parents stress out over the arrangements that Dyllin demand because the wedding ''has'' to be perfect. She does apologize when Iliana calls her out for it and tries to be better. [[spoiler:Everyone forgives her on learning that Apollo had bewitched her into loving him and that affected her personality drastically. With that said, her parents wince on seeing the bill after Dyllin calls off the wedding]].



* DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal: Defied in the climax of ''Temping Fate''. [[spoiler:On the day of her wedding, everyone finds out that Dyllin's would-be-husband was Apollo in disguise and he charmed her. Thanks to the BigBad attacking, it breaks the spell. Dyllin regains her mind and then calls out Apollo for bewitching and lying to her. Dyllin even asks if he was ever going to tell her or pose as a mortal for the rest of their marriage. She then calls off the wedding, though Apollo protests that he really liked her]].



** n ''Temping Fate'', it's acknowledged that the Greek gods are better than they were in their heyday, but they are still JerkassGods by modern standards. Also, if they screw you over, you have every right to call them out. [[spoiler:Apollo really did like Dyllin, which was why he courted her in mortal guise, but he also bewitched her into loving him. There is also a power imbalance in that she was a temp and he was ostensibly one of her employees. The spell wears off at the wedding, and Dyllin calls him out for lying to her and messing with her mind]].



* SequelEscalation: The longer the Leeside hole exists, the more it gets streched out, and the bigger the threats become. In ''Gnome Man's Land,'' Tim has to deal with domestic spirits and the creatures of Faerie. In ''Harpy High,'' the escapees are now monsters such as vampires, oni, and [[BigBad Baba Yaga]]. By ''Unicorn U.,'' Tim has to face off with actual gods of chaos and destruction.

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* SequelEscalation: The longer the Leeside hole exists, the more it gets streched stretched out, and the bigger the threats become. In ''Gnome Man's Land,'' Tim has to deal with domestic spirits and the creatures of Faerie. In ''Harpy High,'' the escapees are now monsters such as vampires, oni, and [[BigBad Baba Yaga]]. By ''Unicorn U.,'' Tim has to face off with actual gods of chaos and destruction.


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* WeddingSmashers: The climax of ''Temping Fate'' happens at Dyllin's wedding. [[spoiler:It's also where the guests and she learn that her fiance was actually Apollo in disguise, when the BigBad unmasks him, leaves him naked, and storms the ceremonies]].

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* ActionGirl: Becca eventually becomes this in ''The Sword of Mary''.

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* ActionGirl: ActionGirl:
**
Becca eventually becomes this in ''The Sword of Mary''.Mary''.
** In ''The Princesses Of Myth'', Helen manages to convince her swordsmaster to train her as well as her brothers, and Nefertiti is a skilled archer and rider. Subverted with Maeve, who learns a bit of sword-wielding but stops after it has terrible consequences for her trainer, and decides to focus instead on becoming a politician.



* {{Demythification}}: Downplayed in the ''Princesses of Myth'' series. Most of the myths and supernatural occurrences, particularly in the Helen of Troy series, are given more mundane explanations, but at the same time the Oracle of Delphi as as powerful as she says she is, although she admits that this is rare and many past Oracles have been {{Phony Psychic}}s. How much magic happens vs reality varies on the character, with Himiko's duology being explicitly fantastic while Maeve's has no unambiguous supernatural elements at all.



* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The ''Princesses of Myth''. Most of the magical or supernatural encounters in the series are wholly believed by the characters but can be dismissed as superstition, coincidence, or AllJustADream. Sometimes subverted when it lands on one side or another, with the characters demythifying certain stories, or Himiko having actual shamanistic powers that she uses to stop an earthquake.



* RealityEnsues: Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].

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* RealityEnsues: RealityEnsues:
**
Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].
** Maeve gets into a StarCrossedLovers type romance with Odran, even planning to run away with him at one point. [[spoiler:When they actually get to live together for a short while, they realize that even if they love each other, they are incompatible as a couple, for the exact same reasons that they couldn't be together in the first place.]]

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* AwfulTruth: The soldier who killed Maeve's friend in an honor duel [[spoiler:reveals it wasn't a petty murder, but an assassination, when Maeve questions him at the end of the story. Because the bodyguard had let Maeve endanger herself, the king ordered the soldier to kill the boy, or he would have someone less experienced do it, and take the princess's hate. In fact, the soldier has been having nightmares about it for assassinating an innocent child and would be given a painful death in turn if Maeve confronted her father about it; he wearily tells Maeve she can go ahead and ask since death may be better than living with the guilt. She decides instead to forgive the soldier, and tell him his victim does too. Then she requests that her father let her go into fostering, so she can get as far away from him as possible]].



* BrokenPedestal: In ''Deception's Princess'', Maeve knows that her father is controlling and not good at keeping his promises. Even so, she loves him. [[spoiler:That doesn't last when she nearly gets injured on her bodyguard's watch trying to stop a dog from attacking; she finds out as a teenager years later that her father got her bodyguard and best friend executed as punishment, using a common commander to do the job. Even worse, Maeve doesn't want to believe it's true but puts the pieces together and realizes it must be. She can't bear to look the king in the face after that]].



* EvenEvilHasStandards: A man offered his four year old daughter to the dragon in ''New York By Knight'', which proved to be a bad idea. This dragon was far more traditional about its sacrifices.

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* EvenEvilHasStandards: A man offered his four year old four-year-old daughter to the dragon in ''New York By Knight'', which proved to be a bad idea. This dragon was far more traditional about its sacrifices.


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* RealityEnsues: Maeve as a preteen tries to stop a wild dog from attacking her family, using the fighting lessons her bodyguard gave her. She expects to get some respect for at least having the skill. Her father instead berates her for doing something so dangerous and her bodyguard for giving her the lessons in the first place. [[spoiler:While he may have had a point, executing the bodyguard using a soldier as a patsy just reeks of a power play, especially when Maeve learns about it]].


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* ShootTheShaggyDog: Maeve's bodyguard and weapons instructor, plans to save money to start a family with his wife. [[spoiler:He dies in a duel, and his wife dies having their baby. Maeve refuses to forgive his killer for that]].
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* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Yaroslav of ''Harpy High'' is an incompetent vampire who takes several minutes to transform into a bat or mist, wears a Batman T-shirt, is unfazed by sunlight, and has the cutest head of blond curly hair since Shirley Temple. This is subverted when the witch Baba Yaga takes him prisoner and begins to transform him into a more stereotypical form.
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** Also used by the dybbuk in ''Gnome Man's Land.''

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** Also used by the dybbuk in ''Gnome Man's Land.Land,'' as well as the Feidelsteins and Ben Kipnis in ''Unicorn U.''
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* SequelEscalation: The longer the Leeside hole exists, the more it gets streched out, and the bigger the threats become. In ''Gnome Man's Land," Tim has to deal with domestic spirits and the creatures of Faerie. In ''Harpy High,'' the escapees are now monsters such as vampires, oni, and Baba Yaga. By ''Unicorn U.,'' Tim has to face off with actual gods of chaos and destruction.

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* SequelEscalation: The longer the Leeside hole exists, the more it gets streched out, and the bigger the threats become. In ''Gnome Man's Land," Land,'' Tim has to deal with domestic spirits and the creatures of Faerie. In ''Harpy High,'' the escapees are now monsters such as vampires, oni, and [[BigBad Baba Yaga.Yaga]]. By ''Unicorn U.,'' Tim has to face off with actual gods of chaos and destruction.
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* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: In ''Gnome Man's Land," the Leeside escapees are faerie beings and domestic spirits, and the most dangerous evil proves to be a human child-stealer transformed into a monstrous shape to match his soul. In ''Harpy High,'' the true monsters begin to escape with the Russian witch Baba Yaga as a genuine BigBad. By the time the trilogy reaches ''Unicorn U.'', the gods of chaos and destruction have emerged from the Leeside, led by Loki, who [[GreaterScopeVillain makes Baba Yaga look like a fairy tale.]]

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* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: In ''Gnome Man's Land," Land,'' the Leeside escapees are faerie beings and domestic spirits, and the most dangerous evil proves to be a human child-stealer transformed into a monstrous shape to match his soul. In ''Harpy High,'' the true monsters begin to escape with the Russian witch Baba Yaga as a genuine BigBad. By the time the trilogy reaches ''Unicorn U.'', the gods of chaos and destruction have emerged from the Leeside, led by Loki, who [[GreaterScopeVillain makes Baba Yaga look like a fairy tale.]]
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* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: In ''Gnome Man's Land," the Leeside escapees are faerie beings and domestic spirits, and the most dangerous evil proves to be a human child-stealer transformed into a monstrous shape to match his soul. In ''Harpy High,'' the true monsters begin to escape with the Russian witch Baba Yaga as a genuine BigBad. By the time the trilogy reaches ''Unicorn U.'', the gods of chaos and destruction have emerged from the Leeside, led by Loki, who [[GreaterScopeVillain makes Baba Yaga look like a fairy tale.]]
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* AndIMustScream: As Loki rips the ancestral spirit Yang apart in ''Unicorn U.'', he also renders Yang's mother Jadwiga unable to vocalize any of her grief - the tears flow, but her screams are silent until the very end, when Loki restores her voice for the amusement value.
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* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Yang, a Mongol ancestral spirit, attacks Loki and actually succeeds in subduing the Fenris Wolf ... but a moment's gloating costs him badly as Loki picks him up and rips him to shreds.

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* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Yang, a In ''Unicorn U.'', the Mongol ancestral spirit, spirit Yang attacks Loki and actually succeeds in subduing the Fenris Wolf ... but a moment's gloating costs him badly as Loki picks him up and rips him to shreds.
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* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Yang, a Mongol ancestral spirit, attacks Loki and actually succeeds in subduing the Fenris Wolf ... but a moment's gloating costs him badly as Loki picks him up and rips him to shreds.
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* PhantomZone: The Leeside, in ''Gnome Man's Land'' and its sequels, where the creatures of magic were imprisoned for centuries by mankind's collective disbelief.
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* Gnome Man's Land Trilogy

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* Gnome Man's Land Leeside Trilogy
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* BatSignal: In ''Unicorn U.'', Faustus and Mr. Feidelstein send a Horus-signal into the sky of the Egyptian underworld to summon help against Set. [[spoiler: It turns out to be unnecessary, since by the time Horus arrives, the heroes have defeated Set and dumped his body into the river.]]
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* BigDamnHeroes: Achieved by Lord Palamon, of all people, in ''Harpy High.'' He arrives just in time to shoot down Baba Yaga's cottage with a longbow, crushing the witch underneath, under the [[AccidentalHero mistaken impression]] that he was slaying a [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Nazgul]].


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* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: In the Leeside books, the web paths of Faerie can offer a rapid shortcut between real-world locations ... although for mortals, there's also the risk of turning to dust when they emerge, since [[YearOutsideHourInside time in the Faerie realm is unreliable]] unless you're being guided by Fae royalty.


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* LandOfFaerie: In the Leeside books, the Faerie realm of Lord Palamon is a classic example, complete with secret entrances, Elfish inhabitants, a (nominal) ruler, and an unreliable flow of time compared to the mortal world.
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* BoisterousBruiser: As the Leeside books declare, when Yang pillages, EVERYONE pillages!
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* FateWorseThanDeath: When the ancestral spirit Yang attempts a counterattack on Loki, Loki responds by literally ripping his soul to shreds and tossing the scattered pieces into the underworld. [[spoiler: It takes the intervention of another deity to allow his friends to reassemble him later.)
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* JewishComplaining: In ''Gnome Man's Land,'' a dybbuk possesses Tim's best friend Larry and begins a long string of complaints about his eating habits - especially after discovering that he'll suck down non-kosher cheeseburgers but won't eat even one morsel for her...


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** Also used by the dybbuk in ''Gnome Man's Land.''
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* HiddenDepths: School bully Neil Fitzsimmons of the ''Gnome Man's Land'' series turns out to have enough poetry in him to attract the attentions of a leanan sidhe (a vampire that literally sucks the soul of versifiers). Once he cleans up his act, he turns out to be a pretty good student, too.
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* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Neil Fitzsimmons sasses off to Teleri in ''Gnome Man's Land'', she makes him literally able to "watch his ass" - by rotating his head 180 degrees.

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* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Neil Fitzsimmons sasses off to Teleri in ''Gnome Man's Land'', she makes him literally able to "watch his ass" - by magically rotating his head 180 degrees.
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* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: When Neil Fitzsimmons sasses off to Teleri in ''Gnome Man's Land'', she makes him literally able to "watch his ass" - by rotating his head 180 degrees.
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* BewitchedAmphibians: In ''Gnome Man's Land,'' Teleri turns Tim into a frog when he tries feeding her a line of BS. After she turns him back, he discovers to his discomfort that ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing.
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* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: The first time Tim meets Lord Palamon's court in ''Gnome Man's Land,'' they're dressed like a LoungeLizard's dream, complete with naked nymphets and a pimped-out Thunderbird.
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* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The fey of ''Gnome Man's Land'' are horrified at the thought of a human who would kidnap, abuse and murder children. When his identity is finally revealed, there's enough magic around for him to spontaneously transform into the monster he's made himself into.
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* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Lord Palamon, the elfish ruler of the Fey, gets easily carried off on whims. He also has the awesome magical power needed to make those whims real and enforce them on his direct realm whether it's tacky-and-tasteless or a more restrained Tolkien theme.

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* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Lord Palamon, the elfish ruler of the Fey, Fey in the ''Gnome Man's Land'' trilogy, gets easily carried off on whims. He also has the awesome magical power needed to make those whims real and enforce them on his direct realm whether it's tacky-and-tasteless or a more restrained Tolkien theme.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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Added DiffLines:

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Lord Palamon, the elfish ruler of the Fey, gets easily carried off on whims. He also has the awesome magical power needed to make those whims real and enforce them on his direct realm whether it's tacky-and-tasteless or a more restrained Tolkien theme.

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