It is in no means perfect but I love it. I loved my experience reading it immensely, I loved the plot (even though admittedly, it's not the most original), and most of all I loved the characters. It's not anything revolutionary but there's just something about it that just hooked me right in. I finished reading Red Queen in less than twenty-four hours and was left reeling from the ending for a much longer time. Same goes with Glass Sword. I will be talking about the first two books in length soon but my point is I am absolutely attached to this series and I will be for a long time. So when I heard the announcement from National Bookstore that they were bringing Victoria Aveyard to the Philippines for two book signings, there was absolutely no way I wouldn't attend the one nearest me. In fact, I remember the first thought I had after hearing the announcement. It was "I'm going to that book signing or die trying."
Going to a book signing seems easy, right? You just show up at the designated venue, bring your books, wait for your turn to meet the author, then leave. Well it's more complicated than that. Planning how to get there and who to go with was actually pretty hard. At least for me. There were two Victoria Aveyard book signings happening in the span of two days. One was in Cebu on the fifth of March 2016 and the other one was on the sixth of March 2016 in Makati, where the National Bookstore Greenbelt 1 branch is found. As someone who lives in Antipolo, it's difficult to get to Greenbelt 1. It is difficult mostly because of the horrible traffic that has been plaguing Metro Manila for a year now. Since I did not know how to commute to Greenbelt 1 nor did my companions, I had to convince my father to brave the traffic and drive us to the venue. We also had to leave for the book signing early. National Bookstore had the "first come, first serve" policy so you really had to arrive early if you want the wait to meet Victoria to be shorter. Now on to the the problem of who to come with. The Red Queen series hadn't really caught up with my year level during the time of the signing, or the other batches in my school for that matter. My close friend and I were the only ones who have read it. The only problem was she wasn't sure she was free during that day. I turned to my other good friend who was also a reader but had not read the Red Queen books yet. I begged her to read it and to come with me. And she, bless her soul, obliged. In the end, she and I, along with with my very close friend, after rearranging her schedule, managed to go to the signing
I know I said planning how to get there and who to go with was difficult but it's nothing compared to arriving to the venue. We got there early, yes, but there were already a lot of people who either arrived much earlier than us or camped out outside the bookstore so they can meet Victoria first. Since the registration of books starts at ten in the morning and we got there around ten minutes 'til nine, we had to wait outside in the early morning heat. Even when it was time to let people inside of the bookstore, since the line was very long, it took some time for us to get inside. And when we got inside, they had the line go up the stairs to the very top floor and down again to the first to help decrease the number of people outside. It was a VERY LONG wait filled with aching legs, sweaty faces, and parched throats before we finally reached the registration table. Because National Bookstore does not accept books that were bought in any other bookstores other than their branches or Powerbooks branches, I did not get my copy of Red Queen signed. Unfortunately, I bought my copy in Fully Booked not in National Bookstore or Powerbooks. I ended up having my copies of Glass Sword and Cruel Crown signed instead. After giving our names and contact numbers to those in charge of registration, we were given numbers. The numbers indicate which place you are in that long line of readers waiting to have Victoria sign their books. I was the five-hundredth person if I remember correctly. Compared to other people's numbers, I liked mine. Especially after finding out that they had to cut the line because there were just too many people for the National Bookstore team and Victoria Aveyard's team to accommodate. After registering, we were told that the signing will officially begin at around two in the afternoon. They informed us that we could roam around while waiting for the clock to strike two.
I know I was complaining at how far Greenbelt was from my home but looking back, it was a good venue. The National Bookstore branch in Greenbelt 1 is part of a gigantic mall connected to the other gigantic Greenbelt malls. This gave us many options on what to do while waiting. Although, we did not take advantage of this before the start of the signing. We decided to stay in the mini cafe inside the bookstore so that we can immediately find spots to stay when the time of Victoria's arrival drew near. This ended up semi-working. We ended up in spots wherein we can still hear and see Victoria during the Q & A portion of the signing but maybe we could have snagged ourselves better spots if we just didn't stay too long at the cafe. The Q & A portion was claustrophobic since there were many people pressing in on me just to get a better look at Victoria but I would do it all again just to hear her speak live. She was lovely while answering the host's and certain lucky people from the crowd's questions. She made sure to show her sincere thanks to us for reading and supporting her books. She also gave some advice for the people who would like to write books someday but not sure how. She told us to just keep on writing down our ideas until you get your rhythm because that's how she writes in the first place. The Q & A portion was quite short so that we could get on with the signing as soon as possible but it sure wasn't short on emotion.
The signing taking place in a bookstore within an mall connected to other malls came in handy during the time of waiting for our turns. We had to wait for around three to four hours to get our books signed. During that time, we roamed around the mall, ate late lunch in a restaurant called Kenny Rogers, and shopped for sunglasses. I also managed to buy a book from the Fully Booked branch in Greenbelt and two more in National Bookstore itself. Most of the time was spent sitting with my companions in between two of the shelves on the second floor. We were joined by Lyka Cali and her friend after a while when they got their books registered. That time gave us time to rest after those first hours. It was actually pretty relaxing.
At around five in the afternoon, the five-hundredth person was called to have her book signed. That was when my friends and I started to fix ourselves up to get ready for our encounter with Victoria. When it reached thirty minutes past five, we were already in line to meet her. At that point, I was extremely nervous. I had already decided that I would greet her by saying hello then tell her how much I loved her and her books. When it was finally my turn, I completely forgot what to say. She started the conversation by saying "hi" and asking how I was. I couldn't really think of anything to say but to answer "fine" and ask her how she was doing. After answering "good", she started signing my books. I then told her how speechless I was by her and that made her laugh. I finally remembered what to say and told her how much I loved her and her books. She seemed flattered and genuinely touched when I said this and thanked me for even reading them. I would have said more if the personnel at her side hadn't reminded us that we need to hasten things up. The photographer at the sides took our picture immediately after that and with a final "I love you", I stepped aside and let my friend who was behind me take her turn.
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| Me speaking to Victoria Aveyard |
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| My photo with Victoria Aveyard (Please excuse my tired face and messy hair.) |
It all happened really fast. Less than thirty seconds, in fact. Some part of me was really annoyed at the personnel for not letting me or any of the other people in line have more time with Victoria. Did we really wait for more than eight hours, some more than that, for less that thirty seconds with the author? But after a while, I became resigned because they were just doing their jobs. They were trying have one thousand two hundred people leave the venue with their books signed and in order to do that they need to make each meet-and-greet as fast as possible.
After having our books signed, we said goodbye to Lyka and her friend because they had to wait for a hundred more people to get their books signed before they can have their turn and we really needed to eat. After eating some snacks, we waited for a few minutes for my father to pick us up again. And with that, our busy and tiring day came to a close.
So that's it for my recount of the Metro Manila Victoria Aveyard signing. It was stressful and exhausting as hell but still worth it because no matter what we still met her and got to talk to her. Those memories will forever be cherished and irreplaceable. Even when I got home, the book signing was still underway and in that moment, I just admired Victoria's dedication to sign as many books as she could possibly sign. It really does show her passion and love for all of her readers. And we couldn't ask for anything more.
That night, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
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