I was finally able to really start this, something I’d been struggling with because of the names and information it throws at you, but that proved to be the hard part, because once I did, it was a really well-paced and clever read.
I don’t want to give too much away, not because the story relies on twists and reveals, it’s one of those books where it’s just plain enjoyable to discover everything in its time and place. It is technically a whodunnit but it unfolds into so much more.
As the book starts, a new ambassador from a far off station, one not yet under the control of the Teixcalaan empire, is being picked up to be taken to the capital. Mahit is a super likable and relatable character, smart and with a sense of humor and an extreme self awareness that acknowledges how much she longs to be a Teixcalaan citizen while also finding that rather pathetic. It’s a very clear-eyed look at the concept of Empire, what it takes to keep peace, what is “peace”, for who, but as any good book of this length would have to be, it’s very character-centric.
I mentioned the pacing earlier and it really does seem to flow from one event to the next, no real downtime. It’s not predictable but its main focus isn’t to shock you. I very much liked it both for its intelligence and for its compassion.
There is a minor-ish f/f subplot, which I didn’t actually need, and this is the first of a series, so there aren’t endings, but I liked it simply for having two women focused on enough to have it.
This time I only have one copy to give away (I’m just not rich enough to give away two copies of everything I like, lol), but as always, if you don’t win and can’t afford or don’t want to buy it, you can still help support authors by requesting it from your library, checking it out, and leaving reviews on Amazon.
I was finally able to really start this, something I’d been struggling with because of the names and information it throws at you, but that proved to be the hard part, because once I did, it was a really well-paced and clever read.
I don’t want to give too much away, not because the story relies on twists and reveals, it’s one of those books where it’s just plain enjoyable to discover everything in its time and place. It is technically a whodunnit but it unfolds into so much more.
As the book starts, a new ambassador from a far off station, one not yet under the control of the Teixcalaan empire, is being picked up to be taken to the capital. Mahit is a super likable and relatable character, smart and with a sense of humor and an extreme self awareness that acknowledges how much she longs to be a Teixcalaan citizen while also finding that rather pathetic. It’s a very clear-eyed look at the concept of Empire, what it takes to keep peace, what is “peace”, for who, but as any good book of this length would have to be, it’s very character-centric.
I mentioned the pacing earlier and it really does seem to flow from one event to the next, no real downtime. It’s not predictable but its main focus isn’t to shock you. I very much liked it both for its intelligence and for its compassion.
There is a minor-ish f/f subplot, which I didn’t actually need, and this is the first of a series, so there aren’t endings, but I liked it simply for having two women focused on enough to have it.
This time I only have one copy to give away (I’m just not rich enough to give away two copies of everything I like, lol), but as always, if you don’t win and can’t afford or don’t want to buy it, you can still help support authors by requesting it from your library, checking it out, and leaving reviews on Amazon.
What a tough question, anon… I love them all. It is one of my absolutely favorite things in the show, that this tough girl who tries to put up so many walls and hide all vulnerability is not only so affected by Val’s sad face but openly shows it and immediately tries to make things better.
I guess my favorite would have to be the first one.
I truly love hospital era and I have a soft spot for these eps, they were among the first I watched live. Everything seemed so fresh and nascent, both because it was new to me and because they themselves were in this maybe place, not together but had kissed, distracted by Lupe’s shooting but no longer to the point where it stopped further development.
And in that moment, when they weren’t even officially together, Juls could so easily have minimized what Val was upset about, that it was so minor, pretended it was at Val not getting her way, that she had every reason (excuse) to continue putting it off, her mom was still badly hurt, the narcos could come back, it wasn’t fair to ask her to talk about her feelings when Lucho still being around made it clear where Val stood.
But Juls simply couldn’t do that. She knew it wasn’t about Val not getting her way.
Val was upset because it felt like Juls was dismissing her. And thus it was so unthinkable to Juls that Val feel even a little bit sad, she was willing to do the thing she was most afraid of, confront her feelings and lay them out in front of the person who could most hurt her, just to stop that look.
Whoa, that’s super flattering, anon. Thank you! But no, not at all. If anything, even though we’re learning how inaccurate the right-left brain model is, I’m totally a logic/hard science kinda person. I went through school loving math and barely scraping by in English and anything else requiring analysis.
But I guess we’re not talking about analyzing from that point of view, right, metaphors and motifs and themes and all that? In terms of looking into character motivations, I start from a place of loving them both and reason backwards from that. And in general, I tend to approach other people (and characters) as having reasons that make sense to them for things they do, it’s not about me or what I’d do.
