In which Dove, Edgar, Zora, Chloris, and a mystery guest continue their studies, leading up to their magical thesis project, a personal examination of worthiness by the Shape of Peace, and a metaphysical transformation which they must make or die. Also, there is a unicorn.
This is the sequel to A Succession of Bad Days.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strikeslip described the series as "Imagine the Shire, but it's populated by six-foot-something very strong green people who drink poison, and also the rest of the world is Mordor. The shire-orcs spend their time trading pickles, designing short-range missiles, and having strong opinions about propriety re: who cooks and eats the latest giant monster. The author really *really* likes canals."
I'm re-reading this before I move on to the next book, and will put up discussion posts for the chunk I've read so far. Since I can't predict in advance when I'm putting up posts or how big the chunks will be, spoilers are likely to be incomprehensible without context, and events often only make sense in retrospect, it's fine to discuss the entire book in comments. No need for rot13 or anything like that.
They're really good about trying not to fill the link up with inarticulate expressions of joy.
The book opens with Zora taking a walk in the snow to escape the intense togetherness of the rest of the students, who have formed a polycule and are madly in love. This is probably the single most personally relatable moment for me in the series so far.
Most of this book is narrated by Zora, the youngest and least powerful of the students, the only one not in the polycule, and the only non-militant. (In this context, non-militant means psychologically incapable of using magic to kill... an intelligent being? Anything but a weed? Something like that.) Her magic involves doing things with objects and living things, and if that seems a bit vague, that's concerning to her too. The others seem to have largely figured out what their magical talents are, and she still hasn't. She's 21, everyone is in love but her, she's staring down the barrel of an immortality that means she'll outlive her family, and she has to grow up or die.
In the previous book, I liked Zora a lot but found her the least interesting of the group (well, after Kynefrid), as she had no trauma and didn't seem to have significant inner conflicts. My level of interest in her skyrocketed in the very first chapter.
( Read more... )
This is the sequel to A Succession of Bad Days.
strikeslip described the series as "Imagine the Shire, but it's populated by six-foot-something very strong green people who drink poison, and also the rest of the world is Mordor. The shire-orcs spend their time trading pickles, designing short-range missiles, and having strong opinions about propriety re: who cooks and eats the latest giant monster. The author really *really* likes canals."I'm re-reading this before I move on to the next book, and will put up discussion posts for the chunk I've read so far. Since I can't predict in advance when I'm putting up posts or how big the chunks will be, spoilers are likely to be incomprehensible without context, and events often only make sense in retrospect, it's fine to discuss the entire book in comments. No need for rot13 or anything like that.
They're really good about trying not to fill the link up with inarticulate expressions of joy.
The book opens with Zora taking a walk in the snow to escape the intense togetherness of the rest of the students, who have formed a polycule and are madly in love. This is probably the single most personally relatable moment for me in the series so far.
Most of this book is narrated by Zora, the youngest and least powerful of the students, the only one not in the polycule, and the only non-militant. (In this context, non-militant means psychologically incapable of using magic to kill... an intelligent being? Anything but a weed? Something like that.) Her magic involves doing things with objects and living things, and if that seems a bit vague, that's concerning to her too. The others seem to have largely figured out what their magical talents are, and she still hasn't. She's 21, everyone is in love but her, she's staring down the barrel of an immortality that means she'll outlive her family, and she has to grow up or die.
In the previous book, I liked Zora a lot but found her the least interesting of the group (well, after Kynefrid), as she had no trauma and didn't seem to have significant inner conflicts. My level of interest in her skyrocketed in the very first chapter.
( Read more... )