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A Practical Guide to Evil #3
A Practical Guide to Evil III
1458 pages, ebook
First published February 8, 2017
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316 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 26, 2019
There is so much potential in this, but it's becoming formulaic and tedious. The lack of editing is becoming obvious (the book could do with a 30% reduction and only become better for it)
March 20, 2023
Some character-centered chapters were absolutely brilliant, especially in the extras, the concepts of gods of below and above are getting a lot of great treatment, Black Knight, The Tyrant and the Empress are the MVPs in this volume besides Catherine who is still the best character by far with the most introspective moments.
The wars and politics are really good but sometimes it gets tiring for me, probably something more personal or maybe the books needs more balance, i will see where this goes in the next one.
The wars and politics are really good but sometimes it gets tiring for me, probably something more personal or maybe the books needs more balance, i will see where this goes in the next one.
February 15, 2023
This one was heavier. Much longer, funnier, darker, and more extreme in a variety of ways. It was of course very, very good. On to the next one.
Quotes: (light spoilers)
“You’re a terrible advisor,” the Tyrant complained. “I should have you hanged.”
Anaxares shrugged.
“If that is your wish.”
Less painful of a way to go than internal organ crushing, he assessed.
“You haven’t gotten tedious yet,” the boy mused. “I guess you can live.”
“I am, of course, relieved and grateful,” the Bellerophan deadpanned.
Ah, Praesi backstabbing. The gift that kept on giving.
“Hakram, how are we looking?”
A green cabinet with a cloak slapped on top it, also known as Adjutant, stirred in the distance.
“Like we could use a bath from a place where fish don’t swim,” he said.
“That’s insubordination, it is,” I complained.
“I’ll get away with it,” he shrugged. “My commanding officer’s a soft touch.”
“I’m surrounded by insolence, John,” I solemnly told the tribune. “What did I ever do to deserve this?”
“I’m told you flipped off an angel,” he replied frankly. “That’d probably do it.”
“That’s…” I started. “Well, kind of true I guess. Still.”
“We make the shepherds kings at the end of our stories because they already know how to lead recalcitrant, bleating creatures of limited intellect.”
Hakram cleared his throat again, louder.
“We’re having a moment, you sack of sentient manure,” I said.
“Good afternoon to you, Senior Mage,” Adjutant said, cheerfully ignoring my insult.
“Lord Adjutant,” Kilian replied, with as much dignity as she could manage while wrapped in my arms.
“I see you’ve been abducted by some sort of barbarian warlord,” the tall orc mused.
Sometimes it was reassuring to see that the vast majority of my officers were even more terrible at diplomacy than I was. Made me look better than comparison, at least.
I blinked.
“What?” I said, for eloquence was one my foremost virtues.
I paused.
“Is that even legal?”
“It’d be pretty disgusting for a Matron to take orders from a man.”
“I’m feeling somewhat insulted, right now,” Ratface mused.
Pickler eyed him pityingly.
“You’re a fine warleader, Ratface,” she reassured him. “You’re just not cut out for important matters like ruling or raising children. Men are too emotional for those things, it’s not your fault.”
“Hakram,” I said. “My buddy. My friend.”
“Cat?” he replied bemusedly.
“I’ve been sleeping in an empty bed for two months,” I said. “If someone knocks at my door before noon tomorrow for anything short of an invasion, I will have them hanged.”
I’d pit the Fifteenth against anything that had feet or claws, but you couldn’t stab the weather. Well, they couldn’t anyway. I might be able to work something out. In my experience, you could stab pretty much anything if you tried hard enough. Now there was a decent motto for the freshly-founded Noble House of Foundling.
“I’m not impressed with the calibre so far,” I said. “Enemies that weak shouldn’t have broken our lines.”
Immediately after saying that, I hunkered behind my shield and braced for impact. The tip of a bronze spear punched through the steel, an inch away from my right eye, and I grinned. I’d had a feeling that would hurry things along.
“We are the footsoldiers of Winter. The Sword of Waning Day. Die screaming.”
“Oh hey, a pack of flunkies with a fancy name,” I deadpanned. “Never slaughtered my way through one of those before.”
Even the occasional casual worse-than-death threat hadn’t been enough for me to stop noticing how ridiculously attractive the man was. Between him and Malicia, Evil had the whole hot and dangerous thing covered.
“I’m not having permanent winter in the middle of my city, Masego,” I said. “Broke, demon-tainted and covered in ice is where I draw the line.”
“We take the hard stances,” Hakram said gravely.
The prick.
“We come in peace,” I blatantly lied, calling out into the storm with a sword in hand.
Hakram tried to turn his laugh into a cough.
“Catherine,” Masego said, “the fae are unparalleled masters of deception. They’re not going to fall for-“
The blizzard cleared ahead of us, revealing a slender silhouette.
Do not make me learn fae politics, you bastards, I silently thought. I can barely handle the human ones.
“Catherine,” he greeted me calmly. “I see you’re still alive.”
“Arguably my best skill,” I replied.
The dark-skinned mage blinked.
“Catherine you died. Not even a year ago,” he said.
I might have insulted myself by accident there, I reflected. I cleared my throat.
I hid my glee behind a dignified façade. Ignore me, would she? My vengeance would be as swift as it was petty.
“She’s with me,” I said. “And will not fight unless provoked.”
“Her mistress took the Prince of Nightfall’s eye and set it on a ring,” the soldier barked.
“It makes for very tasteful jewellery, if that’s any consolation,” Archer said.
“So this is what dying stupidly feels like,” Hakram mused.
“So we’re in the city. What’s the plan now?”
“The situation is fluid,” I replied. “We’re keeping our options open.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Hakram cursed.
I kicked his foot. He jumped in surprise and then coughed in embarrassment.
“You start buying things here and you’ll leave with a dozen different fae owning a slice of your soul,” I hissed.
He looked mulish.
“It’s not like I’m using all of it,” he whispered back.
That was the single most Praesi thing I’d ever heard him say and rubbed the bridge of my nose in despair.
Not that I had a plan, per se, but this definitely wasn’t it. Having Aisha along right about now would have been great, since my companions might all be Named but between the lot of us all we knew about plotting would barely fill a page. Written large. There might even be illustrations.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Apprentice said. “I suppose it’s a good thing we have you along.”
I glanced at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re very good at murdering our opposition,” he said, genuinely believing he was giving me a compliment.
I occasionally forgot Masego had been raised by villains. For him that probably counted as praise.
Any of you know anything about mingling with aristocrats?”
“Smile and pretend you’re listening,” Masego said absent-mindedly. “If there’s a lull in the conversation say how interesting with a mysterious look.”
“So that’s a no,” Archer said amusedly.
I wondered what it said about me that I was beginning to enjoy myself. Obviously there’d been an assumption here that on moral grounds I would object to the Summer fairies being chained up and tormented. Swing and a miss, that.
“Is it poisoned?” I asked the dark-haired fae.
“If I ever decide I want your life,” the Prince said, “poison will play no part in your death.”
“That’s not a no,” I noted.
“It is not poisoned,” he sighed.
Another servant with a plate of pipes came by and the Prince traded his for a fresh one. I glanced at the second hit of wakeleaf.
“Is it poisoned?” I asked again.
“No pipe you will be offered tonight will be poisoned,” the dark-haired fae said irritably.
“Evening,” I said, puffing at the pipe. “Don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is Catherine Foundling, and I hear you want to throw down. Let’s get this going, shall we?”
I blew the acrid smoke in his face for that extra touch and decided, why the Hells not?
“Bitch,” I added.
The entire hall was silent as a grave, save for the sound of Archer’s belly laugh.
“It admittedly took me a few years to make my peace with the fact that Lady Foundling’s take on diplomacy is essentially to bring a bottle of cheap wine and a sword to the table, then remind the interlocutor that while the wine might be awful it is still arguably better than being stabbed.” -Extract from the personal memoirs of Lady Aisha Bishara
“If you lose, you will cede me the soul of everyone under your command,” he said.
“I’m not under her command, for the record,” Archer called out from an upper level.
I gestured rudely in her general direction without bothering to turn.
“And then?” the orc asked.
“And then,” I smiled, “we’re going to bullshit so hard it becomes a prophecy.”
Praes won because it had grown as a nation while Callow had not.”
“The Empire grew because villains made it grow,” she replied flatly.
“And don’t you think it’s telling the most successful villains since Triumphant put their efforts into reforming institutions rather than building a bunch of flying fortresses?” I asked. “People won that war, not Named. Malicia and Black, they’re brilliant – but there’s been a lot of brilliant Named over the centuries, on both sides. What makes those two different is that they know change comes from the bottom, not the top.”
“That’s…” she hesitated.
Heresy, she wanted to say.
They’re watching the story when what’s important is the people telling it. They want me to part of the machine they’re built, but I don’t think that’s my role.”
“Then what is?” Archer asked quietly.
“When heroes and villains come knocking in the name of fate,” I spoke, tone calm and measured. “When they try to drag us back to where we were by force with a Choir behind them or the host of some howling Hell – I’ll kill them all. Every last one of them.”
Softly, Archer laughed.
“Ah, Foundling,” she murmured. “I was wrong about you – you’re not boring at all. You’re just as mad as the rest of us.”
I looked up at the sky. Night was dying.
“Drink up, Archer,” I said. “Dawn’s coming and we have a god to rob blind.”
“If you have to die,” Archer said, “die loud.”
I would have settled for a ‘good luck’ but that wasn’t really her style, was it?
“Get it done quickly,” Masego told me. “I’ve experiments that should not be left unattended for too long.”
“Love you too,” I mouthed back.
“So,” I said, “There’s now a god on my murder list. Someone be a dear get me a drink – it’s going to be a rough few months.”
“Chief?” Rattler prompted. “What do we do now?”
The goblin sighed.
“We run, my lovelies, all the way back to Marchford,” he said.
He paused.
“We can steal the silverware on the way out, at least,” he decided. “Wouldn’t feel right not to.”
“Everything’s fucked,” Ratface flatly contributed.
“Fucked how,” I prompted. “That’s the important part.”
“Military affairs first,” Juniper said. “We are at war on at least two fronts, possibly up to five.”
I missed the days when two mortal enemies had been the upper limit, not the starting point.
“Godsdamnit,” I cursed. “Is there anyone who’s not trying to invade us right now?”
There was pause.
“The Golden Bloom,” the Taghreb said.
“Don’t you bring the fucking elves into this, Ratface,” I said. “We already have a net surplus of genocidal maniacs.”
“I’m eighteen, not an idiot.”
He did not entirely manage to hide his surprise when I mentioned my age. Oh fuck him, I thought. I wasn’t that short.
If I ended up losing my soul because of fae shenanigans, I was going to be pissed. I just knew that stealing it back would be horrendously difficult, and I didn’t have the time to spare to murder my way back into a semblance of humanity with all the other things going on.
“I’ve got a treat for you, Boss,” the Special Tribune announced.
“It better not be a corpse,” I said.
It was always a godsdamned corpse with him. He was like the world’s most murderous cat.
If I retreated here, all I lost was pride.
Perhaps I could use a little less of that.
Five other corpses later, they’d agreed that diplomacy did not seem to be working. Alternatives were needed.
“I forgot to ask before we left, but do we actually want Summer to win?” Archer asked, chewing on dried meat.
Masego blinked, shaken out of his thoughts. While he’d been spellbound, his companion seemed less than impressed.
“You weren’t paying attention during the briefing?” he said.
“Nah,” she admitted easily. “I figured you would.”
Apprentice cursed.
“I thought you would,” he admitted.
“It’s their fault for making it boring, really,” Archer said.
Well, it’d taken two years and some change but I was finally on the right side of a cavalry charge. And all it had cost me to get there was a lot of murdering, and that one spot of high treason.
He’d gleefully informed me that the College had an entire week of classes dedicated to the subject, along with the question of ‘how much torture is too much torture’.
Whatever Hakram would have replied I didn’t get to hear, because I was too busy exploding. Or at least that was what it felt like. At least a few of my ribs were now more powder than bone, an entire pauldron was liquid and burning through my aketon and to add that special touch I was now falling. From the sky. Where I did not remember going of my own will.
“Do I need to explain to you how gravity works,” Masego said, “And what it does to the bones of women in plate falling from the sky?”
“I am invincible,” I gravely said. “Gravity bends to my will.”
Naturally, Archer took that as an excuse to drop me.
“But we’ll win because we stand for something greater than ourselves?” I gallantly attempted.
“We do?” Apprentice asked, surprise. “What?”
“Violence,” Archer suggested.
“Peace, order and the Imperial way,” Hakram offered, the filthy traitor.
“We lie a lot,” Masego mused. “It could be lies.”
“Lies and violence,” Archer proudly called out, raising a fist.
Destroying you will be a mercy.”
“I get that a lot,” I replied honestly.
At least in Procer, the House of Light had apparently declared me anathema to the Heavens. I knew because Black had the report framed and sent to Marchford. It hung on the wall of my bedroom across from the bed.
“As far as I’m concerned, the closest thing I’ll ever have to a father is down south killing fools,” I replied coldly. “And he doesn’t have a last name. Born a farmer, you see. As for the people who birthed me, they are strangers. I owe them nothing and will take nothing from them.”
“Oh Gods,” I said. “You want me to get married.”
“So, on our first outing together we robbed Summer of what appears to be its literal sun, before capturing a princess of the blood,” I said. “I’m not one for omens, but it strikes me as a good note to begin on.”
“You thought we were a step ahead?” Masego croaked, wiping his mouth.
Hakram snorted.
“We strolled from one disaster to another, trying to keep the fires from spreading,” the orc said, sounding amused. “Mostly fires not of our making, I’ll add.”
“Haven’t been in this outfit for long,” Archer said, “but it hasn’t struck me as overburdened with plans.”
“That’s going a little far,” I intervened, mildly offended.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m on board with our whole ‘that’s stupid enough they’ll never see it coming’ way of going at it. But masterful schemers we are not.”
You talked a Choir into breathing second life into you?”
“Talked is a strong word,” I mused.
“We’ve settled on ‘bullied’,” Hierophant contributed helpfully.
“You bullied,” the Thief said slowly, “the entire Choir of Contrition. Into resurrecting a villain actively trying to oppose them.”
“He was,” Thief began, looking for a diplomatic word, “different.”
“Half-naked,” I said. “Half-naked is the term you’re looking for.”
“So,” I smiled. “We’ve got the whole night, and wine I really doubt was legally acquired. Let’s see if we can think of something to avoid dying horrible, horrible deaths. The floor’s open, my friends.”
“Just too much woman for you, I understand,” I said sympathetically.
“You’re barely half an orc,” he gravelled.
“I’m vicequeen of Callow, you savage,” I grinned. “That could be construed as treason.”
“If you have me arrested, who will handle the paperwork?” he said.
“You have always been my most loyal,” I hastily replied. “Never doubted you a moment.”
“Until then, we’ll be relying on brave Callowan volunteers to ship us food down the Hwaerte.”
“You mean smugglers,” Talbot said, lips thinning.
“Food is food, Grandmaster,” Ratface replied, managing to make the title sound like an insult. “Unless you would prefer magnificently legal starvation, of course. That could also be arranged.”
Should you surrender presently, I can guarantee you will not be tortured prior to execution.”
“Ah, the Praesi gambit,” I mused. “Always a crowd-pleaser. I’m going to have to reply with the famous words of the Duke of Violent Squalls.”
Silence reigned for a moment.
“You have not said anything,” the man with the bow said.
You had to love that about the fae, if nothing else: you could always count on them to feed you the line.
“Neither did he,” I said. “Because I killed his smug ass.”
Now that the usual diplomatic niceties were done with, I imagined negotiations were about to break down. Best get ahead of that.
And then they tried to shoot him, because they were just terrible diplomats.
Idiocy was a trait I prized in people trying to kill me.
“Chin up, Lord Hierophant,” I said. “Make it look like we know what we’re doing.”
“I thought we knew what we were doing,” he said.
He glanced at me worriedly and I whistled loudly.
“Catherine, tell me we know what we’re doing.”
“FORWARD!” I screamed, unsheathing my sword.
So Thief was all like ‘Archer, you peerless beauty whose approval I secretly crave-“
“Sounds just like her,” I said flatly.
“- we should run’. But then this guy was all like ‘Yeah, you better run’. So, you know, I shot him in the eye. And I’m going to be honest with you here, Catherine, they didn’t take well to that. At all.”
“You don’t say,” I murmured.
So that was why Black never took my reports unless he had a bottle of wine at hand.
“She’s growing on me, I’ll admit,” Archer noted.
“You say that about everyone that insults me,” I sighed.
He grinned. “We got a plan?”
“Smash through everything until we’ve won,” I said honestly.
“Ah, the Foundling gambit,” he gravelled. “It’s never failed us before.”
Shit, he was supposed to know who she was.
“Oh hello,” he said, and after a moment found a clever ruse. “…You.”
Flawless. He was going to get away with this cleanly.
The mages didn’t hit nearly as hard, sure, but they hit a lot. That was proving to be something of a problem, given how gravity kept being a bit insistent about the whole falling thing.
“Bonding time with Black,” I said. “I assume some form of murder will be involved, possibly also a chilling speech on the nature of power. As prelude to further murdering.”
“You have the weirdest relationships with people,” Archer muttered.
“We’re going to jump,” he said.
“You’re enjoying this,” I accused.
“Am I?” he hummed, and pushed me.
I said some very unkind things about his ancestry in Taghreb as I dropped, and didn’t stop even when he started falling at my side.
“You’ve considerably improved your vocabulary,” he noted.
I sighed.
“She’s a real traditional girl, our Akua,” I drawled. “Twenty denarii she yammers at us through a runic array when get in.”
“Twenty more she compares herself to Triumphant,” Black replied amusedly. “They always do, Catherine. I’ve heard three dozen variations on that speech by now.”
He paused.
“They quote the play,” he said, pained. “Every time. I know the entire third act by rote.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Diabolist redefined the meanings of ‘overly complicated’ and ‘cripplingly paranoid’.
So there was a chance this would work. Also that I would die, but that came around as a possible outcome with depressing regularity.
“Special Tribune Robber, ready to report,” the wretch said, sparkling with insolence.
I was going to regret this, I suspected. But at least odds were good I’d be able to sift out a few useful nuggets out of the mixture of lies and blatant exaggerations he would offer.
“Proceed,” I sighed.
That he saluted with the wrong hand before beginning to speak, I thought, was likely emblematic of what was about to follow.
“So,” Robber said, “we were just walking around, staying out of trouble.”
“Were you,” I flatly said.
“I’m a great believer in the sanctity of law and order,” Robber said, putting hand over his chest.
It was, I noticed as a splitting headache dawned, over the wrong side to be covering his heart.
Quotes: (light spoilers)
“You’re a terrible advisor,” the Tyrant complained. “I should have you hanged.”
Anaxares shrugged.
“If that is your wish.”
Less painful of a way to go than internal organ crushing, he assessed.
“You haven’t gotten tedious yet,” the boy mused. “I guess you can live.”
“I am, of course, relieved and grateful,” the Bellerophan deadpanned.
Ah, Praesi backstabbing. The gift that kept on giving.
“Hakram, how are we looking?”
A green cabinet with a cloak slapped on top it, also known as Adjutant, stirred in the distance.
“Like we could use a bath from a place where fish don’t swim,” he said.
“That’s insubordination, it is,” I complained.
“I’ll get away with it,” he shrugged. “My commanding officer’s a soft touch.”
“I’m surrounded by insolence, John,” I solemnly told the tribune. “What did I ever do to deserve this?”
“I’m told you flipped off an angel,” he replied frankly. “That’d probably do it.”
“That’s…” I started. “Well, kind of true I guess. Still.”
“We make the shepherds kings at the end of our stories because they already know how to lead recalcitrant, bleating creatures of limited intellect.”
Hakram cleared his throat again, louder.
“We’re having a moment, you sack of sentient manure,” I said.
“Good afternoon to you, Senior Mage,” Adjutant said, cheerfully ignoring my insult.
“Lord Adjutant,” Kilian replied, with as much dignity as she could manage while wrapped in my arms.
“I see you’ve been abducted by some sort of barbarian warlord,” the tall orc mused.
Sometimes it was reassuring to see that the vast majority of my officers were even more terrible at diplomacy than I was. Made me look better than comparison, at least.
I blinked.
“What?” I said, for eloquence was one my foremost virtues.
I paused.
“Is that even legal?”
“It’d be pretty disgusting for a Matron to take orders from a man.”
“I’m feeling somewhat insulted, right now,” Ratface mused.
Pickler eyed him pityingly.
“You’re a fine warleader, Ratface,” she reassured him. “You’re just not cut out for important matters like ruling or raising children. Men are too emotional for those things, it’s not your fault.”
“Hakram,” I said. “My buddy. My friend.”
“Cat?” he replied bemusedly.
“I’ve been sleeping in an empty bed for two months,” I said. “If someone knocks at my door before noon tomorrow for anything short of an invasion, I will have them hanged.”
I’d pit the Fifteenth against anything that had feet or claws, but you couldn’t stab the weather. Well, they couldn’t anyway. I might be able to work something out. In my experience, you could stab pretty much anything if you tried hard enough. Now there was a decent motto for the freshly-founded Noble House of Foundling.
“I’m not impressed with the calibre so far,” I said. “Enemies that weak shouldn’t have broken our lines.”
Immediately after saying that, I hunkered behind my shield and braced for impact. The tip of a bronze spear punched through the steel, an inch away from my right eye, and I grinned. I’d had a feeling that would hurry things along.
“We are the footsoldiers of Winter. The Sword of Waning Day. Die screaming.”
“Oh hey, a pack of flunkies with a fancy name,” I deadpanned. “Never slaughtered my way through one of those before.”
Even the occasional casual worse-than-death threat hadn’t been enough for me to stop noticing how ridiculously attractive the man was. Between him and Malicia, Evil had the whole hot and dangerous thing covered.
“I’m not having permanent winter in the middle of my city, Masego,” I said. “Broke, demon-tainted and covered in ice is where I draw the line.”
“We take the hard stances,” Hakram said gravely.
The prick.
“We come in peace,” I blatantly lied, calling out into the storm with a sword in hand.
Hakram tried to turn his laugh into a cough.
“Catherine,” Masego said, “the fae are unparalleled masters of deception. They’re not going to fall for-“
The blizzard cleared ahead of us, revealing a slender silhouette.
Do not make me learn fae politics, you bastards, I silently thought. I can barely handle the human ones.
“Catherine,” he greeted me calmly. “I see you’re still alive.”
“Arguably my best skill,” I replied.
The dark-skinned mage blinked.
“Catherine you died. Not even a year ago,” he said.
I might have insulted myself by accident there, I reflected. I cleared my throat.
I hid my glee behind a dignified façade. Ignore me, would she? My vengeance would be as swift as it was petty.
“She’s with me,” I said. “And will not fight unless provoked.”
“Her mistress took the Prince of Nightfall’s eye and set it on a ring,” the soldier barked.
“It makes for very tasteful jewellery, if that’s any consolation,” Archer said.
“So this is what dying stupidly feels like,” Hakram mused.
“So we’re in the city. What’s the plan now?”
“The situation is fluid,” I replied. “We’re keeping our options open.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Hakram cursed.
I kicked his foot. He jumped in surprise and then coughed in embarrassment.
“You start buying things here and you’ll leave with a dozen different fae owning a slice of your soul,” I hissed.
He looked mulish.
“It’s not like I’m using all of it,” he whispered back.
That was the single most Praesi thing I’d ever heard him say and rubbed the bridge of my nose in despair.
Not that I had a plan, per se, but this definitely wasn’t it. Having Aisha along right about now would have been great, since my companions might all be Named but between the lot of us all we knew about plotting would barely fill a page. Written large. There might even be illustrations.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Apprentice said. “I suppose it’s a good thing we have you along.”
I glanced at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re very good at murdering our opposition,” he said, genuinely believing he was giving me a compliment.
I occasionally forgot Masego had been raised by villains. For him that probably counted as praise.
Any of you know anything about mingling with aristocrats?”
“Smile and pretend you’re listening,” Masego said absent-mindedly. “If there’s a lull in the conversation say how interesting with a mysterious look.”
“So that’s a no,” Archer said amusedly.
I wondered what it said about me that I was beginning to enjoy myself. Obviously there’d been an assumption here that on moral grounds I would object to the Summer fairies being chained up and tormented. Swing and a miss, that.
“Is it poisoned?” I asked the dark-haired fae.
“If I ever decide I want your life,” the Prince said, “poison will play no part in your death.”
“That’s not a no,” I noted.
“It is not poisoned,” he sighed.
Another servant with a plate of pipes came by and the Prince traded his for a fresh one. I glanced at the second hit of wakeleaf.
“Is it poisoned?” I asked again.
“No pipe you will be offered tonight will be poisoned,” the dark-haired fae said irritably.
“Evening,” I said, puffing at the pipe. “Don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is Catherine Foundling, and I hear you want to throw down. Let’s get this going, shall we?”
I blew the acrid smoke in his face for that extra touch and decided, why the Hells not?
“Bitch,” I added.
The entire hall was silent as a grave, save for the sound of Archer’s belly laugh.
“It admittedly took me a few years to make my peace with the fact that Lady Foundling’s take on diplomacy is essentially to bring a bottle of cheap wine and a sword to the table, then remind the interlocutor that while the wine might be awful it is still arguably better than being stabbed.” -Extract from the personal memoirs of Lady Aisha Bishara
“If you lose, you will cede me the soul of everyone under your command,” he said.
“I’m not under her command, for the record,” Archer called out from an upper level.
I gestured rudely in her general direction without bothering to turn.
“And then?” the orc asked.
“And then,” I smiled, “we’re going to bullshit so hard it becomes a prophecy.”
Praes won because it had grown as a nation while Callow had not.”
“The Empire grew because villains made it grow,” she replied flatly.
“And don’t you think it’s telling the most successful villains since Triumphant put their efforts into reforming institutions rather than building a bunch of flying fortresses?” I asked. “People won that war, not Named. Malicia and Black, they’re brilliant – but there’s been a lot of brilliant Named over the centuries, on both sides. What makes those two different is that they know change comes from the bottom, not the top.”
“That’s…” she hesitated.
Heresy, she wanted to say.
They’re watching the story when what’s important is the people telling it. They want me to part of the machine they’re built, but I don’t think that’s my role.”
“Then what is?” Archer asked quietly.
“When heroes and villains come knocking in the name of fate,” I spoke, tone calm and measured. “When they try to drag us back to where we were by force with a Choir behind them or the host of some howling Hell – I’ll kill them all. Every last one of them.”
Softly, Archer laughed.
“Ah, Foundling,” she murmured. “I was wrong about you – you’re not boring at all. You’re just as mad as the rest of us.”
I looked up at the sky. Night was dying.
“Drink up, Archer,” I said. “Dawn’s coming and we have a god to rob blind.”
“If you have to die,” Archer said, “die loud.”
I would have settled for a ‘good luck’ but that wasn’t really her style, was it?
“Get it done quickly,” Masego told me. “I’ve experiments that should not be left unattended for too long.”
“Love you too,” I mouthed back.
“So,” I said, “There’s now a god on my murder list. Someone be a dear get me a drink – it’s going to be a rough few months.”
“Chief?” Rattler prompted. “What do we do now?”
The goblin sighed.
“We run, my lovelies, all the way back to Marchford,” he said.
He paused.
“We can steal the silverware on the way out, at least,” he decided. “Wouldn’t feel right not to.”
“Everything’s fucked,” Ratface flatly contributed.
“Fucked how,” I prompted. “That’s the important part.”
“Military affairs first,” Juniper said. “We are at war on at least two fronts, possibly up to five.”
I missed the days when two mortal enemies had been the upper limit, not the starting point.
“Godsdamnit,” I cursed. “Is there anyone who’s not trying to invade us right now?”
There was pause.
“The Golden Bloom,” the Taghreb said.
“Don’t you bring the fucking elves into this, Ratface,” I said. “We already have a net surplus of genocidal maniacs.”
“I’m eighteen, not an idiot.”
He did not entirely manage to hide his surprise when I mentioned my age. Oh fuck him, I thought. I wasn’t that short.
If I ended up losing my soul because of fae shenanigans, I was going to be pissed. I just knew that stealing it back would be horrendously difficult, and I didn’t have the time to spare to murder my way back into a semblance of humanity with all the other things going on.
“I’ve got a treat for you, Boss,” the Special Tribune announced.
“It better not be a corpse,” I said.
It was always a godsdamned corpse with him. He was like the world’s most murderous cat.
If I retreated here, all I lost was pride.
Perhaps I could use a little less of that.
Five other corpses later, they’d agreed that diplomacy did not seem to be working. Alternatives were needed.
“I forgot to ask before we left, but do we actually want Summer to win?” Archer asked, chewing on dried meat.
Masego blinked, shaken out of his thoughts. While he’d been spellbound, his companion seemed less than impressed.
“You weren’t paying attention during the briefing?” he said.
“Nah,” she admitted easily. “I figured you would.”
Apprentice cursed.
“I thought you would,” he admitted.
“It’s their fault for making it boring, really,” Archer said.
Well, it’d taken two years and some change but I was finally on the right side of a cavalry charge. And all it had cost me to get there was a lot of murdering, and that one spot of high treason.
He’d gleefully informed me that the College had an entire week of classes dedicated to the subject, along with the question of ‘how much torture is too much torture’.
Whatever Hakram would have replied I didn’t get to hear, because I was too busy exploding. Or at least that was what it felt like. At least a few of my ribs were now more powder than bone, an entire pauldron was liquid and burning through my aketon and to add that special touch I was now falling. From the sky. Where I did not remember going of my own will.
“Do I need to explain to you how gravity works,” Masego said, “And what it does to the bones of women in plate falling from the sky?”
“I am invincible,” I gravely said. “Gravity bends to my will.”
Naturally, Archer took that as an excuse to drop me.
“But we’ll win because we stand for something greater than ourselves?” I gallantly attempted.
“We do?” Apprentice asked, surprise. “What?”
“Violence,” Archer suggested.
“Peace, order and the Imperial way,” Hakram offered, the filthy traitor.
“We lie a lot,” Masego mused. “It could be lies.”
“Lies and violence,” Archer proudly called out, raising a fist.
Destroying you will be a mercy.”
“I get that a lot,” I replied honestly.
At least in Procer, the House of Light had apparently declared me anathema to the Heavens. I knew because Black had the report framed and sent to Marchford. It hung on the wall of my bedroom across from the bed.
“As far as I’m concerned, the closest thing I’ll ever have to a father is down south killing fools,” I replied coldly. “And he doesn’t have a last name. Born a farmer, you see. As for the people who birthed me, they are strangers. I owe them nothing and will take nothing from them.”
“Oh Gods,” I said. “You want me to get married.”
“So, on our first outing together we robbed Summer of what appears to be its literal sun, before capturing a princess of the blood,” I said. “I’m not one for omens, but it strikes me as a good note to begin on.”
“You thought we were a step ahead?” Masego croaked, wiping his mouth.
Hakram snorted.
“We strolled from one disaster to another, trying to keep the fires from spreading,” the orc said, sounding amused. “Mostly fires not of our making, I’ll add.”
“Haven’t been in this outfit for long,” Archer said, “but it hasn’t struck me as overburdened with plans.”
“That’s going a little far,” I intervened, mildly offended.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m on board with our whole ‘that’s stupid enough they’ll never see it coming’ way of going at it. But masterful schemers we are not.”
You talked a Choir into breathing second life into you?”
“Talked is a strong word,” I mused.
“We’ve settled on ‘bullied’,” Hierophant contributed helpfully.
“You bullied,” the Thief said slowly, “the entire Choir of Contrition. Into resurrecting a villain actively trying to oppose them.”
“He was,” Thief began, looking for a diplomatic word, “different.”
“Half-naked,” I said. “Half-naked is the term you’re looking for.”
“So,” I smiled. “We’ve got the whole night, and wine I really doubt was legally acquired. Let’s see if we can think of something to avoid dying horrible, horrible deaths. The floor’s open, my friends.”
“Just too much woman for you, I understand,” I said sympathetically.
“You’re barely half an orc,” he gravelled.
“I’m vicequeen of Callow, you savage,” I grinned. “That could be construed as treason.”
“If you have me arrested, who will handle the paperwork?” he said.
“You have always been my most loyal,” I hastily replied. “Never doubted you a moment.”
“Until then, we’ll be relying on brave Callowan volunteers to ship us food down the Hwaerte.”
“You mean smugglers,” Talbot said, lips thinning.
“Food is food, Grandmaster,” Ratface replied, managing to make the title sound like an insult. “Unless you would prefer magnificently legal starvation, of course. That could also be arranged.”
Should you surrender presently, I can guarantee you will not be tortured prior to execution.”
“Ah, the Praesi gambit,” I mused. “Always a crowd-pleaser. I’m going to have to reply with the famous words of the Duke of Violent Squalls.”
Silence reigned for a moment.
“You have not said anything,” the man with the bow said.
You had to love that about the fae, if nothing else: you could always count on them to feed you the line.
“Neither did he,” I said. “Because I killed his smug ass.”
Now that the usual diplomatic niceties were done with, I imagined negotiations were about to break down. Best get ahead of that.
And then they tried to shoot him, because they were just terrible diplomats.
Idiocy was a trait I prized in people trying to kill me.
“Chin up, Lord Hierophant,” I said. “Make it look like we know what we’re doing.”
“I thought we knew what we were doing,” he said.
He glanced at me worriedly and I whistled loudly.
“Catherine, tell me we know what we’re doing.”
“FORWARD!” I screamed, unsheathing my sword.
So Thief was all like ‘Archer, you peerless beauty whose approval I secretly crave-“
“Sounds just like her,” I said flatly.
“- we should run’. But then this guy was all like ‘Yeah, you better run’. So, you know, I shot him in the eye. And I’m going to be honest with you here, Catherine, they didn’t take well to that. At all.”
“You don’t say,” I murmured.
So that was why Black never took my reports unless he had a bottle of wine at hand.
“She’s growing on me, I’ll admit,” Archer noted.
“You say that about everyone that insults me,” I sighed.
He grinned. “We got a plan?”
“Smash through everything until we’ve won,” I said honestly.
“Ah, the Foundling gambit,” he gravelled. “It’s never failed us before.”
Shit, he was supposed to know who she was.
“Oh hello,” he said, and after a moment found a clever ruse. “…You.”
Flawless. He was going to get away with this cleanly.
The mages didn’t hit nearly as hard, sure, but they hit a lot. That was proving to be something of a problem, given how gravity kept being a bit insistent about the whole falling thing.
“Bonding time with Black,” I said. “I assume some form of murder will be involved, possibly also a chilling speech on the nature of power. As prelude to further murdering.”
“You have the weirdest relationships with people,” Archer muttered.
“We’re going to jump,” he said.
“You’re enjoying this,” I accused.
“Am I?” he hummed, and pushed me.
I said some very unkind things about his ancestry in Taghreb as I dropped, and didn’t stop even when he started falling at my side.
“You’ve considerably improved your vocabulary,” he noted.
I sighed.
“She’s a real traditional girl, our Akua,” I drawled. “Twenty denarii she yammers at us through a runic array when get in.”
“Twenty more she compares herself to Triumphant,” Black replied amusedly. “They always do, Catherine. I’ve heard three dozen variations on that speech by now.”
He paused.
“They quote the play,” he said, pained. “Every time. I know the entire third act by rote.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Diabolist redefined the meanings of ‘overly complicated’ and ‘cripplingly paranoid’.
So there was a chance this would work. Also that I would die, but that came around as a possible outcome with depressing regularity.
“Special Tribune Robber, ready to report,” the wretch said, sparkling with insolence.
I was going to regret this, I suspected. But at least odds were good I’d be able to sift out a few useful nuggets out of the mixture of lies and blatant exaggerations he would offer.
“Proceed,” I sighed.
That he saluted with the wrong hand before beginning to speak, I thought, was likely emblematic of what was about to follow.
“So,” Robber said, “we were just walking around, staying out of trouble.”
“Were you,” I flatly said.
“I’m a great believer in the sanctity of law and order,” Robber said, putting hand over his chest.
It was, I noticed as a splitting headache dawned, over the wrong side to be covering his heart.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2022
The first part with the elves sucked. But the Diabolist arc was a lot of fun to read.
October 15, 2019
This volume of the series has continued strongly, introducing some great new characters and providing a few really pleasant diversions in addition to moving the plot forward.
This volume wraps up a few long-building sub-plots and mostly resolves some of the big conflicts that had been set up before this point. It also continues escalating both the level of conflict and the protagonist's ability to address that conflict. Granted, her usual method is to just apply more and more chaos until her opponent couldn't possibly have anticipated the level of destruction, but that's extremely fun to read so I don't mind.
This volume wraps up a few long-building sub-plots and mostly resolves some of the big conflicts that had been set up before this point. It also continues escalating both the level of conflict and the protagonist's ability to address that conflict. Granted, her usual method is to just apply more and more chaos until her opponent couldn't possibly have anticipated the level of destruction, but that's extremely fun to read so I don't mind.
July 16, 2019
These books are such underrated gems. They keep getting better, and in my mind books 2 and 3 easily rival modern fantasy classics. They are ambitious and novel, with unique and vastly exciting ideas. The world is huge and well fleshed out. And the character work, my God, is amazing. They are fully realized and flawed people, especially Catherine.
The characters in this series are actually smart and try to manipulate and take advantage of inherent rules and systems built into the fabric of their world, and I've never seen anything like this before. The stakes grow exponentially and there is a palpable sense of danger and surprise. It is incredibly unpredictable and epic.
I'm only giving this book 4 stars because I do believe this book needs a heavy handed editor. It's too long and definitely is a slog at times, especially during the Fae arc in this book.
I love the idea of the Fae, and the yoink moment was totally iconic. However, I think it dragged on too long, and it wasn't relevant to the foreshadowing/build-up the author introduced with Akua/Liesse early on, which is what I was really interested in.
I think the author should have split this into two separate books, one with the Fae, and one with Akua. As it is, it's too long and the combination of the two plot lines didn't work for me, although I loved them both separately.
The characters in this series are actually smart and try to manipulate and take advantage of inherent rules and systems built into the fabric of their world, and I've never seen anything like this before. The stakes grow exponentially and there is a palpable sense of danger and surprise. It is incredibly unpredictable and epic.
I'm only giving this book 4 stars because I do believe this book needs a heavy handed editor. It's too long and definitely is a slog at times, especially during the Fae arc in this book.
I love the idea of the Fae, and the yoink moment was totally iconic. However, I think it dragged on too long, and it wasn't relevant to the foreshadowing/build-up the author introduced with Akua/Liesse early on, which is what I was really interested in.
I think the author should have split this into two separate books, one with the Fae, and one with Akua. As it is, it's too long and the combination of the two plot lines didn't work for me, although I loved them both separately.
December 9, 2022
I didn't quite enjoy this one as much as the last one...it felt like it was rather bogged down and suffered pacing issues. However, there were absolutely epic moments, and an ending that the past two books have been building up to that was just glorious. Just feel it could have been a 4 or even 5 star read with a bit of editing, but oh well- looking forward to tearing through the next one.
REREAD
My toxic trait is rereading the same series for the third time this year, but oh well. Didn’t love the arcadia arc much except its resolution, but the diabolist arc is ….chef’s kiss.
REREAD
My toxic trait is rereading the same series for the third time this year, but oh well. Didn’t love the arcadia arc much except its resolution, but the diabolist arc is ….chef’s kiss.
November 11, 2022
As the story has gone on, I have not found it as compelling as the first book. Our protagonist makes less than great decisions, and I have to frequently suspend disbelief about the casualties her army takes while still remaining an intact and loyal force. The setting and premise are still interesting, but I hope future books improve back to the initial level.
July 19, 2022
While individually both the Fae arch and the final battle of Liesse were engaging, combined the book became a bit of a slog. It could definitely benefit with some editing, as there were quite a few grammar and spelling mistakes that were a bit off-putting. Overall, a good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2020
It's hard to rate these individually because the series is really one long book imo. The writing style sucks, often, and it's full of mistakes, but I'm still reading. :) The epicness is there.
November 28, 2023
Not a clue what the dates were.
14.11.23: 'A woman, the diplomat saw, then his gaze lingered on her throat. Not that she had always been that.' 3.Epilogue This is flawed, some cisfemales have pronounced Adam's apples, assuming this is what we're talking about. Also, wouldn't that be far easier to alter?
'"The Age of Wonders is not dead yet. Not while I breathe.”' 3.Prologue This is extremely interesting for two reasons. So one, obviously, it's a direct reference to the treatise by Malicia on how she wants the Dread Empire and the world to advance, and he's setting himself in opposition to that, which is quite revealing on a couple levels. Unless it's just EE reusing a phrase? Two, how did he get it? Because there's the obvious answer (spoilers), but then there's the fact that we know Heiress obtained a copy, losing several agents in the process, so it's extremely hard to get.
3.01 Exploration of Harrion's character and actions might be interesting in regards to Cat's personality if she liked him and spent time with him when younger.
> Aurelius:
- A male given name from Latin; of mostly historical use in the Anglo-Saxon world.
- Name of a plebeian Roman gens.
Nominative Plural Aurēliī
Latin From aurum (“gold”)
I assume that this is the name of a Miezan Emperor or dynasty after which the coin is named - or could be slang? or just coincidence and a reference to gold?
'if there was currently an advantage to having recruits pouring in from all over Callow it was that some of my Gallowborne were familiar with Southpool. They knew their way around the palace.
“We’ll have control of the grounds before you get to the hall,” Tribune Farrier said quietly from my side.' 3.01 is there anything in the fact that she's talking to Farrier and not one of the local Gallowborne at this point? Is she distant from the troops or is it just irrelevant?
This confrontation with Governess Ife seems like a very pale imitation of Black and Mazus, and it feels weak, the banter, the power behind Cat, the reasoning. She's going through someone else's motions.
What is wakeleaf? Are we talking like camellia or cocaine here?
'The Empress had sent messengers to cast her vote on occasion, so far only for issues that related to the scope of the Ruling Council’s authority over Callow.' 3.02 Poorly managed; she should send messengers always, even when she abstains.
'Compromises, I grimaced.' 3.02
'Five heroes. The usual number, when something was going to go horribly wrong for villains. Was there a specific term for that, I wondered? People used cluster for fish and herd for sheep, there had to be a term for heroes. A murder, I snorted. Or maybe a gaggle, like with cats. So Black was going to be stuck dealing with a full gaggle of heroes. That ought to make his year.' 3.02 They use a term later on, a Band Of Five but that seems awkward and formal. As for the other collective nouns here, herd is more common for horses and while it is correct for sheep, flock is more common. I like the term mob myself. Fish is school or shoal, gaggle is for geese, and the most common term for cats is a clowder, though cluster, glaring, and pounce are also correct.
'"The purpose of law is not to define right and wrong, it is to regulate behaviour,” the Empress said. “You are a ruler now, Catherine. Your only concern should be control.”' 3.02
'on his third skin of mead' 3.Crown Is skin a standard measure? I should read that kitchen miscellany.
'Ash’s hickory-like eyes were common in the Free Cities but Hedge’s eclectic arcane bag of tricks had come at a cost: one of her eyes was blue, the other a vivid shade of yellow.' 3.Arraignment oh no what a horrific cost, heterochromia iridia
sambusa - A kind of samosa of Ethiopian origin: a savoury pastry, often stuffed with meat.
From Classical Persian
> their main difference is that sambusa is prepared with a mixture of onions and meat filling, while samosa is more vegetarian and is prepared with potatoes and peas filling. Moreover, samosa is often traditionally served with a variety of sauces, while sambusa is served alone, with a sprinkle of salt or ketchup.
Koshary, kushari or koshari is Egypt's national dish and a widely popular street food. It is a traditional Egyptian staple, mixing pasta, Egyptian fried rice, vermicelli and brown lentils, and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, garlic vinegar and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. It is often served with sprinklings of garlic juice; garlic vinegar and hot sauce are optional.
'“So, watcha got for me,” I prompted.
The two Taghreb traded looks.' 3.04 This was rude, Pickler doesnt care and isn't necessary for these discussions, you're wasting her time by getting their report first.
3.Usurpation maybe Kairos did die when he was fated to?
chiaroscuro
- the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
- an effect of contrasted light and shadow.
mid 17th century: from Italian, from chiaro ‘clear, bright’ (from Latin clarus ) + oscuro ‘dark, obscure’ (from Latin obscurus ).
'Even knowing how that had ended up for the Exiled Prince I was tempted to get an enchanted suit of armour.' 3.07 She seems to make bad decisions a lot, like doing things she's been told not to. Idk.
appellant - LAW a person who applies to a higher court for a reversal of the decision of a lower court.
'Ah, the familiar feeling of being in over my head and yet still glimpsing another peril over the horizon that would be even worse.' 3.08 clunky, homage?
3.Warden This is interesting but there's just no suspense, it's like the Star Wars prequels. Was it a patreon extra and it's just published out of order?
'I’d never seen someone who fit the turn of phrase of being raven-haired better before: just looking at the dark locks I could almost hear the flap of wings.' 3.09 what's time to a pair of goddesses
'Being Named got me out of many of the little ugly details of life – didn’t get sick anymore, tired much slower and I hadn’t had my monthlies in about two years – but it did nothing for sweat.' 3.10 I find this a little odd.
'"We’re going to a masquerade,” I said. “To find out exactly who we’re supposed to be.”
“That seems counterproductive,” Masego pointed out. “We’d be wearing masks.”
I wasn’t sure if I was just terrible at the vague-but-meaningful announcements or Apprentice was that much of a pain, but clearly my technique needed work.
“Did you notice how we’re all wearing different clothes, Masego?” I said.
He paused, pushed up his spectacles.
“Yes,” he lied.' 3.10 EE's really focussing on Masego in this one.
'The matron at the orphanage always spanked us if we made noise after lights out, now that was a firm hand.' 3.10 Corporal Punishment
'"I’m guessing the speeches aren’t why they put you in charge,” she said.' 3.10 she's gone again from showing she could kill them to cooperating and tacitly accepting Cat's authority - this seems to be a running theme with the Woe.
'Predictably, the man’s mask was a raven. I got the less than reassuring feeling that it was watching me independently of the wearer’s eyes.' 3.11 how interesting Do we just like ravens and black birds or is this foreshadowing lol geddit nightfall, dark side, foreshadowing - what's going on here?
'Woe was them, love from across opposite sides.' 3.11 haaaa why must I be like this, it's probably not a reference
'I’d always like the stories about Ranger best when I was a kid,' 3.12 I think this is just about power and Ranger being accessibly badass and non-Praesi right? But then there's the fact that Black wrote all the propaganda, and Ranger's a little anti-Praesi?
> Parricide refers to the deliberate killing of one's own father and mother, spouse, children, and/or close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to acts of matricide and patricide.
Like yes it's correct but you might as well have used the term patricide?
don't do as the Woe and eat the food of the fae, goys an burls
> A gambeson (also aketon, padded jack, pourpoint, or arming doublet) is a padded defensive jacket, worn as armour separately, or combined with mail or plate armour. Gambesons were produced with a sewing technique called quilting that produced a padded cloth. They were usually constructed of linen or wool; the stuffing varied, and could be for example scrap cloth or horse hair. During the 14th century, illustrations usually show buttons or laces up the front.
> There are several types of medieval padded armor: A gambeson is a thick quilted and padded garment, often 10–20 layers thick, which was often used as standalone protection. These were often used by poorer soldiers who couldn’t afford mail or plate harness. A gambeson could also be worn over armor, in which case it would be a bit thinner. An aketon was a thinner padded garment, often about 5 layers thick, made to be worn under mail as padding against blunt trauma, which mail would do little to protect against, and to prevent the rings from being driven into the skin. An aketon might have also been worn under a gambeson or even a brigandine, but never under plate harness. Then, there is an arming doublet. A doublet is a civilian garment. An arming doublet, which is a thin garment, often with arming points, was designed to be worn under plate harness. Then, finally, there is the jupon. A jupon is a thin garment worn over armor during the late Middle Ages, which served a very important function: catching arrows, stopping them from shattering and hitting him in the face and from hitting his buddies around him.
She's using 'man' to refer to male fae, I guess it's not species specific then.
'"You own what you kill.”' 3.15 YOU KEEP WHAT YOU KILL.
'"I demand no fidelity and offer no respite,” the King of Winter laughed. “I demand no faith and offer no protection. I give you slight and deceit, I receive hatred and betrayal. The Court of Winter receives you as one of its own, ‘till your last desperate breath clawing at the dark.”' 3.15 dam son
proscenium
- the part of a theatre stage in front of the curtain.
- the stage of an ancient theatre.
- short for proscenium arch.
early 17th century: via Latin from Greek proskēnion, from pro ‘before’ + skēnē ‘stage’.
proscenium arch - an arch framing the opening between the stage and the auditorium in some theatres.
'and if one of those had decided to decimate her ranks she’d have lost at least a fifth of her soldiers.' 3.Proscenium This could be correct, but always remember kids, decimate means to remove or kill a tenth of something.
'One of the drow, most likely. They found it difficult to take orders from a man, even if that man had given his allegiance to a woman, and Praesi highborn did not have much tolerance for insoburdination.' 3.Proscenium This seems to me a clear indication that the book in the underdark was sparsely planned if at all. This is apparently the traditional social structure of Drow from Salvatore's work - which I have only the barest knowledge of.
'stonetongue' 3.Raid seems to imply goblin language but I swear I've heard this to refer to the dwarvish language - maybe something else? Or did goblins learn the language of the dwarves?
'"You know what they say, Captain – only cowards live to fifteen.”
He was thirteen, now, going on fourteen. About time he started taking some serious risks.' 3.Raid
'Most of those were fancy blue ever-burning flames that weren’t actually ever-burning ...' 3.Raid reference?
Robber would have died here. We see it crystal clear for the first time; a named is there multiple times to catch him.
'He felt too weary to scream in horror himself but having someone else express the sentiment was gratifying.' 3.Stormfront Anaxares
'"That is the best time to pull something like this,” Pickler clinically said. “The Tower can’t afford to antagonize us. Not if it wants to hold Callow.”' 3.16 She's not politically incompetent, just apathetic.
'"Before you do that, we need a little chat,” I said. “I don’t want to keep you in the dark, so I’ll just state it outright: I might have dabbled a bit in treason.”
“Dabbled?” he said, frowning over his glasses.
“You know, dipped a toe in the treason pool,” I said.
“I wish you would have told me beforehand,” he replied. “Now I’ll need to rework Marchford’s ward pattern to be able to face advanced scrying rituals.”
I cocked my head to the side.
“That’s it?”
“Oh no, treason,” he said in a mockingly high-pitched voice. “No villain has ever done such a thing before. All my extensive interest in Imperial politics is now put in danger.”' 3.18 Masego XD
'"Words are wind,” I said. “You could have taken a stand. You didn’t. So much for heroism, eh?”' 3.20 She's right, also where is that quote from? or do I just know this book too well?
'"I’ve got a treat for you, Boss,” the Special Tribune announced.
“It better not be a corpse,” I said.
It was always a godsdamned corpse with him. He was like the world’s most murderous cat, only it was worse because he was supposed to have a conscience. Or whatever the goblin equivalent of that was. Probably more knives.' 3.21 She has this trait - she thinks the best of her friends, and I like the way EE just sort of slipped it in there.
'I had no spite left to spare for mortals, not when I was set against forces who thought of ripping out my heart as a mere warning.' 3.21 I like this little two-faced idiom
'It was a good thing I didn’t even try an estimate, because this time travelling was… difficult.' 3.22 is this an oversight or a wink
'"From small slights, long prices.”
– Deoraithe proverb 3.23 I'm fairly sure Cat quotes it as 'For small slights, long prices' back at the college - there's a mess of possibilities there - or is it intentionally different to represent the relationship between the two places?
'"That is a vast oversimplification of still poorly understood social dynamics,” Masego replied peevishly.
“You know, really smart people don’t actually need to use long words,” the ochre-skinned woman grinned.' 3.Apprentice haaaaaa she fkn got you
'"It has paid off more often than not,” Adjutant said. “Put trust in people and they feel the need to live up to it.”' 3.Adjutant Carrot
barbute - a helmet but like with slits instead of a visor
'I knew nothing about my parents and to be frank I wasn’t particularly curious.' 3.25 I feel like this is going to bite her in the ass like Malicias probably holding it in reserve right (I haven't read the last book)
> As the armet was fully enclosing, and narrowed to follow the contours of the neck and throat, it had to have a mechanical means of opening and closing to enable it to be worn. The typical armet consisted of four pieces: the skull, the two large hinged cheek-pieces which locked at the front over the chin, and a visor which had a double pivot, one either side of the skull. The cheek-pieces opened laterally by means of horizontal hinges; when closed they overlapped at the chin, fastening by a spring-pin which engaged in a corresponding hole, or by a swivel-hook and pierced staple. A reinforcement for the bottom half of the face, known as a wrapper, was sometimes added; its straps were protected by a metal disc at the base of the skull piece called a rondel. The visor attached to each pivot via hinges with removable pins, as in the later examples of the bascinet. This method remained in use until c. 1520, after which the hinge disappeared and the visor had a solid connection to its pivot. The earlier armet often had a small aventail, a piece of mail attached to the bottom edge of each cheek-piece.
'was that the feeling of another rib breaking? Ah, no, just fracturing. It had happened to me often enough that I was beginning to be able to tell the difference just from the kind of pain that had me clenching my teeth.' 3.29
MTETHWA OR MTHETHWA MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND.
'In front of us stood a young girl. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen. Her skin was tanned, but not like a Taghreb or the people of the Free Cities. Like a farmer, and her hands held the calluses of one who tilled fields. Her hair was a mass of golden curls, let loose without styling. She wasn’t beautiful, the way some fae were. If would have taken her for some farmer’s daughter, with those broad shoulders and solid muscles. Her eyes were brown, unremarkable, and when she smiled at us her cheeks dimpled.' 3.31 I know Tiffany's a brunette but she kinda feels like Tiffany. :P
3.Cadenza Keteran calendar, another clue? Is he dead then?
'Nightfall was coming, and with it the assault on Nicaw.' 3.Thunder This is cruel and unusual punishment. If you're going to refer to someone as Nightfall then don't use the word elsewhere and especially don't use it where the first letter is capitalised.
'The Light formed a blinding halo around the White Knight before the fire could touch him, the Heavenly power soon devoured but allowing him to retreat without it touching his flesh.' 3.CalamityI Yes halo is sort of correct but I feel like nimbus or aureole are better words here.
'No shapeshifter could take the shape of a dragon, for one, or even most creatures with sorcerous nature.' 3.CalamityII
'“Well, nobody’s opened a permanent portal into the Hells. There. I refused to go any lower.”' 3.32 lol
'"I am not a noble, Talbot,” I said. “I don’t really like them, as a rule. No offence meant to you in particular. I’ve bled for every inch of power I have, and the notion of anybody just… inheriting theirs has grown repulsive to me. ..."' 3.34
'"... Let’s see if we can think of something to avoid dying horrible, horrible deaths. The floor’s open, my friends.”' 3.34 two things; she calls Thief a friend, and this is an excellent example of collaborative command/problem solving instead of her doing everything herself.
'"And I definitely know what that is,” I lied. “Pretty sure Hakram doesn’t, though, so to be polite someone should explain.”
“Actually,” the orc began, but I shushed him.
“It’s all right, Hakram,” I said. “We’re your friends. You don’t need to pretend with us.”
“I explained to you what that is mere months ago,” Masego said, sounding surprised as he eyed the orc. “Perhaps you should drink less. It’s beginning to affect your memory.”
Adjutant glared at me helplessly and I grinned.
“I’ll keep an eye on him, I promise,” I told Hierophant.
The dark-skinned mage nodded, then looked up at me through his eye cloth.
“Creation is, in essence, matter with a set of rules imposed by the Gods upon it,” he said. “A domain is when an entity, in this case you, temporarily overlays different matter and rules over it.”' 3.37 I kinda think Masego gets the joke now. There's a sort of throwaway line at some point that seems to hint at that.
'It was a strange thing, recognizing that someone was cleverer than you. And Juniper was, I would not deny it. It wasn’t so clear-cut a thing as most people pretended when posturing, of course. Cleverness was no perfect shield. The smartest woman in the world could be outmanoeuvred by a fool, under the right circumstances. Or by luck, or by a myriad other factors that no one ever really liked to talk about. But the fact remained that Juniper saw things I didn’t, when it came to strategy. Pondered a few steps deeper, arranged her thoughts more clearly. Diabolist did the same, when it came to plotting, and it had little to do with her Name. There was always someone better. I’d felt slighted by that when I was younger, as if just by being me I had to be the best at everything I undertook. Nowadays I just felt relieved, that I had someone at my side who could steer us away from the mistakes I would have made. Was there anything more worthless than pride, if the cost of it was the death of those precious to you?' 3.38 this is such a great but because of how healthy a mindset it is, how relatable, how beneficial to young readers.
14.11.23: 'A woman, the diplomat saw, then his gaze lingered on her throat. Not that she had always been that.' 3.Epilogue This is flawed, some cisfemales have pronounced Adam's apples, assuming this is what we're talking about. Also, wouldn't that be far easier to alter?
'"The Age of Wonders is not dead yet. Not while I breathe.”' 3.Prologue This is extremely interesting for two reasons. So one, obviously, it's a direct reference to the treatise by Malicia on how she wants the Dread Empire and the world to advance, and he's setting himself in opposition to that, which is quite revealing on a couple levels. Unless it's just EE reusing a phrase? Two, how did he get it? Because there's the obvious answer (spoilers), but then there's the fact that we know Heiress obtained a copy, losing several agents in the process, so it's extremely hard to get.
3.01 Exploration of Harrion's character and actions might be interesting in regards to Cat's personality if she liked him and spent time with him when younger.
> Aurelius:
- A male given name from Latin; of mostly historical use in the Anglo-Saxon world.
- Name of a plebeian Roman gens.
Nominative Plural Aurēliī
Latin From aurum (“gold”)
I assume that this is the name of a Miezan Emperor or dynasty after which the coin is named - or could be slang? or just coincidence and a reference to gold?
'if there was currently an advantage to having recruits pouring in from all over Callow it was that some of my Gallowborne were familiar with Southpool. They knew their way around the palace.
“We’ll have control of the grounds before you get to the hall,” Tribune Farrier said quietly from my side.' 3.01 is there anything in the fact that she's talking to Farrier and not one of the local Gallowborne at this point? Is she distant from the troops or is it just irrelevant?
This confrontation with Governess Ife seems like a very pale imitation of Black and Mazus, and it feels weak, the banter, the power behind Cat, the reasoning. She's going through someone else's motions.
What is wakeleaf? Are we talking like camellia or cocaine here?
'The Empress had sent messengers to cast her vote on occasion, so far only for issues that related to the scope of the Ruling Council’s authority over Callow.' 3.02 Poorly managed; she should send messengers always, even when she abstains.
'Compromises, I grimaced.' 3.02
'Five heroes. The usual number, when something was going to go horribly wrong for villains. Was there a specific term for that, I wondered? People used cluster for fish and herd for sheep, there had to be a term for heroes. A murder, I snorted. Or maybe a gaggle, like with cats. So Black was going to be stuck dealing with a full gaggle of heroes. That ought to make his year.' 3.02 They use a term later on, a Band Of Five but that seems awkward and formal. As for the other collective nouns here, herd is more common for horses and while it is correct for sheep, flock is more common. I like the term mob myself. Fish is school or shoal, gaggle is for geese, and the most common term for cats is a clowder, though cluster, glaring, and pounce are also correct.
'"The purpose of law is not to define right and wrong, it is to regulate behaviour,” the Empress said. “You are a ruler now, Catherine. Your only concern should be control.”' 3.02
'on his third skin of mead' 3.Crown Is skin a standard measure? I should read that kitchen miscellany.
'Ash’s hickory-like eyes were common in the Free Cities but Hedge’s eclectic arcane bag of tricks had come at a cost: one of her eyes was blue, the other a vivid shade of yellow.' 3.Arraignment oh no what a horrific cost, heterochromia iridia
sambusa - A kind of samosa of Ethiopian origin: a savoury pastry, often stuffed with meat.
From Classical Persian
> their main difference is that sambusa is prepared with a mixture of onions and meat filling, while samosa is more vegetarian and is prepared with potatoes and peas filling. Moreover, samosa is often traditionally served with a variety of sauces, while sambusa is served alone, with a sprinkle of salt or ketchup.
Koshary, kushari or koshari is Egypt's national dish and a widely popular street food. It is a traditional Egyptian staple, mixing pasta, Egyptian fried rice, vermicelli and brown lentils, and topped with a zesty tomato sauce, garlic vinegar and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. It is often served with sprinklings of garlic juice; garlic vinegar and hot sauce are optional.
'“So, watcha got for me,” I prompted.
The two Taghreb traded looks.' 3.04 This was rude, Pickler doesnt care and isn't necessary for these discussions, you're wasting her time by getting their report first.
3.Usurpation maybe Kairos did die when he was fated to?
chiaroscuro
- the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
- an effect of contrasted light and shadow.
mid 17th century: from Italian, from chiaro ‘clear, bright’ (from Latin clarus ) + oscuro ‘dark, obscure’ (from Latin obscurus ).
'Even knowing how that had ended up for the Exiled Prince I was tempted to get an enchanted suit of armour.' 3.07 She seems to make bad decisions a lot, like doing things she's been told not to. Idk.
appellant - LAW a person who applies to a higher court for a reversal of the decision of a lower court.
'Ah, the familiar feeling of being in over my head and yet still glimpsing another peril over the horizon that would be even worse.' 3.08 clunky, homage?
3.Warden This is interesting but there's just no suspense, it's like the Star Wars prequels. Was it a patreon extra and it's just published out of order?
'I’d never seen someone who fit the turn of phrase of being raven-haired better before: just looking at the dark locks I could almost hear the flap of wings.' 3.09 what's time to a pair of goddesses
'Being Named got me out of many of the little ugly details of life – didn’t get sick anymore, tired much slower and I hadn’t had my monthlies in about two years – but it did nothing for sweat.' 3.10 I find this a little odd.
'"We’re going to a masquerade,” I said. “To find out exactly who we’re supposed to be.”
“That seems counterproductive,” Masego pointed out. “We’d be wearing masks.”
I wasn’t sure if I was just terrible at the vague-but-meaningful announcements or Apprentice was that much of a pain, but clearly my technique needed work.
“Did you notice how we’re all wearing different clothes, Masego?” I said.
He paused, pushed up his spectacles.
“Yes,” he lied.' 3.10 EE's really focussing on Masego in this one.
'The matron at the orphanage always spanked us if we made noise after lights out, now that was a firm hand.' 3.10 Corporal Punishment
'"I’m guessing the speeches aren’t why they put you in charge,” she said.' 3.10 she's gone again from showing she could kill them to cooperating and tacitly accepting Cat's authority - this seems to be a running theme with the Woe.
'Predictably, the man’s mask was a raven. I got the less than reassuring feeling that it was watching me independently of the wearer’s eyes.' 3.11 how interesting Do we just like ravens and black birds or is this foreshadowing lol geddit nightfall, dark side, foreshadowing - what's going on here?
'Woe was them, love from across opposite sides.' 3.11 haaaa why must I be like this, it's probably not a reference
'I’d always like the stories about Ranger best when I was a kid,' 3.12 I think this is just about power and Ranger being accessibly badass and non-Praesi right? But then there's the fact that Black wrote all the propaganda, and Ranger's a little anti-Praesi?
> Parricide refers to the deliberate killing of one's own father and mother, spouse, children, and/or close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to acts of matricide and patricide.
Like yes it's correct but you might as well have used the term patricide?
don't do as the Woe and eat the food of the fae, goys an burls
> A gambeson (also aketon, padded jack, pourpoint, or arming doublet) is a padded defensive jacket, worn as armour separately, or combined with mail or plate armour. Gambesons were produced with a sewing technique called quilting that produced a padded cloth. They were usually constructed of linen or wool; the stuffing varied, and could be for example scrap cloth or horse hair. During the 14th century, illustrations usually show buttons or laces up the front.
> There are several types of medieval padded armor: A gambeson is a thick quilted and padded garment, often 10–20 layers thick, which was often used as standalone protection. These were often used by poorer soldiers who couldn’t afford mail or plate harness. A gambeson could also be worn over armor, in which case it would be a bit thinner. An aketon was a thinner padded garment, often about 5 layers thick, made to be worn under mail as padding against blunt trauma, which mail would do little to protect against, and to prevent the rings from being driven into the skin. An aketon might have also been worn under a gambeson or even a brigandine, but never under plate harness. Then, there is an arming doublet. A doublet is a civilian garment. An arming doublet, which is a thin garment, often with arming points, was designed to be worn under plate harness. Then, finally, there is the jupon. A jupon is a thin garment worn over armor during the late Middle Ages, which served a very important function: catching arrows, stopping them from shattering and hitting him in the face and from hitting his buddies around him.
She's using 'man' to refer to male fae, I guess it's not species specific then.
'"You own what you kill.”' 3.15 YOU KEEP WHAT YOU KILL.
'"I demand no fidelity and offer no respite,” the King of Winter laughed. “I demand no faith and offer no protection. I give you slight and deceit, I receive hatred and betrayal. The Court of Winter receives you as one of its own, ‘till your last desperate breath clawing at the dark.”' 3.15 dam son
proscenium
- the part of a theatre stage in front of the curtain.
- the stage of an ancient theatre.
- short for proscenium arch.
early 17th century: via Latin from Greek proskēnion, from pro ‘before’ + skēnē ‘stage’.
proscenium arch - an arch framing the opening between the stage and the auditorium in some theatres.
'and if one of those had decided to decimate her ranks she’d have lost at least a fifth of her soldiers.' 3.Proscenium This could be correct, but always remember kids, decimate means to remove or kill a tenth of something.
'One of the drow, most likely. They found it difficult to take orders from a man, even if that man had given his allegiance to a woman, and Praesi highborn did not have much tolerance for insoburdination.' 3.Proscenium This seems to me a clear indication that the book in the underdark was sparsely planned if at all. This is apparently the traditional social structure of Drow from Salvatore's work - which I have only the barest knowledge of.
'stonetongue' 3.Raid seems to imply goblin language but I swear I've heard this to refer to the dwarvish language - maybe something else? Or did goblins learn the language of the dwarves?
'"You know what they say, Captain – only cowards live to fifteen.”
He was thirteen, now, going on fourteen. About time he started taking some serious risks.' 3.Raid
'Most of those were fancy blue ever-burning flames that weren’t actually ever-burning ...' 3.Raid reference?
Robber would have died here. We see it crystal clear for the first time; a named is there multiple times to catch him.
'He felt too weary to scream in horror himself but having someone else express the sentiment was gratifying.' 3.Stormfront Anaxares
'"That is the best time to pull something like this,” Pickler clinically said. “The Tower can’t afford to antagonize us. Not if it wants to hold Callow.”' 3.16 She's not politically incompetent, just apathetic.
'"Before you do that, we need a little chat,” I said. “I don’t want to keep you in the dark, so I’ll just state it outright: I might have dabbled a bit in treason.”
“Dabbled?” he said, frowning over his glasses.
“You know, dipped a toe in the treason pool,” I said.
“I wish you would have told me beforehand,” he replied. “Now I’ll need to rework Marchford’s ward pattern to be able to face advanced scrying rituals.”
I cocked my head to the side.
“That’s it?”
“Oh no, treason,” he said in a mockingly high-pitched voice. “No villain has ever done such a thing before. All my extensive interest in Imperial politics is now put in danger.”' 3.18 Masego XD
'"Words are wind,” I said. “You could have taken a stand. You didn’t. So much for heroism, eh?”' 3.20 She's right, also where is that quote from? or do I just know this book too well?
'"I’ve got a treat for you, Boss,” the Special Tribune announced.
“It better not be a corpse,” I said.
It was always a godsdamned corpse with him. He was like the world’s most murderous cat, only it was worse because he was supposed to have a conscience. Or whatever the goblin equivalent of that was. Probably more knives.' 3.21 She has this trait - she thinks the best of her friends, and I like the way EE just sort of slipped it in there.
'I had no spite left to spare for mortals, not when I was set against forces who thought of ripping out my heart as a mere warning.' 3.21 I like this little two-faced idiom
'It was a good thing I didn’t even try an estimate, because this time travelling was… difficult.' 3.22 is this an oversight or a wink
'"From small slights, long prices.”
– Deoraithe proverb 3.23 I'm fairly sure Cat quotes it as 'For small slights, long prices' back at the college - there's a mess of possibilities there - or is it intentionally different to represent the relationship between the two places?
'"That is a vast oversimplification of still poorly understood social dynamics,” Masego replied peevishly.
“You know, really smart people don’t actually need to use long words,” the ochre-skinned woman grinned.' 3.Apprentice haaaaaa she fkn got you
'"It has paid off more often than not,” Adjutant said. “Put trust in people and they feel the need to live up to it.”' 3.Adjutant Carrot
barbute - a helmet but like with slits instead of a visor
'I knew nothing about my parents and to be frank I wasn’t particularly curious.' 3.25 I feel like this is going to bite her in the ass like Malicias probably holding it in reserve right (I haven't read the last book)
> As the armet was fully enclosing, and narrowed to follow the contours of the neck and throat, it had to have a mechanical means of opening and closing to enable it to be worn. The typical armet consisted of four pieces: the skull, the two large hinged cheek-pieces which locked at the front over the chin, and a visor which had a double pivot, one either side of the skull. The cheek-pieces opened laterally by means of horizontal hinges; when closed they overlapped at the chin, fastening by a spring-pin which engaged in a corresponding hole, or by a swivel-hook and pierced staple. A reinforcement for the bottom half of the face, known as a wrapper, was sometimes added; its straps were protected by a metal disc at the base of the skull piece called a rondel. The visor attached to each pivot via hinges with removable pins, as in the later examples of the bascinet. This method remained in use until c. 1520, after which the hinge disappeared and the visor had a solid connection to its pivot. The earlier armet often had a small aventail, a piece of mail attached to the bottom edge of each cheek-piece.
'was that the feeling of another rib breaking? Ah, no, just fracturing. It had happened to me often enough that I was beginning to be able to tell the difference just from the kind of pain that had me clenching my teeth.' 3.29
MTETHWA OR MTHETHWA MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND.
'In front of us stood a young girl. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen. Her skin was tanned, but not like a Taghreb or the people of the Free Cities. Like a farmer, and her hands held the calluses of one who tilled fields. Her hair was a mass of golden curls, let loose without styling. She wasn’t beautiful, the way some fae were. If would have taken her for some farmer’s daughter, with those broad shoulders and solid muscles. Her eyes were brown, unremarkable, and when she smiled at us her cheeks dimpled.' 3.31 I know Tiffany's a brunette but she kinda feels like Tiffany. :P
3.Cadenza Keteran calendar, another clue? Is he dead then?
'Nightfall was coming, and with it the assault on Nicaw.' 3.Thunder This is cruel and unusual punishment. If you're going to refer to someone as Nightfall then don't use the word elsewhere and especially don't use it where the first letter is capitalised.
'The Light formed a blinding halo around the White Knight before the fire could touch him, the Heavenly power soon devoured but allowing him to retreat without it touching his flesh.' 3.CalamityI Yes halo is sort of correct but I feel like nimbus or aureole are better words here.
'No shapeshifter could take the shape of a dragon, for one, or even most creatures with sorcerous nature.' 3.CalamityII
'“Well, nobody’s opened a permanent portal into the Hells. There. I refused to go any lower.”' 3.32 lol
'"I am not a noble, Talbot,” I said. “I don’t really like them, as a rule. No offence meant to you in particular. I’ve bled for every inch of power I have, and the notion of anybody just… inheriting theirs has grown repulsive to me. ..."' 3.34
'"... Let’s see if we can think of something to avoid dying horrible, horrible deaths. The floor’s open, my friends.”' 3.34 two things; she calls Thief a friend, and this is an excellent example of collaborative command/problem solving instead of her doing everything herself.
'"And I definitely know what that is,” I lied. “Pretty sure Hakram doesn’t, though, so to be polite someone should explain.”
“Actually,” the orc began, but I shushed him.
“It’s all right, Hakram,” I said. “We’re your friends. You don’t need to pretend with us.”
“I explained to you what that is mere months ago,” Masego said, sounding surprised as he eyed the orc. “Perhaps you should drink less. It’s beginning to affect your memory.”
Adjutant glared at me helplessly and I grinned.
“I’ll keep an eye on him, I promise,” I told Hierophant.
The dark-skinned mage nodded, then looked up at me through his eye cloth.
“Creation is, in essence, matter with a set of rules imposed by the Gods upon it,” he said. “A domain is when an entity, in this case you, temporarily overlays different matter and rules over it.”' 3.37 I kinda think Masego gets the joke now. There's a sort of throwaway line at some point that seems to hint at that.
'It was a strange thing, recognizing that someone was cleverer than you. And Juniper was, I would not deny it. It wasn’t so clear-cut a thing as most people pretended when posturing, of course. Cleverness was no perfect shield. The smartest woman in the world could be outmanoeuvred by a fool, under the right circumstances. Or by luck, or by a myriad other factors that no one ever really liked to talk about. But the fact remained that Juniper saw things I didn’t, when it came to strategy. Pondered a few steps deeper, arranged her thoughts more clearly. Diabolist did the same, when it came to plotting, and it had little to do with her Name. There was always someone better. I’d felt slighted by that when I was younger, as if just by being me I had to be the best at everything I undertook. Nowadays I just felt relieved, that I had someone at my side who could steer us away from the mistakes I would have made. Was there anything more worthless than pride, if the cost of it was the death of those precious to you?' 3.38 this is such a great but because of how healthy a mindset it is, how relatable, how beneficial to young readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2023
I don't know what the hell happened to the plot but the quality veered sharply downwards in this book.
There's too many pointless fights that have no impacton the plot, not enough character interactions as the last 2 books, and the whole book seemed to become some shonen manga storyline with all these pointless wars and battles ocurring out of nowhere and the MC gaining new powers all of a sudden without much cost or hardship.
Also, I got into this story for the fantasy world and its characters and its plotline, I do not give a single ounce of crap about all formulaic military campaigns these characters have to go through.
I found the perfect paragraph on reddit to describe my annoyance with this book:
"The struggle from the past 2 books is glaringly missing in Book 3. Every battle simply becomes an ode to 'The awesomeness of Catherine Foundling'. She becomes strikingly powerful in this book but never experiences any lasting consequence for that. We see other characters in the book fail and have their plans disrupted. Not Catherine. Any mistake that happens is resolved so quickly the payoff is unsatisfying and removes any tension from the story. Why worry and root for her when we know she will breeze through the next obstacle that presents itself? Even worse, some of those mistakes are resolved for her, by other people, which would be fine by itself if it did not seem like the entire story was bending over for her."
There's too many pointless fights that have no impacton the plot, not enough character interactions as the last 2 books, and the whole book seemed to become some shonen manga storyline with all these pointless wars and battles ocurring out of nowhere and the MC gaining new powers all of a sudden without much cost or hardship.
Also, I got into this story for the fantasy world and its characters and its plotline, I do not give a single ounce of crap about all formulaic military campaigns these characters have to go through.
I found the perfect paragraph on reddit to describe my annoyance with this book:
"The struggle from the past 2 books is glaringly missing in Book 3. Every battle simply becomes an ode to 'The awesomeness of Catherine Foundling'. She becomes strikingly powerful in this book but never experiences any lasting consequence for that. We see other characters in the book fail and have their plans disrupted. Not Catherine. Any mistake that happens is resolved so quickly the payoff is unsatisfying and removes any tension from the story. Why worry and root for her when we know she will breeze through the next obstacle that presents itself? Even worse, some of those mistakes are resolved for her, by other people, which would be fine by itself if it did not seem like the entire story was bending over for her."
December 6, 2023
Book was amazing, but I'm so sad that the Catherine x Kilian ship has sailed T^T. The fae arc was really cool, I love how the arc ended. I'm so curious to see the repercussions of what will happen when Spring/Fall comes around though.
The Diabolist arc is also amazing. I love how a lot of characters are involved in this fight, but I'm actually so surprised the author killed off so many generals (I forgot their exact rank) — ESPECIALLY ISTRID. AND THE FACT THAT SHE WAS ASSASSINATED BY SOMEONE AMONGST THE LEGIONNAIRES? Holy that came out of left field I'm curious who the actor was. It probably wasn't Akua, and it probably wasn't Malicia since that would be detrimental to her especially since she believes that Black will always be on her side. It probably isn't someone from the Principate nor Free Cities either since we weren't shown anyone that's interested in the fight between the Diabolist and the Legion. I'm so curious who the new party is, ughhh
Finally, the conclusion of the Akua's Folly is also amazing. I'm still curious whether Assassin is alive or dead, but honestly it probably doesn't matter. The fact that Black outplayed Akua so hard? The fact that Malicia is complicit in Akua's destruction although not directly supportive? The fact that Catherine is drawing lines between her and the Tower? AND THE FACT THAT CATHERINE IS NO LONGER THE SQUIRE? Gods, this book was so packed and I'm falling even deeper in love with it.
The Diabolist arc is also amazing. I love how a lot of characters are involved in this fight, but I'm actually so surprised the author killed off so many generals (I forgot their exact rank) — ESPECIALLY ISTRID. AND THE FACT THAT SHE WAS ASSASSINATED BY SOMEONE AMONGST THE LEGIONNAIRES? Holy that came out of left field I'm curious who the actor was. It probably wasn't Akua, and it probably wasn't Malicia since that would be detrimental to her especially since she believes that Black will always be on her side. It probably isn't someone from the Principate nor Free Cities either since we weren't shown anyone that's interested in the fight between the Diabolist and the Legion. I'm so curious who the new party is, ughhh
Finally, the conclusion of the Akua's Folly is also amazing. I'm still curious whether Assassin is alive or dead, but honestly it probably doesn't matter. The fact that Black outplayed Akua so hard? The fact that Malicia is complicit in Akua's destruction although not directly supportive? The fact that Catherine is drawing lines between her and the Tower? AND THE FACT THAT CATHERINE IS NO LONGER THE SQUIRE? Gods, this book was so packed and I'm falling even deeper in love with it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2023
So I read this book last — I’m not keen on “growing pains” sequels. Has to be said
Let’s start from the beginning.
How does one skip this book?
- Check out the Wikia Abridged Guide to Evil and see if this series is a good investment. It probably is.
- Skip, and read only the interludes. Anaxares is chaotic but he’ll be pretty big.
- Read the ending, starting at ch. 70 Coda. It’s epic.
- Read the rest of the books in full
Why did I read the Wikia?
This series is a work of love, but like all such, it requires a lot of investment. By book 2, I was wary of another King of Thrones botched ending. So. I skimmed the spoilers.
There’s no botched redemption arc in book 7. In my opinion.
Having read it, do I still think I should have skipped it?
Yes. It was a “growing pains” sequel alright. It filled in a lot of gaps for me, but not enough to warrant the investment and the mistakes Catherine had to go through to grow.
Also, interludes introduce a lot of information, which is fine for a web serial, but painful when reading this series in one go. Pace yourself.
Should everyone skip it?
No, there’s a lot of info and it is as well-written as the others, with the same level of depth.
Let’s start from the beginning.
How does one skip this book?
- Check out the Wikia Abridged Guide to Evil and see if this series is a good investment. It probably is.
- Skip, and read only the interludes. Anaxares is chaotic but he’ll be pretty big.
- Read the ending, starting at ch. 70 Coda. It’s epic.
- Read the rest of the books in full
Why did I read the Wikia?
This series is a work of love, but like all such, it requires a lot of investment. By book 2, I was wary of another King of Thrones botched ending. So. I skimmed the spoilers.
There’s no botched redemption arc in book 7. In my opinion.
Having read it, do I still think I should have skipped it?
Yes. It was a “growing pains” sequel alright. It filled in a lot of gaps for me, but not enough to warrant the investment and the mistakes Catherine had to go through to grow.
Also, interludes introduce a lot of information, which is fine for a web serial, but painful when reading this series in one go. Pace yourself.
Should everyone skip it?
No, there’s a lot of info and it is as well-written as the others, with the same level of depth.
August 29, 2024
The third portion of “A Practical Guide to Evil” is incredibly epic. It does not feel only like the arc of a bigger story that it is, but like a whole book, with beginning, middle, and end, all tied together by common plot threads, like Catherine and the fae.
My favorite parts of this story so far include when people see Catherine from the outside and I realize how scary she’s become. These were also my favorite parts of Worm, an obvious influence. Catherine however is quite different from Taylor Hebert and I like that.
The worldbuilding is still meta, and is now greatly expanded. It is getting oddly like our world, especially in the names of places, like Aksum (ancient Ethiopian kingdom), Hannoven (Hanover), and Levant (Levant). This used to be distracting, but I got used to it, because the protagonist has the completely mundane English name of Catherine Foundling.
Other favorite characters include Hakram, Masego, Thief, Juniper, and the Black Knight. The writing here is focused on epic fight scenes, but also on strategy, tactics, plots, and politics. I greatly appreciate the politics. A Practical Guide to Evil is still epic so far.
My favorite parts of this story so far include when people see Catherine from the outside and I realize how scary she’s become. These were also my favorite parts of Worm, an obvious influence. Catherine however is quite different from Taylor Hebert and I like that.
The worldbuilding is still meta, and is now greatly expanded. It is getting oddly like our world, especially in the names of places, like Aksum (ancient Ethiopian kingdom), Hannoven (Hanover), and Levant (Levant). This used to be distracting, but I got used to it, because the protagonist has the completely mundane English name of Catherine Foundling.
Other favorite characters include Hakram, Masego, Thief, Juniper, and the Black Knight. The writing here is focused on epic fight scenes, but also on strategy, tactics, plots, and politics. I greatly appreciate the politics. A Practical Guide to Evil is still epic so far.
January 4, 2023
This book is unpolished, filled with typos, and could do with a solid editing pass- but it is amazing.
Character progression that simply does not stop or plateau, massive wars with all the logistics and angles covered, political maneuvering that does not rest.
The combat is tight and tense, the characters operate within boundaries set by a strange world, and the dialogue is a pleasure. There are definitely some parts of it that could be smoothed out a bit, but as a whole the book hits harder than most I've read, reaching out to morality and ethics in the best of ways.
Wholly recommend, would purchase a physical copy if I could.
Character progression that simply does not stop or plateau, massive wars with all the logistics and angles covered, political maneuvering that does not rest.
The combat is tight and tense, the characters operate within boundaries set by a strange world, and the dialogue is a pleasure. There are definitely some parts of it that could be smoothed out a bit, but as a whole the book hits harder than most I've read, reaching out to morality and ethics in the best of ways.
Wholly recommend, would purchase a physical copy if I could.
November 30, 2024
4/5.
This book felt as long as the first two put together. The long battle with Diabolist finally draws to an end. We got to see so much more of the world, but in many ways the story suffered for it. The increased focus on Names and Roles turned what was a clever trope-aware story into a meta-metafictional narrative. The hints of Cordelia Hasenbach are very interesting, and the Tyrant Kairos puts a spanner in everyone’s plans. Catherine’s story is already far more complicated than Black or Malicia’s ever was — and I expect her to do much more still. But I’m not sure I’ll be sticking around to see it.
This book felt as long as the first two put together. The long battle with Diabolist finally draws to an end. We got to see so much more of the world, but in many ways the story suffered for it. The increased focus on Names and Roles turned what was a clever trope-aware story into a meta-metafictional narrative. The hints of Cordelia Hasenbach are very interesting, and the Tyrant Kairos puts a spanner in everyone’s plans. Catherine’s story is already far more complicated than Black or Malicia’s ever was — and I expect her to do much more still. But I’m not sure I’ll be sticking around to see it.
May 1, 2024
This one is a tough one because I am overall just a fan of this series. The third book or better: the third part was a bit of a slow read for me. It took me more than a month (granted, I am a father with a young child at home).
I did not like the parts with long and tedious politics and military a lot, but it is still justified because from a credible worldbuilding came many memorable personalities and epic conclusions.
Part three is the longest book (if you can call it that) I've ever read and I am looking forward to a lot more pages in the following 4 books / parts.
I did not like the parts with long and tedious politics and military a lot, but it is still justified because from a credible worldbuilding came many memorable personalities and epic conclusions.
Part three is the longest book (if you can call it that) I've ever read and I am looking forward to a lot more pages in the following 4 books / parts.
March 6, 2021
No clue how tf the magic system works, but I think this may be attributed more to my stupidity than the author.
I’ve noticed the author really likes to say “a (blank) thing” a close thing, a dangerous thing, a near thing, etc. etc. Also, like usual, kept using everything but the character’s name.
But Catherine is starting to gain self-awareness and becomes more badass as the story goes on; we love it!
I’ve noticed the author really likes to say “a (blank) thing” a close thing, a dangerous thing, a near thing, etc. etc. Also, like usual, kept using everything but the character’s name.
But Catherine is starting to gain self-awareness and becomes more badass as the story goes on; we love it!
October 25, 2022
Before you dive into the review, I want to highlight two points:
1. This is the series that I have rated the highest for the blog till date, and
2. This is a free web novel. There are no eBooks available for purchase far as I know.
Now with that done, here’s my super glowing review of one of the best epic fantasies that I’ve read till date.
https://fanfiaddict.com/review-a-prac...
It's spectacular and highly recommended.
1. This is the series that I have rated the highest for the blog till date, and
2. This is a free web novel. There are no eBooks available for purchase far as I know.
Now with that done, here’s my super glowing review of one of the best epic fantasies that I’ve read till date.
https://fanfiaddict.com/review-a-prac...
It's spectacular and highly recommended.
December 5, 2024
Unclear if it was my mood or similar but this book felt much longer and more of a drag. Lots more side of view points of different levels of interestingness.
A lot happened, but betrayal and power struggles and so on and the damage to our MC and the legions is ever ongoing.
A few loose ends (who sent the goblins) and more fractures than before. The rumours around Queenhood.
I will keep reading.
A lot happened, but betrayal and power struggles and so on and the damage to our MC and the legions is ever ongoing.
A few loose ends (who sent the goblins) and more fractures than before. The rumours around Queenhood.
I will keep reading.
May 26, 2019
Actually part of the re-read, but apparently I forgot to shelve it when I actually finished and I don't recall the date now.
Regardless, still absolutely love Catherine and the whole gang. No spoilers, but suffice to say what happens in this volume leaves a mark in more ways than one and victory this time is bittersweet at best.
Regardless, still absolutely love Catherine and the whole gang. No spoilers, but suffice to say what happens in this volume leaves a mark in more ways than one and victory this time is bittersweet at best.
October 5, 2019
Was a lull in the middle of this book, but by the time you get to the end, you're hooked once again.
December 7, 2019
Mind=blown
April 8, 2021
refer to Book 1 of the series for My review of the series
November 27, 2021
At this point I'm just waiting to see these in print so I can purchase them on every platform and in every medium I can.
November 23, 2022
this one really builds her skill with namelore and storycraft, in ways that keep paying off, and sets the conflict for the next few books in other ways.
July 18, 2024
holy moly
March 29, 2025
She fourfold on my crossing 'till I split.
October 14, 2024
4.25 / 5
Thoroughly enjoyed. I was highly engaged with every battle in this book, and the changing developments in Cat and her story. I especially enjoyed the dealings with the fae and the deeper dives into playing around the rules of Roles and stories.
Thoroughly enjoyed. I was highly engaged with every battle in this book, and the changing developments in Cat and her story. I especially enjoyed the dealings with the fae and the deeper dives into playing around the rules of Roles and stories.
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