Status Updates From Путница (Год Крысы, #2)

While the heroes do everything they can to save Alk, they are powerless to change the system that turned him the way he is, and that’s the problem. The system that creates path-walkers is working effectively, but ultimately, it uses some people as magical fuel and forces the others to become torturers to their companions. Even after the final, the system remains unchanged, and it makes the ending bittersweet to me.

The final was magnificent as individual paths of Ryska and Alk converged with the fate of two their countries – and by using their abilities, our heroes managed to save the day. However, there is no fairy tale ending, and the price of salvation is terrible. People die, both characters we know and many of those that we don’t, but it’s a lesser evil compared to the all-out war sweeping through both countries.

It’s clarified that there were attempts to create a voluntary bond between path-walkers, and they all backfired terribly. But the problem is that we never get a good insight into the order of path-walkers. In two long books, there are about five path-walkers (not counting Alk and Ryska, who either didn’t complete their training or were never trained), and only Rat Catcher expresses regret over their cruel methods.

Rylez’s offer to found a new order of path-walkers actually makes sense; while Rylez only wants to gain power, the new way of bonding between a path-walker and a ‘candle’ can change the system to the better. Currently, most apprentices are doomed to the fate worse than death, being turned into rats and used as magic fuel. The new way has its problems, but ‘candles’ would be capable of having more or less normal life.

Alk’s greatest fear had always been the rat gaining full control over him, and then he goes and willingly surrenders this control to save Ryska. Not only it’s amazing in terms of character development to see how far Alk would go for her, it’s also amazing because it gives Alk access to some unexpected, but pretty jaw-dropping abilities that make him even more terrifying. All hail the rat king!

Throughout the two books, Alk keeps saying that Ryska and Zhar are not his friends, insisting that he only stays with them because the circumstances force him. Even after all his plans fail and Alk remains with them for the sake of companionship, he never says it out loud. So it’s all the more precious when he finally confirms that yes, these two are his friends.

Ryska would never be an action heroine, but she still grows a lot. When she set off from home, her most prized possession was a hand-made wedding dress, as her main goal was to marry and settle down, and she carried this dress the whole time. In the final, Ryska uses this dress to wrap a newborn baby, and says that the dress isn’t so important, because she doesn’t need it any more. Plus, she can always sew a new one.

It warms my heart to see how subtly the relationship between heroes changes. Ryska had always worried about Alk, but at some point she realized that she actually trusts him – and while she tended to gravitate toward Zhar during their travels, now Ryska calmly sleeps next to Alk, and grabs his arm when she’s scared, and just stays by his side almost constantly. And it makes me so extremely happy!

And so big politics enter the plotline that used to be strictly about the heroes’ personal goals and motivations. The contents of the letter that caused the hunt after Zhar and his friends really surprised me, too – but while the games of wills between the young prince Shares and his aging father is engaging enough, we still don’t see the whole picture there. What’s it king Vitor is planning?

The closer the rat to taking over, the more emotionally vulnerable Alk becomes. Now he’s afraid of the dark and of staying alone, because that’s when the rat is the strongest – so Alk involuntarily reaches out for Ryska, even though he’s rather die than admit that he needs her.

Ryska and the others had to leave the place they hoped to call home, and I’m a bit sad because of that, but at the same time excited about adventures to come. And indeed, the first thing the gang plans on is robbing a castle, and who doesn’t love a good heist subplot? There’s even a ball scene sneaked in that’s actually plot relevant!

Ryska and the others had to leave the place they hoped to call home, and I’m a bit sad because of that, but at the same time excited about adventures to come. And indeed, the first thing the gang plans on is robbing a castle, and who doesn’t love a good heist subplot? There’s even a ball scene sneaked in that’s actually plot relevant!

Alk keeps boasting about his prowess in bed and how many women he had slept with, but he’s also completely indifferent to flirting and signs of affection, even when girls are literally throwing themselves at him, and he’s surprised when Zhar asks him if Alk slept with a female assassin when he had a chance to. I can’t help but headcannon Alk as an asexual who’s overcompensating by bragging to sound more ‘manly’.

Even though Ryska used to dream of marrying someone (doesn’t matter whom) and have a family of her own, she is baffled and confused when Siva actually tries to woo her. Because what Ryska really wanted is a place to call her own where she would be loved and accepted, and now that she set up a household with Zhar and Alk, she realized that she doesn’t need a man to make her happy.

Even though he’d rather die than admit it, Alk is terrified of losing his mind to the rat that grows stronger the longer he’s forced to share the body with it. And yet, when his mentor offers a solution that saves him but puts Ryska under the blow, Alk refuses without hesitation. He may pretend to be a cynical and self-serving, but there’s no use for him pretending that Ryska doesn’t mean anything to him.

I like Siva’s addition to the team – it’s an interesting development when the character that started out as a chaotic trouble-maker turns out to be a decent guy, and it allows us an outside look at the trio and their dynamic. Like, here’s this super soldier who can kick your butt with nothing but a towel, a priest who keeps insulting him, and a tiny girl who bosses them both, and they all go zombie-hunting for fun.

For the first time in the story, the heroes are not running away from something or to somewhere, and so they decided to stop wandering and settle down – because that’s what Ryska had always wanted, and Zhar and Alk are sticking with her. So we have a chapter after chapter of domestic routine, and I’m in for it because I love the heroes and their interactions so much – it’s either hilarious or really heartfelt.

And the death of a royal messenger is brought up again – a plot point that hadn’t been touched since halfway into the first book. I completely forgot about it, so much had happened! Now it looks that the bigger game is afoot than our heroes’ misfortunes. I guess the subplot of the peasants from Ryska’s village being drafted for state work is connected to it, cause otherwise it’s rather distracting and even annoying.