Status Updates From Die Verräterin (Das Imperiu...

The March was successful though. They showed strength across the duchies and hope to the commoners. And then they march to treatymont.

The death of Muire Lo is Baru’s first emotional moment. Seeing her racked with grief at her hand in bringing about his death by keeping him in the dark about the plot is great emotional connection with this character. But it does seem to have driven her to madness. To march in winter for aggrandizement to the peoples. Tain Hu, clearly shallow, joined her. Then sickness started killing the men in the march. Sigh.

Baru, as military tactician, has been extremely skilled & adept in understanding & predicting the actions of both the vessels of empire & the duchies in Aurdwynn. Where luck has not been on her side (the failed rebellion in Treatymont) she has managed to outsmart it with cunning & thinking. She truly is a savant. As we enter the final third of the book, I’d like to see her skills come up against a true barrier.

A lot has happened in this part in furtherance of the rebellion, culminating in Baru openly declaring herself as leader of the plot. But these activities have been neither emotionally engaging nor particularly action-filled. They were somewhat thrilling but they suffered from having too many characters with no personality. The failure of the rebellion to catch in Aurdwynn is likely the most significant event.

Okay. Baru is a comedian. Why she confessing her desire for women here?? Joker.

They want her to be Queen to unite the various factions of the rebellion??? These people are outta their fucking minds!!

Lol. Lyxaxu and Oathsfire are part of the sedition plot? Lolol. Aurdwynn truly cannot be ruled.

My wonder - how will this section end? What will be the point of this change of tack? Farrier and his colleagues still have an important hand to play in this. The empire still looms large and imposing and it is usually a fool’s errand to think you can master it best it.

Running toward the end of the first half and this second part is a bunch of political machinations. Baru has switched sides because of the effect of her inflationary gamble to her reputation in Falcrest and with Parliament. She’s decided she can’t destroy from within so she’ll join the revolution like Ffare Tanifel and destroy it from without. Tain Hu has come onside of her plan and is her only ducal ally.

Plot is slow moving, but Dickinson writes so well, it’s easy to continue reading even when NOTHING is happening.

Chapter 11 was so filler. Lol.

We are yet to see whether Baru’s masculine coding is a limitation of the author’s imagination or one of the central things his novel is trying to interrogate. We wait and see.

When I read political dystopian novels written by women about revolutionary women, it’s always about organizing and building a rebellion from the ground up. Much like Tain Hu. Baru is a male character written as a woman by a male author and it shows. And because of her ultimately male-driven goals, she’s emotionally stunted. We do see emotion. But it’s mostly from other women in the book.

An important thing to note. It’s very male centric to think a protagonist can destroy empire by wielding the power of empire. This is never really the case (from a female centered perspective) but it makes sense for men who have been socialized as authority figures within the existing structure to believe that fixing what is broken is done by seizing power.

Part 1 over. Rebellion spared by acts of financial ingenuity (inflating the fiat currency to bankrupt Tain Hu). Baru has won the 1st round. But she’s revealed her goals to Tain Hu. And we’re still only 1/3 of the way in. Tain Hu spared her where she had Su Olonori (former imperial accountant) killed. Ostensibly because Baru’s machinations are a temporary stop on the inevitable march to rebellion. We wait & see.

So Tain Hu is clear a revolutionary. Building a rebellion base by selling her land to her people and having her spies in the Accountant’s office print her fiat notes?

“I don’t even remember how I was before I went into that school. I don’t even remember being allowed to have feelings!”

Baru is like a disembodied mind, constantly assessing and calculating. The most emotion we see in her is with her parents, who are themselves very emotive. This acknowledgment highlights the effect of empire on her emotional life.

Baru’s question at the end of her conversation with him is central to determining his role in this tale - who are you? Really?

At the end of the chapter, we’re reminded again about the centrality of hygiene to empire and the violent corrective solutions for deviation.

However her conversation with Farrier reveals the contradictions of empire. Who is and what is the role of the emperor vs. parliament especially in managing the affairs of far flung colonies? Farrier is clearly disdainful of both but he is partial to centralized power, maybe because of his role as governor in Taranoke. His riddles however provide no help to the mystery of why Baru has been appointed to this role.

Cap 5: The political theater is becoming claustrophobic and violent. We’ve seen that Empire intends to impose rule on this people by fostering their divisions and keeping them in distrust of one another. This division however is why this colony is difficult to rule. Baru wants to evoke power using the strength of the imperial navy as she resumes her post as imperial accountant.

Chap 4: the political intrigue is building. I do feel like Baru, a disinterest in this land full of scheming nobles. A violent empire was a better hook than conniving nobles in a distant colony. Of course, Baru has to prove herself here to be worth anything in the grand scheme of things. After 3 chapters of consequence, this feels like the weakest of the lot full of political theater. I’m still invested though.

“Tanifel, native-born, had gone over to the brewing rebellion, and the Masquerade had killed her for it. And then Olonori (an Oriati name, he would have been a foreigner and harder to corrupt) had refused to go over, and the rebels had killed him in turn.”

One intrigue solved. New question - why is Falcrest bent on using people not from Falcrest as imperial accountants in Aurdwynn?

At the end of chapter 3, I’m intrigued by why an 18 year old indigenous girl from a recently colonized land is being sent to represent the empire as its central banker in its most politically unstable colony. Aurdwynn’s Governor and Jurispotence are clearly such scheming animals, it feels like Baru is being set up not just to fail but to be eaten alive. The good thing is she clearly sees this.

“The Masquerade had taught her all the names of sin. But her parents taught her first.
And she knew in her heart, in the habits of her eyes and thoughts, what she was”

Uh oh. Lesbian on aisle 1!

Aw Jesus. She’s supposed to restrain rebellion using imperial purse strings?? Who the fok is she??

Why is an 18 year old the central banker representing empire at an imperial colony?? The fuck is going on??

“If the Masquerade could not be stopped by spear or treaty, she would change it from within.”

Aww Jesus. What ambitious goals we have here little girl.

“If she got to Falcrest, if she learned the mechanisms of power, surely she could save more than just one Taranoki girl. No matter how clever and brave Lao was, no matter how dear.”

The folly of the savior complex and selling your morals for some glory down the road. Sigh.