Status Updates From The Tyrant (The Masquerade,...

All in all this has been a great and immersive trilogy of books. Great work Mr. Dickinson.

That final chapter was random. Otherwise, Dickinson ended book 3 on a settled note of personal peace with Baru while leaving many strands unsettled. Im not bullish that we’ll get a book 4 but I think Book 3 puts some personal closure on the Farrier and Hesychast methods. Both have clearly failed. But there’s effects to resolve. With Baru as Emperor, living in Falcrest, there’s political machinations to unearth.

So Baru is the masked emperor??

Final 7% is still over an hour of listening time.

Wait. YAWA LOBOTOMIZED BARU?!?!!!!

I really prefer Baru with Ulyu Xe. She allows Baru be free to be herself. She needs less sexual and emotional angst and more freedom. She’ll thrive in an open relationship with Xe.

Aminata is literally the only earnest person in this story.

Wait. Kindalana had a child in Falcrest? That no one in the Mbo knows about?? A Falcresti child? Or a child of Abdumasi? She was a teenager! Who fathered the child?

She’s negotiating with a madwoman. The Brain is INSANE! And this is good because we’re seeing bribery at her economic games. In Aurdwynn she succeeded because the people believed. Now, she’s dealing with a crazy. How do you win economic warfare when you’re trying to negotiate with a cult worshipper? Interesting.

The Cancrioth cult is full of crazy superstition. Their power and relevance will be in whether Baru can manipulate them to her aims. I'm not sure how possible that is, without her dooming herself to taking the cancer. Is her death worth her purpose? I'm not sure. That makes her a messiah and implies that after all her travails since, she is no different than Traitor Baru Cormorant.

I'm afraid Baru is going to take the Cancrioth, which is gross.

This family reunion was such a rich, beautiful and important scene. I’m rooting for Baru and her Taranoki family.

Iscend is going to turn Baru into a rabid horny mess. My eternal sympathies.

Dickinson is setting Tain Hu's relationship with Baru in contrast with Iscend's relationship with Baru, I believe. With her other women, there was immediate gratification. These relationships are the ones where there is challenge and intrigue and a clear undertone of sexual desire. I guess I see why people are hoping for them to get together. She's likely the Tain Hu replacement.

What is Shao Lune's interest? Is she just a self-serving, manipulative, cunning bitch scheming her way through disorder? Does she have a higher plan or purpose? I'm slightly intrigued.

Baru in her Steve Harvey era. She gon act like a man, now she a man! My transgender queen 😂

Wait. Aminata slept with Cosgrad Torrinde/ Hesychast who disguised himself as Calcanish and who became very aroused at the thought of Kindalana?? What is going on?!?

Lol Dickinson is being smart by half by providing us with mathematical proofs in his text, knowing that the bulk of his readers have no knowledge of applied math and do not care about the equations he’s providing. Lolol. I’m tempted to check what the fuss is with Kimbune’s mathematical discovery 😂😂. But I’m not an asshole. It’s fiction! 😂😂

Wait. Is Muire Lo alive? Is he with the Stakhieczi king??

Fuck. Iscend is a badass bitch!

A breakdown of law and order breeds cranks and crooks. Case in point: Pranist.

Can we talk about how damaged Baru’s body is since Sieroch? The left side blindness, hole in her cheek from boat shrapnel, loss of two fingers to Tain Shir’s sword, slash on her back from the keelhaul, right eye injury from the attempted lobotomy! It’s not been a year since Sieroch and her body has been battered so much.

Yes, freedom is messy and complicated when dealing with a society and diverse people. But there’s too much hubristic chance in thinking you can build the perfect society under the perfect conditions.

I’m intrigued.

Here lies the battle of ideologies between Farrier and Torrinde: in building a master society- are its citizens bred genetically or are they’re trained through controlled thought?

This is an interesting question and I’m concerned that the problem with this question is the root itself. Maybe it’s not a question of thought manipulation vs genetic breeding.

What about freedom?

Chapter 12 was a masterpiece in battle action storytelling. All the action and all the emotions. Dickinson is a master at his craft.

Can we talk about how EXCELLENT Dickinson is at writing set pieces for war fighting?! Just a masterful narrator. It’s like watching a war scene! Throwback to the set pieces from the war in Aurdwynn from Traitor Baru Cormorant. Exquisite. Done again here in Kyprananoke between the vessels Sulane and Eternal and Ascentatic. What a wonderful storyteller! I’m so full of emotions!