cait > Recent Status Updates

how educated most geiko must’ve been as they studied all the different customers they planned to entertain from music to politics to literature etc.

The purity and cleansing of japanese culture has always intrigued me. I find it interesting the men aren’t allowed in the okiya. The way Mineko writes this, you can hear her tone of irritation around the misconceptions that geisha/geiko “entertain” men at their abodes.

Shutting down the geisha districts during the war is an interesting topic between Iwasaki & Golden’s books. Mineko’s family is well off and wouldn’t have suffered as hard but I’m curious of the people who didn’t have money or family to return to. Factory life must’ve been miserable but Iwasaki family didn’t have to experience it.

I love the gender swap here with babies being born in the okiya. They prized girls and shunned men for the same reason it happens vice versa, for heirs. Men need boys to carry on their name in the same way these women need girls to carry on their business.

Another Arthur Golden misstep. The baron is mentioned here as a person Mineko has heard of sponsoring a geiko but sexual favors are not expected. They may happen naturally but it’s not the way dhanna were described in Memoirs of a Geisha. I have to wonder whether Iwasaki is covering things up. She is the first woman in 300 years to speak of this because they were barred from it, maybe she’s not entirely honest.

So her parents are visiting and giving her gifts but she speaks about how Yaeko calls them “baby sellers.” Interesting because Yaeko is being painted as a villain and vicious by Mineko but is she hiding something. She hasn’t specifically said how old her sisters were or whether they were sold into it. Are all of these children being sold into this and was Mineko the child Yaeko is speaking?

I don’t know how I feel about Mineko suckling her sister and the auntie of the okiya’s breasts to fall asleep. Especially at five years old.

Yaeko IS the mother of the boys she dropped off at Mineko’s house.

After the first visit at the okiya is described in detail Iwasaki uses a sentence to describe that she kept visiting for longer periods of time until she stayed. Yet after her first visit she says she never wanted to return. She’s so young but “chose” to live there. It’s glazed by so quickly I’m curious if that’s really true.

Mineko is only three at this point but writes herself speaking so eloquently, has such a rich memory of this time, and is taking a dog for a walk by herself. It feels unbelievable unless she was a violent overachiever.

I am guessing this angry woman is one of the sisters possibly Yaeko.

yikes yikes yikes! r word jumpscare!

I’ve found the first example of how deep Arthur Golden’s broken promises were. He named the man who helped sell Chiyo to the okiya after Iwasaki’s father Mr. Tanaka.

I’m curious how exactly Mineko leaves because she’s already stated it was her own choice. Her father has already sent three of her sisters to them, which is most likely why Golden named his fictional character after him.

“Because I am going to marry you,” he promised her. “One day. I am going to marry you.” I AM SOBBING!! i was so scared we’d lose rowan or lysandra here!! that sea dragon/sea wyvern fight was AMAZING!!!!

SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!! i was sobbing reading those lines before but damn maas that was absurdly well done!! i was already mourning asterin and accepted and understood it. “bring my body back to the cabin,” and talking about her wyverns loss. the way they saluted manon as witch queen. the witch storyline is the absolute best of this whole story not sorry.

yrene using the tricks celaena taught her years ago to save her ass in the library was chefs kiss. i loved that detail of, i assume a valg demon, running their hand along the books as they followed yrene. sooo creepy. i can’t wait for yrene to discover that her helpful stranger is actually the queen of terrasen. it’s so fun for the reader to see yrene & chaol interact knowing they both know celaena/aelin.

maas has been teasing manon and her thirteen’s separation from erawan & the “dark side” of this war, possibly joining aelin & their cause. ESPECIALLY after asterin’s story of love and loss 😫 but this moment is sure proof, manon has been feeling things that she can’t comprehend and maas has been leaving us breadcrumbs, manon will NOT let asterin be murdered for retaliation. i know that in my soul.

one of my friends said this and it rings so true but DAMN do i need a family tree to keep up. i was already struggling with adarlan’s lore and now we have the khagan and his children & their lovers on the southern continent. if anybody sees this and has an in-depth resource of a family tree please please please send that our way.

i fear that maas may drop chaol and nesryns love story like she has so many times before with others in this series. idk sartaq & nesryns interaction made me feel some type of way. i am entirely down for switched up romances but i don’t feel like maas effectively ends the previous one before she starts another. THATS MY OPINION!!

thank the gods yrene towers was not forgotten!! i would’ve abandoned maas if we never saw her again

writing this down for myself because this lineage is so confusing. brannon was a fae king and founder of terrasen who originally lived in wendlyn and fought the valg with maeve. he is fae princess elena’s father and elena’s partner is gavin. i always get gavin and brannon confused. aelin is described as brannon’s heir

the little folk leaving gifts for them is adorable! rowan’s hawk, a crown for evangeline 🥰 such a great small detail but also proof that they claim aelin 😢 lysandra chillen’ as a ghost leopard is baller its feels like fleetfoot has a buddy. ROWAN 🥵 “i’m not taking you up against a tree for our first time” DAMN I WISH YOU WOULD but this page makes me nervous! MAAS YOU BETTER NOT KILL HIM

would not have guessed we’d start with an elide/lorcan crossover, very interesting. protect that wyrdkey miss elide!!

FLEEEEETFOOOOOT!!! missed u girl 🥹🥹 i wish she was more of celaena’s right hand gal but she’s just another character that Maas used for a second and doesn’t know what to do with anymore.

i am looking at these last hundred pages with agony and rage. i just know there is a combination of words in there detailing sam’s death and i can’t do it! celaena’s first kiss, first love, first real human connection since she lost her family. i want sam for her more than i want chaol. cmon they made it! they’re in her apartment, they’re free! don’t do this to me maas pleeeaaasse

“you look handsome” 🥺😭😭 i really like how this book is structured. separated into novellas but still follows a linear plot. i’m gonna say ansel is 100000000% the red-haired queen of the wastes. i really hope that that plot line doesn’t get dropped because i would love to see her interact with manon or see celaena again or both tbh! i missed your sorry ass too sam!! 😭😭

someone stop me! sam & celaena rant continued: her emotional feelings take hold when sam’s “acting” causes him to wrap an arm around her waist 🥵 possibly the first time she’s been touched that way and man does it affect her. almost losing him caused her to realize that she does care for sam as more than an ally. i know he does die, but i hope to see a decent amount of these two together before that.

still not done!! sam and celaena’s romance is being set up a billion times better than her and dorian’s and her and chaol’s (it hurts me to say this, i love chaol 😣) it feels more natural, less forced. her trust and respect grew for him when he helped free the slaves. they share a sense of loss and vengeance that make them similar and opens up opportunity for connection.

i have more to say goodreads! besides my theory of ansel, i am curious if other new side characters mentioned in this book will resurface in the main story. will we see dia again in aelin’s journey to fulfill her promise to nehemia and eyllwe? will yrene return as a trained gifted healer instrumental in helping aelin? maas’ character work in this book is the best yet!

the story of the witch wars always felt somewhat murky to me so i’m ecstatic to hear ansel clearly define what happened. i adored manon and her piece in heir of fire. the witch storyline has been the most unique and worthwhile imo. also is ansel the current mortal red-haired queen of the wastes??👀 we’re getting some viscous vibes and foreshadowing of potential future plans from her.

oh man did i miss celaena sardothien our merciless assassin with little to no hope for her future. i really enjoy these simpler days where she isn’t yet expected to save her world. i do like these little breadcrumb stories that show us she still has fight in her spirit even as she submits (mostly) to a harsh master. she was always going to be our hero, this solidifies her rebellious nature and ethical conscience.