jaylee > Recent Status Updates

Ooh things are heating up! I think I know who regal’s spy is, if not his assassin. I think I know what happened to the coteries and the older generations too. But what really annoys me is everyone’s passivity/inaction, like things have been DIRE for so long and no one is DOING anything about any of it. Then again I suppose fitz is only a teenager, but still.

Well colour me intrigued! I thought it’d be Fitz going, not Verity, and not until the third book. A bit frustrated with Fitz’s inaction in this book tbh. Also wondering how the oarsman bit will fit in / become more important? But the plot is plotting, the political intrigue and all the little mysteries are just so darn captivating! But what has Chade been up to? And is Rosemary the spy? I’m over Molly tbh.

Phew I feel like so much more is happening in this book than in book one, which is great, bc it feels like the plot is plotting…and yet, objectively speaking I feel like there’s not actually that many “events” happening in this book lol. So odd that I feel like the pace has picked up so much and yet when I take a step back I’m like huh yeah still really not a lot going on here *shrugs*

I’m loving this so far. A lot more political maneuvering/intrigue/craftiness, which is not exactly the way I expected this story to go but is definitely keeping things interesting. And even better that it starts so much earlier on in this book (compared to the last book)

So far so good. Fitz is a bit too whiny and self-pitying at the start for my taste, but I suppose his feelings are quite justified lol and in any event he is just a teenager so I suppose it’s quite a realistic portrayal even if I found it a bit overdramatic

Well I loved that! Though I think a lot of people would be disappointed by the ending because the payoff is kinda small: it kinda feels like everything is just undone and there were no real consequences? This definitely feels like a set up book, with little plot of its own. But it does give us very well developed characters; I’m surprised I liked it bc I generally prefer plot-driven over character-driven books

We started to get a little bit more plot in the last 100 or so pages but it’s more like little hints or mysteries just laying some groundwork for what I assume will be the main conflict of the trilogy (not necessarily the main conflict of this book). So it’s still very slow paced but there’s enough little hints and mysteries of what’s to come to intrigue me and I’m thoroughly enjoying it

It’s definitely a slow-moving story but I’m still fully immersed in it

Love love loving this so far! The writing style slaps; it’s like an old, classic, semi-complicated writing style with this beautiful, lyrical flow that I am just eating up. It’s very immersive. But yeah the story so far is pretty bleak and depressing, though there’s no self-pity to it (at least not yet) which I really appreciate

Still not loving the second-person narration but happily it’s only in one of the 3 POVs we’ve gotten so far. Really took a much darker turn in the last 80 pages or so and it’s super uncomfortable - which is great, well done to the author. I like that we seem to have a POV at every age/stage: one in hiding, one young child new recruit, one mid-career looking to move up but just now realizing the horror of it all

The second-person narration is throwing me off a bit, but I’m intrigued enough by the world to get passed that. I’m also a bit confused about the world and the magic at this point though. I also feel like this book needs a glossary.

Finally the plot has begun plotting in the last 80-100 pages or so. Which to me begs the question, were the first 400+ pages of this book really necessary? Anyway, hopefully things keep picking up from here bc this book has been incredibly slow-paced and I wasn’t really vibing with that