Pragathi Ram > Recent Status Updates

Part two of this book is just insanely gay for no reason but like I’m not complaining

As I keep reading it’s becoming funnier and funnier and it’s such an interesting choice to make when we know the absolute tragedy and horror about the ensue

Elinor is pissing me off rn cause she’s supposed to be the smart one… like you don’t blame Edward when he’s not even the one who told you about his engagement and you had to hear about it from his freaking fiancée

…but you blame Willoughby for writing to Marianne to tell her about his prior engagement?

Like I don’t like either of these men rn but Elinor’s being such a hypocrite

I missed you Jane Austen

Two sister, alike only in their family lineage, but so far different in nature

I think Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are perfect examples of Austen’s natural inclination towards representing siblings; her elder sisters are often reserved, smart, and sensible; her younger sisters are expressive and gullible

“I may be old, I may be poor, I may be black, but I’m here. I’m here because I’ve got this vision of justice that compels me to be a witness. I’m here because I’m supposed to be here. I’m here because you can’t keep me away.”

Love reading this, it’s like learning directly from a lawyer as a mentor

That translation scene was so interesting, it’s intriguing how we always seem to bring animosity into our diplomacy

Good Stab and Arthur’s interactions getting gay and I don’t want them to be but it’s written so there’s no other way to interpret it… but… some cooler quotes I found:
“You can’t stop a country from happening, Good Stab.”
“But we were already a nation.”

“This, I believe, is the story of America, told in a forgotten church in the hinterlands, with a choice of the dead mutely witnessing.”

“I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
“I thought it was a blanket for all you Americans to hide under… it flies above every camp of dead Indians. I will always pull them down. You put your reminders of pain on the wall and pray to them. We still hurt, so we don’t need that reminder.”
“We never called this place ours like that, though. But to didn’t mean it was yours.”

Good Stab’s accounts are so interesting, it’s like deciphering a new language but it’s all in English?

Arthur is so freaking awful and feels so superior to Good Stab but like he also clearly doesn’t take his pastor duties as seriously as he should and it’s actually kinda funny?

Also what did Mrs Baker put in that damn cake Arthur cannot shut up about it

Soooo the king is gonna try to kill Fanli, the king is gonna murder that man and it will be all Xishi’s fault

Still I’m actually really enjoying Xishi’s time in the palace more than I anticipated, the subtle details of court life and influence are so fun to read but it’s also not so complicated I can’t follow along

Although I have no idea how our girl is coming back from this

Whoa this moves fast, somehow I’m already 200 pages from the end

So I’m finally catching the drift that this is a doomed love story and I don’t think I’m prepared to cry at the end of this especially cause it’s gonna go by so fast

That being said, I still need time for the love story to develop between Xishi and Fanli, the first 100 pages doesn’t feel like enough even tho it is 1/3 of the book

I’m going to get through this one so quickly I’m eating up this writing style like always

I rarely ever read about a woman yearning after the main guy, but Xishi’s yearn is actually soooo good

“I imagined myself tracing those jagged lines with my fingertips, pressing my lips to the wounds. Would he flinch away from me? Or would he break his own rules and let me stay?”

I feel for Henry, I really do
But his curse and hers are not at the same magnitude
They’re both living a life as nothing but at least Henry can be seen and acknowledged, at least he didn’t have to abandon his home and watch all his loved ones fade away while he stayed
Really unsure about this book ending cause I really don’t want this to be their love story I don’t feel it

Expected the writing to be superfluous but it’s actually really simple so I think the relationships in this book are the really crucial parts of this story

I’m excited to start learning more about the characters in each of these portraits

Ok I don’t mind Henry, there’s nothing wrong with him, the problems that he has with other people are definitely relatable, I also now understand the deal he made with Luc…

But now I’m bored, I don’t need an entire recount of him figuring out his curse cause honestly it doesn’t seem like so much of a curse compared to Addie literally unable to live a fucking normal life

Can we get back to the history?

Kinda halfway through?
Something is seriously up with Henry, he’s like the opposite of Addie, everyone remembers him even if they’ve never met him basically
Still not sure if the point of their relationship is to be a love story because I would have liked it to be more drawn out than it is, so I’m thinking Henry’s there to help Addie better understand the scope of her curse, Luc’s definitely behind this

Henry vs Luc

“Because she must face another year alone, a year without hearing her name, without seeing herself reflected in anyone’s eyes,”

“Goodnight, Addie”

“Three hundred years, and no one has said those words, no one has ever, ever remembered.”

I fear VE Schwab just made the perfect man

Henry is a used bookstore owner, looks exactly like Addie’s dream guy she’s been drawing since she was a child, and he owns a cat named Book (no points for creativity there but STILL)

It’s also poetic that with Addie’s memory, stories are the only things she can hold onto even though she can’t tell her own

Finally FINALLY starting this book!

The pacing is much quicker than I anticipated and we get the main conflict in our character, Addie, right away
She grew up wanting to leave, wanting to experience more than her given life and circumstances could provide so she makes a deal to free herself to do just that but bears the consequences of that deal

Curious to see if Luc the darkness is the love interest or not

“He should know better than to share his smiles with me. I should know better than to crave them.”

Sylvia walking through the world she would have inhabited as Essiya is awakening a new sense of injustice in her

I also suppose she is older now and more equipped, especially with Arin, to fight for justice for her people than as a child

Smiling and laughing oh my Arin don’t you think you’re getting a little close to a Jasadi?

So it turns out literally everyone, even other Jasadis, want Sylvia dead except for Arin so I’m honestly yeah stay by him even though he’s falling very deeply in love with you

“Arin had won my trust—albeit after throwing several daggers into my limbs—and trust was not a resource I carried in duplicate.”

Arin finds Sylvia so damn exhausting that it’s cute I can tell, he’s pushing her just to see what she’ll do next, to test himself and see if he can predict her next move, see if he can rattle her and create a manual in his head about how to handle her but every time he tries he just realizes that he has a lot more to learn about her

The Mufsids have miscalculated terribly

“I am a weapon for the Heir, and you will treat me with the dignity you afford a sword, if not a person. You are not meant to wield me.” This plan is maybe not stupid given what Sylvia wants but I am sure she’s gonna grow to realize she wants justice for all Jasadis

The enemies vibe is wonderful, Arin is strategic and calculated and Sylvia is not and yet she’s part of his strategy anyway

I think these rebels know she’s the Heir, or that the Heir is still alive and that’s why they’re ‘hunting’ her

Arin’s plan might actually backfire cause he’s gonna show the Jasadis that the Heir is still alive and well and strong enough to survive the Alcalah which will motivate them to overthrow him and his kingdom

Loving how annoying Sylvia is gonna be now cause they won’t kill her

“This man is going to kill you. If not today, then someday soon.” Hell yeah he will

I like the interactions between our two main characters, Arin and Sylvia, and I’m excited to see how the love story develops

Right now it seems like Arin’s more knowing and secretive than Sylvia so I’m also interested to see how he doesn’t know about her being the heir and how that dynamic will play out

This might sound stupid but even though she’s actively killing people, I’m still waiting for something to happen…
Like where’s the other Heir? I know he’s coming but I’m very impatient for the enemies to lovers to start
Also Marek and Sefa definitely were sent to protect Sylvia when she sought refuge in Mahair
The book really has you dive into the world with no context though so I’m confused often

I like how stock market-y their plans are
I’m betting Wylan getting captured and confessing is part of Kaz’s plan… why else would he put the two people he absolutely needs to keep hidden in such an obvious spot??

Nina is a badass as always: “I hope he didn’t cross Kaz Brekker… Only a fool would.”
WYLAN IS FATHER APPROVED

“She had helped him. And she’d nearly destroyed him. Maybe he should let her finish the job.”
“His mind took in the shell of her ear, the hair tucked behind it, that rapid pulse fluttering in her throat. Alive, alive, alive.”
“Two of the deadliest people the Barrel had to offer and they could barely touch each other without both of them keeling over. But they’d tried.”
Kaz and Inej, my loves ❤️

DAMN did not think things could get any more dire AND THEN THEY DID

Kaz slipping up with Jesper and calling him Jordie… his trust issues are showing and they do not look great on him

Now the crew is well and truly “cooked” in Jesper’s words as literally all of the merchant council, the police force, and all the gangs want them dead

Halfway through already???
See I know something tragic is gonna happen by the end of this bc how could it not but I’m so invested
My favorite parts of this book remain the crew’s interactions, despite the tomb becoming “crowded” I love how they move around each other
I love Kaz’s plans and how all their voices assemble to make this such a special found family as we slowly learn their backstories

WYLANNNNNN

“My things, my flute.” THIS SWEET LIL BOYYY

Did you come for my money? I don’t have any money.”
Wylan: “I don’t either.”

“This isn’t a church, Wylan. It’s an asylum.”