Regina > Recent Status Updates

One thing to realize you don't love your spouse that much anymore and quite another to fuck over the whole country with your separation ... like, I get it's possible but it also feels like plot twist for the sake of plot twist, especially because Kaede has so little POV in this book

One is quick to underrate Akio because he has no magical tribe skills but he is very good at neutralizing tribe skills (like a dark mirror to Takeo). Yet it still must've sucked for Akio because what is the point of being able to fight against tribe skills if you serve the tribe?

The Kikuta are always "but Takeo killed Kotaro!" Yeah, because Kotaro immediately plotted Takeo's death although Takeo joined Kotaro willingly (after Kotaro abducted him). What loyalty was Takeo supposed to owe him after that?? Does the tribe shrug off any abuse and fatal punishments as rough upbringing?

Although Takeo not bringing Hisao in because he believed in the prophecy might've enabled him to do things he wouldn't have done if he feared every day Hisao might accidently (or intentionally) kill him ... Hisao was the cost of his government reforms

Not only do I like the cover, it also promises fall vibes that are delivered! Perfect for sapphic september, and I almost didn't read it right now ;-) I'm lucky

I'm impressed how Takeo's personal failing prepare the tragedy after all. I so underrated this book! And that it's the villains who point this out as in "even the bad guys know how miserable Hisao is, Takeo that loser"? This villain POV chapter is very enlightening

I stand corrected again: If Takeo loved Hisao unconditionally as I wrote, he would've taken him away from Akio. Maybe he has no idea how violently Akio abuses Hisao but Takeo fails to do this because he WANTS to avoid problems to arrive if Hisao was close to him AND his avoidance bites him in the ass anyway.

I stand corrected: Maya is sapphic indeed! I must've forgotten since her story arc is so frustrating (and she's a brat). Now that lifts my respect for Lian Hearn (though I still wish Miki was sapphic too in the Sunaomi duology, or that character there was left aro-ace without falling in love in that super weird way that sounds like ghost possession)

Miki should be lesbian, what a wasted chance here and in the Sunaomi duology. Yes, she says her twin sister is her true love but what if she confuses the connection to her sister (no incest) with attraction she feels to women and girls in general?? I mean, Lian Hearn has queer men in all of her books, so the sapphic women and girls shouldn't be missing.

The twins's fate is so intriguing. Where else are princesses with sinister inherited assassin-spy ninja powers they have to hide and pretend to be noble ladies while people revile them for being twins anyway? Or that Takeo still uses his tribe skills to sneak out to engage with commoners? No surprise the twins wish to do the same.

"'If Shigeko is the sole woman ruler, she will have to become like a man. If other women are in positions of power, we may see change flow throughout the Three Countries.'" - Takeo says as he supports Shizuka as head of the Muto family. He still is and always was the OG feminist king. Never forget how hot he finds Kaede as his girlboss wife

Sunaomi seems such a rando in this book but it's rewarding to reread and know how charismatic he is in his own duology. I wonder if he will see ghosts already in this book.

So sad that Takeo would love his son Hisao unconditionally yet they don't meet while Hisao's life is total misery. Intriguing too that the twins are called bringers of misfortune while it's Hisao's whose existence makes so many people unhappy, including himself.

"His aim was to make the country so secure that a girl child could rule it" - Acknowledgment that Shigeko is a spoilt naive child and not cunning enough for governing? Okay, she knows hard work and discipline but more for spiritual matters

So it'll be read in german since that's the edition I got first but maybe that's for the better when it comes to the nautical terms I struggle with and avoid pirate books for. So far there's little in that vein and it's super engaging and readable <3

I wonder if they get fake married because in case they (hopefully) fuck at some point, the author wants to avoid sex before marriage ...? Some authors seem really concerned about this, like Rebecca Ross

I just HATE it when in gay romances the love interests are refered to as "the other man/woman". It destroys the emotional connection and sounds stale. "Nate was captivating, and Michael wanted every minute that he could spent with the other man." / "He should mention it to Jacob in a way that wouldn't offend the other man". And in both of these examples, there's absolutely zero reason why it can't just say HIM.

Last year I was in a rush to buy the hardback for 31 € and then I didn't manage to read it because I assumed this was slow and demanding to read. Now the paperback for 13 € is out and it reads smooth and fast >_< Well, I couldn't have known the paperback would be out within a year, I guess ...

"Corayne remembered Erida, resplendent in velvet and emeralds, hair coiled to complex perfection, a heavy golden crown across her brow. She smiled, charming even as she lied, manipulative as she was beautiful. Erida was a burning candle, throwing off a deceptive warmth, her sapphire eyes holding every promise of the world." - Corayne, it's gay to think of your arch enemy like this. She's so lesbian without realizing

To conclude pride month ^^

"A unicorn must be tempted, brought near, and then undone by the maiden. That was the part he did not quite understand, the part he did not know how to fit within the great ritual of the hunt." - Ooooh, the great veteran general does not understand or just see the non-violent power of girls. Typical. He dismisses and belittles anything feminine. And the duchess plays right into it & uses THAT to her advantage.

Took over a third of the book, now finally something happens

Of course this book is PERFECT for Walpulgis night but it's always disappointing when even german authors are like "these witches descend from the condemned at Salem" as if those were firstly, actual witches with magic, and secondly, Germany doesn't have its own dark and widespread history of witch trials. Witch trials happened in many small and bigger towns RIGHT HERE, not only at Salem!

Another prime example of younger sibling used exclusively as motivation and plot device. The brother never does anything but create problems! Yet he is supposed to be a great sword fighter. When will he take part in a sword fight, let alone pick up the sword for showing off in defense?

We started with a scheming lady very close with another woman but now we're back to the violated damsel in distress saved by her man (and healed by dick) and in a feud with the other lady. All other women but the nursemaid are portrayed negatively too :-/ including the sapphic hints (just hints ...! I want this to be really sapphic)

I've planned to read it this weekend and it becomes only more urgent with the developments regarding Collien Fernandes

Wulf is just accepted into the Priory not an intruder, he can tell his boyfriend about the Priory no problem, he can leave as he pleases taking a ichneumon to travel WHEN ALL THIS WAS DENIED TO SIYU AND HER BOYFRIEND MURDERED. And now Siyu accepts the gaslighting victimblaming brainwashing of the Priory cult and Wulf doesn't bat a eye to how the Priory abused Siyu. Does the author try to deny the evil done to Siyu???

Helena did WHAT?! In canon Iliad, she called out Aphrodite for abducting her and told her to be Paris's sex doll insteaad! A fucking goddess! Why did none of the retellings I read say how badassly sharpmouthed Helena is and instead made her selfish at best and slutty or evil at worst? And she was also worshipped later in Sparta as in FORGIVEN by Menelaos and her people

Still no fucking and better for it (compared to Priest). The attraction and horniness is so obvious the author has to use the build-up to sex to the fullest

We get a little POV switches into the other characters to see more of them, yay! But Auden still bears no appeal to me. We should like and be sorry for him but I don't feel it. He's a entitled rich boy who's also supposed to a dom in bed but that doesn't make him hot to me. The opposite - he's so entitled he even needs submission from lovers to feel (more) powerful. Yikes. He can cry quietly in the corner.