Abigail > Recent Status Updates

“She was too old to be safe, but too young to know why.”

I hate this book. It broke my heart into a thousand pieces. I wept, I skipped because it was too hard then went back because it damned-well deserved the reading. It made me stoic and maudlin and horror-struck. I love this book. One of the best stories I have read, and so suited to my mind and soul. Galva and her precious corvids have my heart. I can’t wait to see how her story continues.

“Then she met my eye, I almost looked away, but then I did not. I had a right to look strangers in the eye with something besides violence in my heart.”

“I try to remember that I am not responsible for what others do, nor should I hold them in judgement. But this is a very hard things for me, especially when they are being bastards.”

“A thousand flatterers are not worth one person who is willing to wipe your ass.”

“Take it,” he said.
“No.”
“Gods gathered, why not?”
“I will fight harder knowing I have no escape.”

Lord but I love Galva’s fairness and strength.

“Though my mother would not die in the physical sense until the last months of this war, it seems to me that she had for some time lived only as a ghost.”

“As a Duke’s daughter, it had not occurred to me that the gods would smell differently to the poor.”

I loved The Blacktongue Thief!! My favorite was Galva so I think I will like this one even more!

This was my favorite Blackwood!!!

👀 I realize it was another time, I am not one of those people who want to erase history, but the racial slurs sprinkled here and there are every few pages.

I loved “The Willows” but did not care for “The Damned”, go figure. I am excited to finish my Blackwood obsession with “The Wendigo”. This particular lore and legend has always creeped me out. We’ll see how it goes with this haunted tale. Onward!

There were some things I didn’t appreciate about this book. It is REALLY difficult, though, to have high-fantasy without info-dumping or feeling like you’re reading about a D&D campaign. This was entertaining and had a lot of excellent one-liners lol. 4.5 for me but I’ll round it up because so much of it made me smile.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we charged the fucking giants.”

Enjoying this book immensely ☺️

This was an interesting adventure. I have so many questions about Sebastian and his “guest”. We shall see if a second one follows!

Gore. Lots of gore lol

“There’s nothing like the stars far out at sea, with no torch or lantern to argue their majesty with the

The story was creepy but man it seemed an eon to finish. Not my favorite but I’m still going to read one more. The Willows, to me, was much better.

“The garden was creepy.” There I said it for you. Holy hell! Just like in “The Turn of the Screw” it took 3 pages to say “He looked at her weird” which, as it happens, also takes place in a garden. Sheesh you’re making Victor Hugo look good 😒

Chapter 6 - This story reminds me heavily of “The Haunting of Hill House”. (Which is wildly different than the show). The book did (as does this one) a very good job of inferring a feeling of wrongness the characters feel, just beyond the conscious understanding. Instinct or perhaps, intuition. That 6th sense that we feel in the turn of our gut or the hair lifting on our arms.

“We understand in others only what we have in our ourselves.” ❤️
I have often understood this notion without the clear succinctness of this sentence.

My first Blackwood was “The Willows”—I really enjoyed it. I am excited to return to another of this author’s stories. Onward!

I will have to take another go at this at some point. It’s been too long now. And I had just gotten to the murder 🙄 halfway through the book.

Great fun and very creative. Can’t wait for the next one!

“Ours is not to question why—“ The Call of the Light Brigade

“‘That is horrifying and I want to go home,’ I said, although I pronounced it, ‘Ah, I see.’”

I love this series! Something spooky in a mine. 👀 Onward!

“Have you never shaken a girl awake before?”
“Not without consequences.”
😆