julia rao’s Reviews > Ultimate The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds : A Novel > Status Update

“After all of that, I can’t distinguish the bud from the blossom” -Dean Highbottom

“He took immediate steps to mask his terror.” Everyone’s reaction to Arachne being stabbed says a lot. The horror makes so many freeze and divert their attention. Coriolanus thinks about how that reaction shows fear and he doesn’t want to be seen as weak for having fear, so he tries to be a hero and help. But not for Arachne’s sake, only for the sake of his image

“The endless dance with hunger has defined his life. Not the very early years, before the war, but every day since had been a battle, a negotiation, a game... It was all just a mind game go distract himself from the fact that it was never enough. No one would ever let him have enough”