Anna’s Reviews > The Skull Throne > Status Update

I can see perfectly well why Jessa wanted to punish Duke Rhinebeck, but my question is, why did she settle on making him sterile? Why not drug him into impotence as well, so that he wouldn’t have an opportunity to harm any more women? Jessa’s reasons for revenge were utterly personal, but her actions were that of a politician, not an avenger.

Ever since the flashback chapters about the training of Sharum’ting, I wondered about Sikvah, as she also trained with Enkido, but seemed to be anything but a warrior, taking on the servant’s role instead. Now the story gives us the answer to that, and in the most spectacular fashion, too! We also get an insight into Sikvah as a character whereas she was nothing but a silent shadow before, and I appreciate that.

I never expected to root so much for Gared and Rosal as a couple, since they barely met before Gared fell head over heels for her and that Rosal is not such a sweet and nice girl as she may seem, knowing how to present an appealing facade. But she is also smart and confident, and it’s hilarious to watch the huge and rough Gared follow her like a lovesick puppy, so I’m getting a kick out of their interactions.

“Well not here,” Jizell said. “Men can’t be expected to keep to their wives when there’s a brothel in every part of town. You can blame the drunk for pissing on your doorstep, but it’s the bartender who put the drink in their hand.”

Oh, please do tell me how vile prostitutes grab poor innocent men on the streets and drag them kicking and screaming into the brothels.

I expected the trip to Angiers to be less than exciting, but it turns out that the politics there are as full of intrigues and backstabbing as those in Krasia, even if the nobles of Angiers play their games during banquets and balls and prefer to remove their opponents with subterfuge and deception instead of facing the enemies with weapons in their hands as Krasians do.

I love how the story finally gives us more strong women in Thesa. While Leesha is a powerful character, and there are Wonda and other fighting women in the Hollow, women are mostly submissive in the rest of Thesa. But we meet Captain Dehlia and Dockmaster Isa from Lakton (it appears that Lakton is far ahead in female equality), and Princess Lorain from Miln, and Duchess Araine is the one holding power in Angiers.

I love how the focus is brought to Rojer, making him a more complex character than he appeared before. I was too used to viewing Rojer as the light-hearted and free-spirited prodigy, not realizing that it was just the mask for him to put on, the role to perform. And behind the mask, Rojer is haunted by the sacrifices his loved ones did to save him and is terrified of losing his new family.

It had been so long since Jasin Goldentone appeared that I completely forgot his role in Rojer’s life and even who he was to begin with! Honestly, I believed that we would never see Jasin again, but now it seems that Rojer’s reckoning with Goldentone is going to be a large part of his personal arc.

Poor Leesha, I may not approve of her past choices, but she doesn’t deserve to go through so much pain and heartbreak. She began to have feelings for Arlen, but he distanced himself because of his powers. She was desired by Jardir, but it couldn’t last because of the war he waged. And when Leesha finally found a man in Thamos whom she could love and be loved in return, her past mistakes drive a crack between them.

It’s still strange for me to see the Hollow as a county with dozens of baronies and so much powers that Angiers has to account for it instead of a small hamlet from the very beginning of the first book. But I can’t deny how much the characters had grown. Leesha had always been a strong leader figure for her people, but now we see Erny as a master of a wardcraft guild, and Gared became a reasonable leader as well.