How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (The Siege, #2)

by K.J. Parker

what the people want is something that looks at first sight like real life, but which actually turns out to be a fairy tale with virtue triumphant, evil utterly vanquished, a positive, uplifting message, a gutsy, kick-ass female lead and, if at all possible, unicorns.

Act 2 is always a grind. With the exception of Acts 1 and 3, it’s the hardest part of your standard three-act play.

There’s also a very specific way of doing things, designed to stop things getting done. Nothing wrong with that, since ninety-two out of every hundred things done by any government will turn out to be counterproductive and just plain stupid, but you can take checks and balances too far.

“You do read a lot of books,” she said. “Full of good ideas, some of them.”

Another thing we do in the theatre; we wait till the very last moment. “Not entirely,” I said.