More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
January 20 - February 12, 2021
I feel like this isn't a word, but the dictionary says it is.
bon mot
Honestly, you couldn't just say "a witty comment" or "a cutting remark"? This feels like a teenager who just discovered thesauri are a thing.
She also hadn’t walked it once in the last six months.
Ouch, that's gotta be hard.
God, she really likes fancy words ...
Brevity had always been the domain of women, by matter of necessity—less air to breathe, less room to speak.
Ugh, as a fellow woman I say, please stop. Women are incredibly powerful in the 21st century. We're equal, educated, and important. Please stop pretending like the Western world is still under the thumb of big bad men.
I feel like this should be "with polite sympathy".
How the fuck does this coat work? Does it hide his feathers at all? Because they constantly seem to be escaping.
executing a graceful turn that might have accidentally whacked Probity in the face with his elbow.
Heh.
Not even death stops the world from expecting a woman to take care of things.
UGH. Because men don't do anything, amiright?
A plastic imitation of the distinguished Library that Claire had known.
I feel so bad for her. Shut up, Claire. I'm sure it's beautiful, Brevity.
“Some kind of residue left over from the unwritten books we lost in the fire, yes.”
Ooh, *that's* intriguing.
Obviously, the ink of a hundred books has mixed and commingled until it doesn’t even know itself.
I wonder if this will loop back into Hero's story, having changed his own book, made his own fate? [Read's Note: I was right-ish.]
God, if I never have to see, or hear, or read this word again before I die, it'll be too soon.
then what really are stories made of? The repercussions . . .”
"then what are stories really made of?" I don't remember Claire's dialogue being this stiff before.
“Brevity will come around.
Because you're always right, and you have all the answers? Not loving her right now.
Rami had really intended not to ask.
"Rami hadn't really intended / meant to ask." Why are you doing this, author? Just write like a normal person.
Probity carried a small pot of balm in her hands like a peace offering.
Not sure I trust Probity yet, and boy do I miss Leto. This book isn't as good without him. I can *feel* the loss in the text.
I made you give it up.”
I just don't *trust* her. I hope I'm wrong.
And I’m here to help you change things.”
I'll bet you are.
“Hero is a character and a book.”
He's more than that, and she likely knows that. For someone who's been sent to help in a library, she sure doesn't seem to like books.
as close to family as Brevity had ever had.
[sings] Don't trust her, don't trust her, don't trust her. [/sings] Family has the ability to hurt you the most, Brevity. This is going to end badly. Probity is also linked to rightouesness and justice, which can be twisted and warped.
the smell like burnt flesh.
Welp, leather *is* made from cow skins, so it is.
The things she did, that she allowed to be done.
Because you want to be librarian? I'm not sure she's entirely a Muse. Definitely gettin' a demon or righteous angel vibe. Very Gabriel.
“We’re taught to think that small.
She is just not good news.
Sisters, sharing a secret daydream.
[sings] I feel like she's manipulating yoooou. [/sings]
“Oh, Hero! Over here.”
I was really hoping it was Leto.
Hero gave her an odd look.
Seriously, she *really* hates Claire.
She pinned Hero with a pitying look. “As a book you know that.”
There's a difference between being honest and being a bitch. She's crossed that several times now.
“Do I? Thank you for the reminder. But as assistant librarian,” Hero said through a sharp-toothed smile,
Fuck, yeah.
Hero?” Brevity interrupted,
Stop defending her, damn it!
“No, thank you,” Hero said while Probity accepted a cup.
The way this is formatted feels clunky. As though Probity is saying it first, before Hackwith clarifies and says it's Hero. I don't like when writers do this.
“And moving farther and farther away from his story.” Probity shook her head with a distant look in her eyes.
She doesn't like that, she doesn't like Hero, and she is trouble.
I know it’s not what anyone wants to hear, but the truth rarely is,”
You're not telling the truth, you're being a bitch. And cruel to boot.
At least loss is decisive.”
She is steps away from being a book serial killer. Please, see through her, Brevity and get some distance. Pronto.
Even if the people survive, it will be as if they never existed at all.”
Oh look, a wonderfully apt description of the current Biden-Harris administration and the digital censorship of free speech.
The betrayal had taken only an instant.
I find it interesting that in Probity's eyes Brevity is flawless and Claire is irredeemable. Claire may be a murderer, but then Brevity is also a thief.
We should serve the stories, not the humans.
How do we even know Probity has been sent her by the Muses Corps, and not expelled or escaped? Did anyone bother to check? Did *Brevity* check? Because if she knows "probity* has more than one meaning, she should be fucking checking, rather than taking everything at face value.
Tell me how that makes sense!”
She's no better than Andras.
Brevity stared at her.
WHY IS SHE EVEN LISTENING TO HER? She hasn't put her foot down once. Pull your fucking head in, Brevity.
“You can’t break something that’s already broken.
Yes, you can make it so much worse.
“They are us,” Rosia whispered with a bereft note. “You’re still not listening.”
They're the characters of the books lost in the fire, aren't they? They can't stablize because they aren't one character, they're thousands.
“For the sake of my dignity, let us say it’s more of a strategic escort.”
Hee hee.
“I’m recreationally skeptical,”
I like this phrasing.
“A lesion,”
I was going to add, "like a fungus" but this is so much better.
Humans were always evolving new ways of not saying what they meant.
Perfection.
We’ll use the Library’s own processes, even.”
Given the current Robinhood stock market scandal, this interestingly relevant.
Bird made a noise that was akin to a goose being gently murdered,
[snort]
Claire got to the real work of solving the problem of the ink.
[whispers] Because no ne can solve the problem but you. Right, Claire?
