The Kingdoms
question
Questions I wish I could ask the author
Jerusha
Sep 12, 2021 11:58AM
Spoiler alert all through this darn thing!!!
I loved Natasha Pulley’s The Kingdoms. I love her wit, the lush descriptions, the historical settings, the slow pace of the romance, the fact that it is a gay romance but not once does that appear to be reason for angst or even a topic of discussion. So definitely an alternate history story from start to finish! I even liked the complexity of the story, even if I did keep forgetting which timeline I was reading about, or confusing Kite & Jem’s relationship with that of Kite & Joe’s. After finishing the book I immediately reread it, partly so I could continue living in the story, and partly to clarify some lingering confusions due to the convoluted timeline. Some of my questions were cleared up, but others remain:
1). Why did Fionna's father steer his boat through the pillars, stranding Joe in the past? He was a local, he had to know. The other sailors did, and steered clear of the pillars.
2) Why did Missouri Kite sign the postcard to Jem/Joe with an M? He didn’t know that Joe wouldn’t want to help the English cause. At that point Joe just didn’t recognize him or remember almost anything. But he didn’t have any close ties to cling to either.
3) Why did Joe Zhang suddenly remember being Jem and Joe Tournier, etc when Kite told him about everything? Telling him about stuff had never helped his memory before.
4) What's Jem's last name if not Castlereagh? Shale, like the Madeline Shale the psychical society was looking for?
I hope some of you have thoughts on these questions. They keep itching my brain!
Thanks,
Jay
I loved Natasha Pulley’s The Kingdoms. I love her wit, the lush descriptions, the historical settings, the slow pace of the romance, the fact that it is a gay romance but not once does that appear to be reason for angst or even a topic of discussion. So definitely an alternate history story from start to finish! I even liked the complexity of the story, even if I did keep forgetting which timeline I was reading about, or confusing Kite & Jem’s relationship with that of Kite & Joe’s. After finishing the book I immediately reread it, partly so I could continue living in the story, and partly to clarify some lingering confusions due to the convoluted timeline. Some of my questions were cleared up, but others remain:
1). Why did Fionna's father steer his boat through the pillars, stranding Joe in the past? He was a local, he had to know. The other sailors did, and steered clear of the pillars.
2) Why did Missouri Kite sign the postcard to Jem/Joe with an M? He didn’t know that Joe wouldn’t want to help the English cause. At that point Joe just didn’t recognize him or remember almost anything. But he didn’t have any close ties to cling to either.
3) Why did Joe Zhang suddenly remember being Jem and Joe Tournier, etc when Kite told him about everything? Telling him about stuff had never helped his memory before.
4) What's Jem's last name if not Castlereagh? Shale, like the Madeline Shale the psychical society was looking for?
I hope some of you have thoughts on these questions. They keep itching my brain!
Thanks,
Jay
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Yep, all of this. I don't mind reading long books.. but its frustrating when its long and none of my questions are answered!
1- I think it's because the past is where the repair would have to be done (the modern setting lighthouse is in ruins)... yet somehow when he fixes the light in the past it works in the future too? (Doesn't really make sense, but thats what I got from that.) You would think the sailor would tell him he should wait for him to fetch him (that way he would take him back through the correct way.)
2- on top of that, why on earth would M send him the postcard, then when gets what he wants (Joe coming back to the lighthouse BECAUSE of said postcard) THEN he tries to send him away! If he didn't want him coming back, he should not have sent the postcard. If he DID want him to come back, then why were he and Agatha so darn weird about telling him anything?! That never made sense to me.
3- I have no idea.. that bothered me too. And how is he suddenly Chinese?! What changes happened that would cause that? I feel like she only did that to mix things up and show he didn't go right back to being a lord like he was in the original version.
4- I think his last name was something like Lioncourt. He mentions as a slave that he is a 'd'Lioncourt' and that he has a breeding certificate proving his value.. I assume it must have French ties to it, and thats why he changed it to his mother's maiden name. And that it didn't change when the French won the war, since he was of high value.
1- I think it's because the past is where the repair would have to be done (the modern setting lighthouse is in ruins)... yet somehow when he fixes the light in the past it works in the future too? (Doesn't really make sense, but thats what I got from that.) You would think the sailor would tell him he should wait for him to fetch him (that way he would take him back through the correct way.)
2- on top of that, why on earth would M send him the postcard, then when gets what he wants (Joe coming back to the lighthouse BECAUSE of said postcard) THEN he tries to send him away! If he didn't want him coming back, he should not have sent the postcard. If he DID want him to come back, then why were he and Agatha so darn weird about telling him anything?! That never made sense to me.
3- I have no idea.. that bothered me too. And how is he suddenly Chinese?! What changes happened that would cause that? I feel like she only did that to mix things up and show he didn't go right back to being a lord like he was in the original version.
4- I think his last name was something like Lioncourt. He mentions as a slave that he is a 'd'Lioncourt' and that he has a breeding certificate proving his value.. I assume it must have French ties to it, and thats why he changed it to his mother's maiden name. And that it didn't change when the French won the war, since he was of high value.
At least 2) is clear to me:
The postcard says "Come back when you remember", not "Come back when you do not remember at all but wish you would". So when Kite left Jem-turned-into-Joe he still hoped that one day Jem-Joe would get his memories back and then would come back to him. Of course he deeply hoped that despise all the sighs against this possibility because he was in love and suffering/grieving.
I guess meeting him at the lighthouse without those memories was the worst to him. He did not want to steal/destroy Joe's present (or future??) life again, so he had to leave him once again as he did after the ovlivion.
I guess he signed it with an M. so that no one could get out who Kite was and that the postcard was useless to Jem-Joe, too, as long as his memories hadn't come back.
1) I guess Ava is right. And who knows, maybe the inhabitants during 19xx got rewards, too, if they took engineers to the side of the past.
The others two ... good questions. And an interesting idea about Jem maybe being a Lioncourt.
The postcard says "Come back when you remember", not "Come back when you do not remember at all but wish you would". So when Kite left Jem-turned-into-Joe he still hoped that one day Jem-Joe would get his memories back and then would come back to him. Of course he deeply hoped that despise all the sighs against this possibility because he was in love and suffering/grieving.
I guess meeting him at the lighthouse without those memories was the worst to him. He did not want to steal/destroy Joe's present (or future??) life again, so he had to leave him once again as he did after the ovlivion.
I guess he signed it with an M. so that no one could get out who Kite was and that the postcard was useless to Jem-Joe, too, as long as his memories hadn't come back.
1) I guess Ava is right. And who knows, maybe the inhabitants during 19xx got rewards, too, if they took engineers to the side of the past.
The others two ... good questions. And an interesting idea about Jem maybe being a Lioncourt.
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