Status Updates From A Bloom in the North (The S...

LOL re: p. 396: “why are you all sick?” And I just told Kristen this has inadvertently triggered my recognition of a sub genre that I kind of love: narratives about the discovery of diseases/medical conditions and the causes/cures thereof. Most of these narratives being nonfiction, But In this case, an entire fictitious alien race of people that don’t actually realize they are sick.

… I wish I could remember who Seper was.

WTH, Thenet is anadi now?

Had to go back and reread that little short story at the end of “Pearl in the Void.”

*tears*

beautiful. Review to come.

got tears in my eyes at Thenet's reaction to learning about the Northerners and mind death.

I love the reveals in the North

" 'The empire is not just,' I whispered.
'The empire is imperfect,' the eperu corrected. 'As all things that exist on the World are. But one must begin somewhere.' "

<spoiler>"We loved one another Hesa, and through their trust in you, the truedark Jokka will follow me... and through their trust in me, the empire's Jokka will follow you. We have been making this web of trust since the moment we fled het Kabbanil. Since before it, when we met on Laisira's fields."</spoiler>

I love this and want it to be the end of the story but there's still 25 percent to go D:

Hesa's conversation with Pathen! Too, too spoilerific and wonderful!

Ganeth and Pathen's conversation <3

<spoiler>" 'You stood between us and the head of the Claws. Had they really been here to arrest me, you would have died to defend two perverts.'

'I would have died to defend two Jokka,' Ganeth said, firm. 'Whom I have come to respect very highly ... To Asara or to the seat of empire,' Ganeth said. 'We'll follow you, ke emodo.' "

I have a lump in my throat <3</spoiler>

<spoiler>" 'Ke Iren, forgive me for being blunt. But I have committed several capital crimes, and I renounce none of them.'

Iren glanced at Hesa, then said to me, 'The emperor makes the law.' "</spoiler>

Not in a million years did I see the next development. #heir

Oh! Oh! A good turn here! Good for Ganeth and the Claws stationed in House Asara!

I realized this moment would come but somehow persuaded myself it wouldn't.

"[They were] looking so unhappy I pitied them while wishing they were better at hiding their discomfort."

Aaaaahhhhh. And now the other shoe is finally falling. I'm on tenterhooks.

"This was only the smallest part of what Abadil had meant, and yet like the tip of a spear it could not be separated from the rest." --love that about the tip of the spear.

Pathen keeps pushing boundaries, but judiciously and carefully, and so far it's been working out. I'm terrified of what may go wrong--what breach of confidence or momentary carelessness. I just pray it's not too terrible!

"I've never seen anyone work like your pefna works, ke emodo. It sets a good example until it sets a bad one, if you take my meaning."

Oh yes! I had a boss about whom this could be said!

Wow, the lovemaking scene at the 60 percent mark is like nothing I've ever imagined. It's what speculative fiction ought to be: getting me to see something new and beautiful and in doing so opening up my mind to what may be/is possible for actual humans too. ... I feel humble about the limits of my sexual imagination; other people might not have this experience reading this, but *I* did, and value it.

"The goal is not to destroy," I said. "The goal is to reform. To evolve."

Awww... or this:

"I find I love the world at last ke emodo. And that makes me want to give that world to someone new."

These quotes relating to Kuli:

"No one ever knew where to look for Kuli and yet they had only to ask enough people to find her among some group, talking, watching them at their labors, helping in her own way."

and

"She sat back, which for Kuli meant sitting upright rather than leaning forward in interest."