Status Updates From Sailing to Sarantium

sorry to the other books i'm reading but i just felt an undeniable urge to derail my tbr for this month

God, what a beautiful book. No one quite writes like Guy Gavriel Kay. I can’t even put it into words but he moves me. The worlds he paints, even those like the Sarantium setting, which is a mirror to our own is still unique. And the characters. My god, all of them feel alive. Crispin, Vargos, Kasia, Linon, Valerius II, Alixana, Leontes, Styliane, my god theyre all great. I am scared to see how it ends.

Oh Zoticus. Fare thee well.

Damn. Betrayed by her own chancellor. Gisel is not having a good time. So it will be war in Batiara. Pity. And Gisel will wallow in Sarantium in exile

So Pronobius Tilliticus became a martyr after trying to assassinate Crispin… Interesting.

Ah so Shirin has a bird. Interesting. These birds are obviously more important than I realized.

Christ, Sarantium is a den of vipers. Leontes seems a perfect match for his scheming wife. I dont see this ending well

I really love Valerius and Alixana’s dynamic. And for being a ‘lowborn dancer,’ she is very clever and aware of the intricacies of Sarantium. She even deduced Gisel’s little request to the Emperor. I worry for Crispin getting entangled in all this

I really like Scortius the charioteer. Well, Crispin will not be forgotten anytime soon. Not with that entrance into the court of Sarantium.

Well Crispin just made two strong enemies at the very least. Leontes and his wife Styliane. Yikes. The court of Sarantium is rife with plotting but what can one expect in an Empire of such magnitude?

Well Crispin is already making an ass of himself. God. He really has no self preservation.

Well Carullus is a hysterical asshole. Wow, it’s just one thing after another for these poor fuckers.

And I was just starting to like Linon. So, that’s how Zoticus bound life into metal. Curious. And it explains why Linon knew so much of the rituals. She was herself a sacrifice. God, I feel like crying and I dont know why. ugghhh