I don't give my name to strangers on the internet > Recent Status Updates

I suppose I get the difference in context and it makes sense for the characters but I'm kind of annoyed at the "protagonist has trust issues so he makes everything he did look worse than it is because he refuses to explain himself" being repeated in this series too.

Also I feel like Nicholas may actually end up with Catherine if this is another pattern that holds true

I'm loving it a lot less this time around :/

I also love the telling little minutiae of Richard's characterization and how aggressively working class he is. I love that Alec is teaching him to read and the scene where they go see the play and he keeps trying to figure out if the parrot is real or a prop is chef's kiss. I am now 100% sold on this book and in platonic love with half the characters

I like it a lot!

Richard and Alec's chemistry is so lovely and lived in, and the plot is intriguing and unpredictable enough to keep me, well, intrigued

Also very little sense for when and how to include which kind of detail. The Horn/Michael makeout scene is so ludicrously written, I may try to quote it in the review lol

The author isn't very good at writing witty reparee and is writing in a genre that lives or dies by witty reparee.

However I like the dynamic between Richard and Alec and am very intrigued by Alec, so the book is pulling me in! The politics being set up also seem complex enough, which is a good omen!

After 3 disappointing books in a row I really want to like this one

Writing style not overly good so far - full of kinda cliché metaphors. God I really really hope this is good

Annoyed at Marguerite's characterization here - she doesn't appreciate what he does, seems to be worried more about how well she has him under her thumb than his actual well-being, and also annoyed with Percy because he's not telling her the plan when he clearly has one. Overall it's worse than the first one. Why Chauvelin didn't tell anyone about SP's identity and why his bosses would be OK with it is also baffling.

This is so fun and interesting and insightful and seeing as my grandpa was an engineer in the 60s and 70s it's even making me recall bits of my own family history <3

Okay, there is some kind of logic emerging with the sister's marriage, though most of the things I complained about persist.

Okay, there is some kind of logic emerging with the sister's marriage, though most of the things I complained about persist.

The prose is so bad and tedious but I am more intrigued by the story than the last time I tried this book, mostly because of a few well-placed ironic remarks that imply that the author may know what she's doing after all. And the weird religion is intriguing, tho kinda nonsensical

I just ship it so badly I can see why they are a good match I can see tangible proof of everything she's claiming about their relationship in their interactions and I think it's brilliant

There's also so much depth to their relationship because you can again see in their interactions how he manages to be compelling and charming despite his idiotic facade and how their connection is oddly somehow surviving this - the way she enjoys the carriage rides and the way they silently connect over that, the way he manages to keep up with her at her own petty prideful games WHILE playing the fool

I love Marguerite's character and her relationship with Percy. She is so vividly drawn - she immediately feels tridimensional and reacts to the (often pulpy and ridiculous) things thrown at her like a human being. She's very charming - there's so much wit and vivacity in her dialogue, it doesn't feel like an Informed Attribute that everyone adores her, and she has a really nice balance of flaws and virtues.