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It has truly been an amazing couple of weeks around here. With A. in day camp from 9-4, and with not a single day when I had to go in to help her get through the day, and with T. at sleepaway camp for 2 weeks, I have had more time to do whatever I wanted to do than I even get during the school year (half days on Thursday being the big difference, but also less hours of the day where both kids are gone at the same time, altho to be fair, T. is largely independent and also has a sitter a lot of the afternoon / evening. But there are interruptions).
I did not plan any major projects to work on during this time. I used to do that, and also during times of year like January when things were pretty quiet, but this time I figured I would just sort of see what happened. And I am really glad I did. I went clothes shopping for the first time in a long time. I changed my hair color. And I started a sourdough starter and have been experimenting with it all week. It has been a ton of fun. I hope I can keep the baking going. We have been eating in pretty exclusively (no date night, even this week) which made it easy to do.
I really enjoyed reading _Sweep of the Blade_ altho (so far) I have resisted going back and rereading it instantly, so apparently I did not love it quite so much as some of Ilona Andrews’ work. Either that or I have really been enjoying some of the other things I have been doign.
The other books have been about Dina, one of three adult siblings whose parents went missing before the beginning of the first book. Maud and Klaus have been mentioned in passing, but until the book before this one, Maud did not make an appearance (that I remember anyway) other than in Dina’s memory.
Boy, howdy has that been rectified! The
SPOILERS REALLY COME ON NOW
book opens with a recap of some of the scenes from the last book, retold and recontextualized from Maud’s point of view. That is pretty fun, because we get to see Dina through Maud’s eyes, and it is super clear that while they love each other dearly, they — like a lot of adult siblings who spend years apart and then reconnect — do not actually know each other very well at all.
Anyway. So we see Maud and Helen on Karhari, then we see Dina, Sean and Arlan show up to take them off of Karhari. We see, briefly, Maud pained by watching Arlan suffer from the world eating flower encounter. And we see Maud turn down Arlan’s proposal to marry, but accept his invitation to go with him to his home on Krahr.
With her relatively extensive experience of vampire society, she is mostly prepared for what she encounters, but her previous experience was among a clan that was not all that powerful and while prosperous, not intergenerationally wealthy and powerful the way the Krahr are. She anticipates the negatives of that for her, but completely fails to appreciate until nearly the end of the book their associated much greater ability to appreciate her and her skills for what they are. It is a fun process. Even more fun when
OKAY REALLY THIS IS SOME SERIOUS SPOILER RIGHT HERE
It turns out that Maud had an encounter with the Big Bad from the Holy Anocracy’s past, and there is something about Demille children that is just irresistibly tasty to the Big Bad. So much so that the evolutionarily related animal comes out of hibernation or hiding or whatever to snack on Helen. Lots of foreshadowing through the book, which is pretty effective, and the big reveal when it eats Helen is that, oh, hey, look Maud has Adhal type powers. Sweet!
Oh, and in the last couple paragraphs, Klaus shows up and is an Arbitrator, so Ilemina’s efforts to dismiss him fail. Fun! Looking forward to the next on and, oh, gosh, I might have to reread the whole series sometime between now and then. The struggle. It is real.
I did not plan any major projects to work on during this time. I used to do that, and also during times of year like January when things were pretty quiet, but this time I figured I would just sort of see what happened. And I am really glad I did. I went clothes shopping for the first time in a long time. I changed my hair color. And I started a sourdough starter and have been experimenting with it all week. It has been a ton of fun. I hope I can keep the baking going. We have been eating in pretty exclusively (no date night, even this week) which made it easy to do.
I really enjoyed reading _Sweep of the Blade_ altho (so far) I have resisted going back and rereading it instantly, so apparently I did not love it quite so much as some of Ilona Andrews’ work. Either that or I have really been enjoying some of the other things I have been doign.
The other books have been about Dina, one of three adult siblings whose parents went missing before the beginning of the first book. Maud and Klaus have been mentioned in passing, but until the book before this one, Maud did not make an appearance (that I remember anyway) other than in Dina’s memory.
Boy, howdy has that been rectified! The
SPOILERS REALLY COME ON NOW
book opens with a recap of some of the scenes from the last book, retold and recontextualized from Maud’s point of view. That is pretty fun, because we get to see Dina through Maud’s eyes, and it is super clear that while they love each other dearly, they — like a lot of adult siblings who spend years apart and then reconnect — do not actually know each other very well at all.
Anyway. So we see Maud and Helen on Karhari, then we see Dina, Sean and Arlan show up to take them off of Karhari. We see, briefly, Maud pained by watching Arlan suffer from the world eating flower encounter. And we see Maud turn down Arlan’s proposal to marry, but accept his invitation to go with him to his home on Krahr.
With her relatively extensive experience of vampire society, she is mostly prepared for what she encounters, but her previous experience was among a clan that was not all that powerful and while prosperous, not intergenerationally wealthy and powerful the way the Krahr are. She anticipates the negatives of that for her, but completely fails to appreciate until nearly the end of the book their associated much greater ability to appreciate her and her skills for what they are. It is a fun process. Even more fun when
OKAY REALLY THIS IS SOME SERIOUS SPOILER RIGHT HERE
It turns out that Maud had an encounter with the Big Bad from the Holy Anocracy’s past, and there is something about Demille children that is just irresistibly tasty to the Big Bad. So much so that the evolutionarily related animal comes out of hibernation or hiding or whatever to snack on Helen. Lots of foreshadowing through the book, which is pretty effective, and the big reveal when it eats Helen is that, oh, hey, look Maud has Adhal type powers. Sweet!
Oh, and in the last couple paragraphs, Klaus shows up and is an Arbitrator, so Ilemina’s efforts to dismiss him fail. Fun! Looking forward to the next on and, oh, gosh, I might have to reread the whole series sometime between now and then. The struggle. It is real.