Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

There are so many good ones in this section!

Top of my list will always be " 'Diplomacy,' said Attolia, 'in my own name,' as the rest of her guard rose up from the grass behind their captain." I adore Attolia's calm assertion of power and the way she turns Nahuseresh's words back on him.

I also love this one, when Eugenides has just found himself back in Attolia's power and hasn't yet discovered her true intentions, "My god, he thought, I am so frightened. O my God, if you will not save me, make me less afraid." It's so poignant and human of him, and a wonderful glimpse at the way he now relates to his gods. (Contrast this, a few chapters later, with "I can demand. Whether my demands are met or not, I can demand. I can act as I choose and not as some god directs.")

And finally, in the very last scene, "She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth." The prose in these books is very spare, usually relying on simple descriptions of the characters' actions and brief explanations of their thoughts, but the language in those descriptions can be so lovely and evocative.

What are your favorites?

Edited Date: 3/13/17 03:19 am (UTC)

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Your "brief (and irreverent) summary" made me LOL. It reminded me of those humorous literal book title posts that make the rounds on tumblr. Attolia redefines the term "statement jewelry" and Eugenides naps dramatically (twice) in particular would make hilarious chapter titles. :D

Doesn't matter how many times I've read it... the part where Gen admits he's frightened and asks his god to make him less afraid ALWAYS gives me secondhand (er, no pun intended) anxiety. Just thinking about it now is making me break out in a cold sweat.

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It's such a great moment, and it always punches me right in the gut.

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And his prayer is immediately answered, when he falls and Nahuserfish laughs at him. He's angry, instead.

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an-english-girl.livejournal.com

Well, now I have to add your wonderful, wonderful summary to my list of favourites :D In fact, I may have to copy it out and write it in the front cover when I finally succumb and buy a new edition!
I've only got as far as Ephrata (2nd visit) but I do love "You are a poisonous little snake" -- and then the brief exchange between Gen and Helen: No. Are you sure? Yes.
I know they're cousins, but they are /so/ big-sister-little-brother, sometimes =)

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frosted-feather.livejournal.com

This time around I caught the parallel words and meaning between the story of Hespira and Horreon (the Beauty and the Beast) and the last words of the book. Anyone else see this? Maybe it's been discussed before.

1) Horreon wanted to marry a woman who wanted him, but didn't think Hespira was staying with him in the dark caves of her own free will. He thought she'd drunk the love potion. But when her mother comes to get her:
"I chose," Hespira said again, and Horreon believed her."

I stopped there, noticing the importance of the words "and Horreon believed her."

2) And then, the very end of the book repeats this same scene but with Gen and Attolia. Attolia finds it so hard to believe that Gen would actually chose her, who wounded him so much, of his own free will. She's like the monster in the caves. But at the end of the book, Gen says:
"I love you."
And she believed him.

She, like Horreon, has decided to believe the words that her lover tells her. I haven't made this connection so strongly before, but this time it leapt out of the pages to me.

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frosted-feather.livejournal.com

oops, meant to add at the end of the post. I'll copy it there!

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At the very end of the book, we learn (along with Eugenides) that the gods have betrayed him twice, first leading to the loss of his hand and then to his capture by Nahuseresh. We also learn the reason why.

1) Any theories about the identity of the goddess who comes to speak with Gen after he sacrifices the goat? Is it someone we've met or heard about, and will we ever learn her name?

2) Why do you think it was necessary for Moira to tell Nahuseresh how to capture Eugenides? Attolia had already agreed to marry Gen by that point and make him king--how would the outcome have been different if they'd simply moved forward from that point?

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2) The immediate outcome wouldn't have been different, but the long term one would. If Gen hadn't been captured, Irene would have felt forced into the marriage and they wouldn't have started off on the equal footing they did. Remember, when she accepted his proposal she told him to never drink from her wine cup. But, once the tables were turned and she was in control of him again, she realized that she loved him and even wanted him to be king. Gen's capture was necessary, the same way that the loss of his hand was. I guess is was the only way the gods to arrange for Eddis, their favored country, to survive.

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Interesting point, Checkers. Below, we were discussing Eddis' visions of the Sacred Mountain erupting, and it's interesting that Gen shares these visions once he's in place to become king of Attolia. He later plays his part in maneuvering Sophos (who also finds out his dreams are more than just dreams) into becoming Sounis and providing an escape route for Eddis. Which comes first, I wonder... Do the gods meddle with people because they also happen to be (useful) monarchs or do people become monarchs because the gods are meddling? *thinking face emoji*

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an-english-girl.livejournal.com

Yes, it is at that point that Irene has an absolute choice between Gen and the Mede, and what they each offer for herself and for her country. And it is at that point, I think, that she finally comes to "know her own mind", rather like Eowyn in LotR, when her heart either changed or she finally understood it :)
After all, Irene has been carrying Gen's earrings about with her, even as she has flirted gold out of Nahuseresh...

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After all, Irene has been carrying Gen's earrings about with her

Yes, that struck me for the first time on this reread--she hasn't just left them lying around, but actually brought them with her to Ephrata!

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Oh my gosh, I never realized that! She takes the earrings with her when she travels. :-0

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ibmiller.livejournal.com

Well said. Without Irene feeling like she had a real choice - not a "marry me or die" choice but "I hold your life in my hands and still chose to marry you," I don't think she would have trusted Gen to take down the house of Erondites, or any of the other things he would need her trust to do.

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Yes, trust is the perfect word. Irene's trust in Gen, because of everything that happened at the Pricus Springs and in Ephrata, leads to her trust in him during the early days of his reign.

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In this section, we get two fascinating revelations about Eddis. First is Attolia's memory of the younger queen's coronation:

"...Attolia had poured her advice like vitriol into the ear of the new queen, watching her face whiten, viciously satisfied to be the one to tell the girl what the world was like when you were a queen. And then none of that advice had been needed."

This is such a great bit of backstory, and it illuminates so much about each of these queens and the very different contexts in which they came to power. I love the glimpses we get of Eddis as ruler and of Attolia's resentment of her. I also love seeing their dynamic begin to change, as they begin to consider one another as allies rather than antagonists. We don't see much of that play out on the page, but later books will give us a sense of how the relationship has progressed offscreen.

We also learn that Eddis has been dreaming of the Sacred Mountain erupting and the destruction of her city. Shortly before this, Eugenides told Attolia that Eddis could survive a Mede invasion on her own by retreating to the mountain and relying on the aid of the pirates--but now we find out Eddis has known for months that this wasn't a possibility.

I haven't reread the later two books yet, but I don't remember learning that Eddis shared this with her advisors. It's an incredibly heavy weight for her to carry alone, and makes me rethink everything she does in the second half of the book.

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It's possible I'm misremembering, but doesn't Gen have visions of the Sacred Mountain exploding as well? At the end of ACoK, there's that bit where Eddis tells Sophos about her dreams and adds that "they aren't dreams" to Gen, the veil is thin and he walks gingerly, etc. I seem to recall that Gen had some inkling of it before that, though. He's awfully homesick in KoA...maybe some of his nightmares weren't just about Attolia.

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He has that vision in this very section, actually! So by the end of Queen of Attolia, she's not carrying the weight entirely on her own--but then Gen leaves her for Attolia, and I don't recall reading that anyone else is aware of the situation until she tells Sophos at the end of Conspiracy of Kings.

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Gotcha. I have quite a bit of catch-up reading to do still, hence my reliance on imperfect memory.

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I've really wondered about that "veil is thin" part. Would I be crazy to think that Gen might become immortal at the end of the series?

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ibmiller.livejournal.com

I really hope not. I think his strength needs to be tethered to his ability to lose - it's why QoA I believe is the strongest of the books, followed by KoA, because in both he suffers serious setbacks. My biggest problem with CoK is it never feels like Gen could lose.

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I like that this book analyses how Eddis and Attolia are different as well as how they are alike. Throughout the book, Eddis admits to Gen that she really isn't that different--both queens would do almost anything to ensure their country survives. If Eddis hadn't had the support of her barons/family ("we're all cousins here!") she may have done the same things Attolia felt she had to.

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I love that, too! I hope we get to see them interacting, even if from a distance, in the next book(s).

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