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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Eddis
Date: 3/13/17 03:15 am (UTC)"...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.