*****SPOILERS*****
General Notes
Nailah,
Zelie’s ryder, is a lionaire (essentially, a large lioness). She is a loving
pet, their vehicle, and unusual because she has horns.
People ride their ryders so that’s
odd at first. There are other -naires, including panthenaires. In real life,
panthers are the black morphs of big cats so I wonder if panthenaires are black
morphs of other -naires or if they’re their own species/breed?
Nailah is often present during
emotional interactions. There are many tender moments with the lionaire herself
but she’s allows the characters to be vulnerable with each other and with
themselves. For example, Zelie fiddles with the ‘cracks in Nailah’s saddle as
pits form in her chest.’ It was one of those sentences where you have to stop
reading, just to think.
Descriptions
of pain are very accurate.
Zelie views hers as welcome and
‘almost deserved’. She feels guilty for everything that’s gone wrong and she
feels guilty that she can’t save magic and thus the diviners. People suffering
chronic pain often feel guilty for it and, lacking a real reason, they connect
it to a guilt they already have. It makes the real guilt worse than it needs to
be. But emotional pain can distract from physical pain so maybe it’s a natural
coping mechanism.
It’s also stated that Zelie ‘lives
in the prison of her pain’. If this single line was read by everyone in the
world, they’d understand how debilitating pain can be. They’d understand
without having to suffer with it themselves.
A character burns himself alive and
the description of his flesh burning and veins popping are excellent. It didn’t
shy away from heavy detail so it felt… genuine. It made me uncomfortable, as if
a person was telling me what it felt like to burn alive. This was my second
favourite line in this book.
As
always, some things leave me scratching my head.
Post-life, there is ‘alafia’ (the
afterlife) and ‘apadi’ (hell). They’re described as states of existence yet the
way they’re used in a sentence would lead the reader to believe they were
places separate from the land of the living. If this were the case then they
should be capitalised. The grammar and the information are conflicting which
means a lack of clear communication.
Amari sees then calls Zelie. But in
the next chapter, Amari acts like she hasn’t seen Zelie in ages. I doubt if
even a single minute had passed so this was odd.
The author flits between using
‘trousers’ and ‘pants’. I’d always thought Americans didn’t say ‘trousers’ at
all but maybe I’m wrong?
The timing seemed to be all over the
place. Early on, Zelie, Amari and Tzain complain that they won’t have enough
time to get everything and get to the island. Much later, Amari’s convinced
there’s plenty of time. Yes she could be trying to make everyone feel motivated
but it seemed pretty genuine.
The big timing issue came when Zelie
had been freed and there was one day until the solstice. The mercenary who’d
take them to the island was half a day away. Zelie and company sail to the
island at the same time as Inan. But Inan says it’s been two days since Zelie
was freed. Either the author mixed up her timing or she hadn’t communicated
them properly.
Amari
Throughout,
Princess Amari feels inadequate but is determined. She doesn’t let this abuse
from her mother get in the way of achieving what she feels is right. She’s
always been upset with how diviners are treated.
Amari carries the burden of guilt
for not saving Binta from death. She’d just seen her father (of whom she’s
terrified) lift his admiral in the air by his throat. Going against a parent’s
wishes is hard, even if they’re not abusive or murderous. How is she meant to stop that kind
of power?
It’s in this moment when Amari sees magic flow from Binta’s
hand and she realises it’s not all bad, that the maji aren’t always planning
attacks. It’s in this moment that Amari decides to be brave for Binta.
Eventually, this becomes ‘For Binta, I must be everything.’ Because Binta’s
dead and can’t be anything. Because Binta is worth everything.
As Amari’s confidence grows, so does
her sense of humour (I adore it). For example, the morning after Tzain and
Amari were captured, Tzain wonders if Amari’s first night with a boy was what
she was expecting. Amari replies, ‘”I always expected less bondage.”’ I howled
at that one.
The princess does slip up, calling
Tzain and Zelie ‘you people’. Seeing as Tzain is outwardly a kodisan, I think
this remark was less distaste for diviners and more upper class disdain for the
poor. Obviously this doesn’t help when every diviner is in poverty.
Inan
Prince
Inan’s spirit is connected with Zelie’s which keeps them bonded despite their
differences and loathing for each other. He describes Zelie as staining his
mind which would ordinarily be a loving thing but this came straight after
colour was discussed, playing into the stereotype of colour and dirt. (Seeing
as something as light as milk makes things unhygienic, why darkness is
associated with uncleanliness is beyond me.) Inan’s perspective didn’t entice
me. I find it difficult to read things that are obsessive (even when they’re
done well) but there was a particular piece that caught my attention. Commander
Kaea picks throwing knife from corpse ‘like a rose from a garden’.
The
view Inan has of the kingdom and of magic are clear instances of indoctrination
by his father, King Saran.
The king’s first family died due to
magic. Many empires (with names reminiscent of Britannia, Portugal and Spain)
fell because of magic. Saran wants to protect his kingdom and his new family.
Whilst I don’t condone his behaviour or sympathise with his positions, I do understand
why Saran is the way he is.
The prince has always accepted his
father’s view of magic and never questioned it. But once he sees the strength
of magic, this confirms his dad’s position. This is also what spurs Inan to use
his magic to its full potential. Yes this might seem contradictory but if
magic’s strength is frightening, then using something that is its equal (i.e.
magic) is the only way forward. Fight fire with fire.
Inan chants ‘Duty Before Self’
constantly, a phrase originating from his father’s blade. Near the end, he
finishes it with ‘Kingdom Before King’ which is also on the blade, playing a
deciding role in the plot. Whilst it would have done nothing for the plot in
the rest of the book, it was too important to be mentioned for the first time
at the end. So I think the first time Inan said ‘Duty Before Self’ should have
included ‘Kingdom Before King’. Besides, if remembering what’s written on a
sword is important, you’d recollect the entire thing.
Inan seems entirely clueless about
his people because he doesn’t understand why a mother fears his soldiers.
Anyone would be uncomfortable if their home gained a large military presence,
even if the personnel were perfectly friendly. The fact that it doesn’t cross
Inan’s mind that soldiers take liberties with their position of power is
astonishing.
He finally understands the issues when
his magic allows him to picture Zelie’s life, seeing that a magi is still a
human and how horrific the royal orders have been. So Inan decides to accept
magic.
Is it an ironic that he only accepts
magic because he has it? All his life it’s been us and them: they’re different
from me so they’re at fault. So he gets magic it’s no longer us and them, just
us. He doesn’t accept magic because he’s become more tolerable but rather he
accepts magic because he no longer sees it as ‘other’. His changed view is
meant to show us that’s he’s becoming a better person but instead it proves
that he’s still an uncaring person.
There
were several occasions within Inan’s perspective that made me raise an eyebrow.
For example, Inan mentions his ‘plotting and manoeuvring’… what plotting and
manoeuvring? The reader sees no evidence of this at all!
When Commander Kaea finds out Inan
has magic, she flees and screams the news to the world. Kaea is a character
with phenomenal composure. I’m not convinced that she would lose her cool at
all, let alone to this extreme. Maybe something terrible happened to her with
magic, but then why didn’t she react this badly to Binta’s magic? I’m left puzzled.
Inan commands labourers to build a
bridge to cross the mountain, allowing him to follow Zelie. But it was a
difficult mountain to climb. How did they bring such heavy tools and equipment
up the mountain? This isn’t explained. This makes the bridge a dodgy story
point. Yet the story requires the
bridge: if the bridge has no stable foundations then the story can’t be built
upon it. This puts a large crack into the rest of the story.
