Book Two of the Hermatia Cycle
follows the magi Rufus and his ward Joshua trying to escape entrapment and
death. Meanwhile Zachery, another magi, is coping with the loss of Rufus (on a
personal level) and of Jionat (on a political level). Whereas ‘The Sons of
Thestian’ was more of an adventure, ‘Blood of the Delphi’ is more political
(though both have a healthy amount of both). As in Book One, Book Two blesses the reader with
beautiful phrases. I love, for example, ‘suffocate in snow’ because usually
suffocating due to temperature is caused by heat, not the lack of it.
***SPOILERS***
Rufus
Rufus’ humour is top notch, just
like in this first book. Yet his go-to mind set in this one is thinking that he
makes everyone unsafe, even if he only fathoms his feelings once his life
become sedentary in the Neve.
When he’s
finding training difficult, he sobs that he just wants to read a book
(something I can relate to) in probably the funniest pity scene I have ever
read. There’s also a point where Rufus bashes the wall with his head and
dismissing it as ‘”admiring the stonework with my face”’ which is a funny line
but in an unfunny context.
Rufus
had a nickname for his closest friend Jionathan (Jionat) where the full name
isn’t well known, let alone the nickname. Yet Joshua isn’t called by a nickname
(Josh) even though both full and short are widely known names. Considering that
nicknames are affectionate, and Rufus treats Joshua like a son, it baffles me
that Joshua doesn’t get a nickname whilst Jionathan did.
Another
thing that took me aback was Rufus panicking when he killed the brothel owner. The
story pretty much started with him killing people and being okay with it. In
the brothel, instead of using magic like normal he used his physical force
behind a knife, so perhaps the gore made him uncomfortable? That would be fine
but ‘Had he just killed a man?’ doesn’t seem like an appropriate response.
Rufus
is visited by two entities, one being his alter ego and the other being
Morrigan (whom the korrigans from Book One worship). His alter ego (annoyingly
named only near the end of the novel) tells Rufus to either control or not use
his powers. Morrigan, on the other hand, wanted Rufus to use his powers and
promised he’d see her three times in total. Yet we only see her twice… perhaps.
On the alter ego’s last visit, it wants Rufus to indulge in his powers like
Morrigan did so maybe on this occasion the alter ego is actually Morrigan,
being the third of her promised appearances.
Zachery
Zachery’s presence is more central
in Book Two than Book One. We get to see how he became the man he is today. We
also see the positive side of his relationship with Rufus even as Zachery takes
over Rufus’ role as the playful (yet suicidal) character.
King
Sverrin is alive again thanks to Jionat taking his place in suspended
animation. When Zachery follows the unsuspecting king as he visits his brother,
the magi has to flee. That’s fine, but when the said escape route leads into
the stable courtyard, that means anyone could get to Jionat and kill him really
easily. They all know that killing one will kill the other so why isn’t there
some form of defence? Why bother resurrecting your king if you won’t protect
him from dying again?
Marcel
complains the Zachery’s sulking and Zachery replies, ‘”I am now but only
because you said so.”’ I’ve thought this plenty of times at people (apparently
my reading face is miserable) so I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this
way.
Zachery
forgets he has hay fever. This seems like an odd thing to forget in any case.
But Zachery remembers everyone he’s killed whilst on Night Patrol, their names
and their crimes: how could he forget something that would give him a reminder
when he went outside?
As a character, Daniel was a great
choice, although not for Daniel’s sake. No, this brother to Zachery was a tool
to unlock Zachery’s backstory. In ‘The Sons of Thestian’, Zachery was an
antagonist with some semblance if likeability, but now Zachery develops into a
more complex creature.
I’ll
point out that Daniel isn’t devoid of merit on his own basis. He shows
uncompromising honesty and vulnerability when he’s scared in admitting he
wanted his mother. This isn’t something people usually do and, although it is
presented as childlike in the book, I do think emotional expression is brave.
It
turns out that Daniel’s mother Isolde is Zachery’s ex (who slept with both Zachery
and his father Rivalen over an overlapping time period). To enable Daniel to
have a safe and comfortable life, Isolde told Rivalen Daniel was his son when
Daniel is actually Zachery’s son. I didn’t expect that one, to be honest, and
neither had Zachery.
It’s noted
that Daniel takes after his mother with his small build, is sick monthly, and
had a secretive nature. Heather (Zachery’s housekeeper) says something along
the lines, ‘”If he were your sister”’ and Zachery responds, “But he’s not.”
These are all hints.
Daniel
was born female, explaining his small build and monthly sickness (periods).
This explains his secretive nature because if anyone found out about his body,
he and his family would be punished severely (magi don’t let in women and
Rivalen dislikes his daughters).
With
King Sverrin being brought back from the dead, Daniel asks if a spell could
change someone’s sex, a question that Zachery dismisses without interest.
Daniel’s asking out of personal necessity, not out of academic interest. When
Zachery finally realises the truth about Daniel, he swings between confusion
and acceptance rapidly and repeatedly, as easy to persuade as the main
characters in Book One.
At one
point, Zachery says, ‘“Damn it, Daniel.”’ Did author name him this just so
could reference a meme or was it a lucky coincidence? I won’t fault it either
way, to be honest.
Another
off-kilter moment is when the reader is told that Daniel ‘finally pried his
gaze from the wall.’ But at no point were we told that Daniel looked at the
wall, let alone long enough to ‘finally’ stop and for the other characters to
notice it.
Zachery’s role in the story on a
structural level was executed to perfection, being used as a reference post to
draw parallels between Zachery and then either other characters or with Book
One. Beatrice, Marcel’s sister, tells Zachery a story that he doesn’t want to
hear, just like Zachery did to Marcel in Book One. Perhaps a more touching
example is that Zachery has a sibling that’s actually his child in Daniel while
Rufus has a child that is actually his sibling.
Reviews:
The Hermatia Cycle (M. E. Vaughan)
The Sons of
Thestian (Book One) 1/2
The Sons of
Thestian (Book One) 2/2
The Blood
of the Delphi (Book Two) 2/2
https://frostgriffin.blogspot.com/2019/09/review-blood-of-delphi-hermatia-cycle_28.html
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