Really enjoyed this one. Female protagonists (love), good writing, endearing story but not cutesy, humor, just a lot of all around yes.
…princesses all shit the same and have their courses the same, so I suppose it’s no surprise that babies all come out the same way, too. Having thus accidentally anticipated a few centuries’ worth of revolutionary political thought, Marra got down to the business of boiling water and making tea.
Rage shivered through her, a rage that seemed like it could topple the halls of heaven, then vanished under the knowledge of her own helplessness. Rage was only useful if you were allowed to do anything with it.
In the end, it was frightening but not difficult.
“He doesn’t feel like a liar, but that only means he believes himself.
… maybe the weakness of being good was that evil didn’t occur to you.
She wondered if all the old stories of heroes slaying monsters and maidens locked in towers had involved long, tedious stretches of trying to find the monsters or build the towers in the first place. Probably. No, almost certainly. Who wants to hear the dull practical bits? Me. I do. It would make me feel less like I am failing.
Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That’s the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods haven’t managed.
Published on March 7, 2024.