Bookish Mumma

I really liked the start of the book and I’m hoping that it carries more of the imagery in it because that is well done and highly descriptive. These chapters have little snippets of humour which I loved too, though they were unintentional in context. So far, I’m thoroughly enjoying this and I can’t wait to read more!

https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5182198842395474

Chapter 3

“No. We’ll find a way.”
Even now, he finds the strength to smirk at me. “We?”
The heat in my cheeks surges faster than any flame. “I’m doomed for conscription, same as you, but they’re not going to get me either, so we run.”

Hope in the face of desperation is either brave or foolish and I guess we’re going to find out which one it is!

Farley blinks at me, her expression unchanging. “Safety has a price, girl.”
“Everything has a price, girl,” I fire back, matching her tone. “No one knows that more than me.”

Okay so maybe the hope is a little more realistic. She knows that there is a price that must be paid for what she wants and she knows damn well that it’ll be steep.

All over the square, every type of Silver goes about their extraordinary lives. There are so many, each one grand and wonderful and powerful and so far removed from the world I know.
“This is how the other half lives,” Gisa murmurs, sensing my awe. “It’s enough to make you sick.”

This is the first look we get at the other side of the segregation between the Silvers and the Red and even though Mare know that there would be a big difference between it, she’s still struck and I think anyone in the same situation would be. Gisa is here frequently, so she’s disillusioned and cynical, but in all fairness, she has so much weight on her shoulder for a 14 year old, I think anyone in her position would be too.

Chapter 4

A Silver next to me clenches his fist and pounds on the bar, sending spider cracks through the solid rock top. A strongarm. “It’s the Lakelanders! They’re losing up north, so they’re coming down south to scare us!” A few jeer with him, cursing the Lakelands.

I found this to be interesting because he wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction if he wasn’t scared and keeping in mind that fear does often show up as anger and aggression, this makes sense. It’s also interesting because the Silvers aren’t even expected to fight, they’re completely separate from it and yet they are still scared.

The nymph raises a hand and the water rises up, splashing him again. Silvers surround the scene, jeering with glee, cheering him on. The Red sputters and gasps, trying to catch his breath. He proclaims his innocence with every spare second, but the water keeps coming. The nymph, wide-eyed with hate, shows no signs of stopping. He pulls water from the fountains, from every glass, raining it down again and again.
The nymph is drowning him.

This is the first time that a Silver has seemed to dangerous. The fight at the start was deadly, but it’s easy to become detached from an event like that when it only happens every now and then and it’s controlled. This was primal hate and fear and it reminds the reader that the Silvers aren’t just the elite and some ethereal beings, but they are not to be crossed.

I can only watch as the officer lays my sister next to me. Her eyes are on mine as he brings the butt of his gun down, shattering the bones in her sewing hand.

Keeping in mind that this is also saying goodbye to the potential that Gisa had for herself and for her family to live a better life. This is devastating.

Chapter 5

“Thief,” he says, a strange surprise in his voice.
I blink at him, fighting the urge to laugh. I don’t even have the strength to protest. “Obviously.”

I laughed at this

What I’ve done to my family. What I’ve been doing, disappointing my mother, embarrassing my father, stealing from the people I call my community. Here on the road with nothing but darkness around me, I tell a stranger how terrible I am. He doesn’t ask questions, even when I don’t make sense. He just listens.

Sometimes talking to and offloading to a stranger who you may not meet ever again, is easier than confiding in those you know and who know the players in your life.

Chapter 6

“C’mon Gee,” I mutter, helping her out of her cot and down the ladder. She moves precariously, leaning on her good arm, and Mom waits for us on the floor. Her arms close around Gisa, but her eyes are on me. To my surprise, she doesn’t look angry or even disappointed with me. Instead, her gaze is soft.

I’ll be honest, even as a mother myself, I think showing this kind of a reaction that had such awful consequences would be difficult so soon after it had happened. I don’t think that that is a failing, but it would be difficult to immediately let go of the pain that that would cause.

Walsh. The name sounds familiar. Paired with her faded hair and tanned skin, it can mean only one thing. “You’re from…?”
“The Stilts, same as you. I knew your brother Tramy, and I wish I didn’t know Bree. A real heartbreaker, that one.”

Hearing someone else’s opinions of your family is always a weird experience

Walsh stays by me, whispering advice. “Say nothing. Hear nothing. Speak to no one, for they will not speak to you.”

Even in a palace, may especially because they are in a palace, the segregation is extremely clear.

Instead of stealing from these people, I mean to serve them. The Mare Barrow of last week wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this version of herself. ‘But she was a foolish girl, and now, I pay the price.’

As she said earlier, everything has a price regardless of whether you know what that is before it comes due or not and this was the price she paid for her desperate hope.

Once, our kings used to burn dissenters with nothing more than a flaming touch. This king might not burn Reds anymore, but he still kills them with war and ruin.

If you’re going to keep an entire population under control and still serve your own power and ambition, like it or not, this is the best way to do it.

Conclusion

A LOT happened in this block of chapters and it’s starting a change from brazen and somewhat care-free living, even though it was stressful, to intrigue and imminent danger. There is a lot that is happening in very quick succession and I’m curious to know if that will be for the benefit or the story or to it’s detriment.

If you’d like to follow along or fill in the gaps, you can get the book here.