It’s week three of the KUSHIEL’S DART read-along, and this week’s read was a lot of fun: some really intense political machinations going on at this point in the story, a nice change of pace. Alcuin remains my favourite character, but societal schemer Melisande ‘s been a very interesting character to follow as well.
Week 3: May 25, Chapters 19-26, is hosted by Lisa at OVER THE EFFING RAINBOW. You can find the read-along schedule HERE, and anyone and everyone is welcome to join in. There’s also a Goodreads group for SF/F read alongs.
**SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 19–26 BEYOND THIS POINT**
Returning to Cereus house was one of my favourite moments of this section. I can’t believe it’s been six years! The scope of this story blows my mind.
And oh man, Alcuiiinnn, my poor favourite character. He really got put through the wringer this time around. I love how utterly different he is to Phèdre in many ways, and alike in others.
1) We get a lot of political intrigue to wade through this week, plus a couple of pretty big dramatic revelations, not least of which was the twist of fate for Prince Baudoin and his mother. What did you make of the trial, and what became of these two?
The trial scene was really fascinating, with a lot of very subtle characterisation fitted into a small space. I loved how much personality was reflected in their deaths: the mother trading pride for dignity, the son bold to his last.
2) On a rather different, much more personal note for the House of Delaunay was the drama that unfolded surrounding Alcuin (poor Guy!). What do you think might become of Alcuin now that he appears to be out of the game?
JUST LET HIM BE HAPPY
PLEASE LET POOR ALCUIN BE HAPPYYYYYYYYYYY
*wails*
Unhappy Alcuin is the worst. My heart can’t deal with that innocent soul getting treated like this. I’m hoping that now he’s free from the more miserable trappings of his role, he can kiss Delauney and walk off into the sunset repair his friendship with Delaunay and find confidence in a role suiting his intelligence. Like being an awesome spy-scholar.
3) As we’d suspected last week, Phedre’s refusal to use her signale gets her into some trouble with d’Essoms – but it also gets her the result that Anafiel had hoped for… Do you think she’ll be more careful from here or will this only make that addictive slope more slippery for her?
Oh man, it made me *SO ANGRY* that Melisande and the Rolande both made a point of praising her for never giving the signale. That’s not how this society works, you knobheads! It’s such a dick move to actively discourage a cultural rule that’s all about respect, and it shows a lot about Melisande and Rolande’s character that they would actively discourage it.
I think Phedre’s definitely heading down a slippery slope. She’s got a solid reputation now for never giving the signale, and it’s basically being treated like a challenge now.
4) Speaking of Phedre and trouble, what do you make of the ‘relationship’ building between her and Melisande?
Y’know, it’s funny — while reading, I really enjoyed Melisande’s character. She’s scheming, manipulative, clever as all hell. She’s a *great* female sort-of-antagonist, a really pivotal character to the show. And I was liking her so far: she’s fairly upfront about most things, she’s confident in who she is.
But thinking about how she made a joke about the signale, and remembering how she left Phedre completely unconscious, has made me realise I HATE her. She’s still fascinating, but aughhhhh, she’s so despicable and I didn’t even realise until I stopped to think back on everything she’s done.
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If you’d like to hear other answers to these questions, the other participating websites are below:
Week 1: May 10, Chapters 1-8, Hosted by DAB OF DARKNESS.
Week 2: May 17, Chapters 9-18, Hosted by Allie at Tethyan Books
Week 3: May 24, Chapters 19-26, Hosted by Lisa at OVER THE EFFING RAINBOW
Week 4: May 31, Chapters 27-36, Hosted by Caroline at Beauty Is a Sleeping Cat
Week 5: June 7, Chapters 37-45, Hosted by Igret at Igret’s Corner
Week 6: June 14, Chapters 46-54, Hosted by Grace at Books Without Any Pictures
Week 7: June 21, Chapters 55-63, Hosted by Dolce Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza
Week 8: June 28, Chapters 64-73, Hosted by Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 9: July 5, Chapters 74-83, Hosted by meeeeeeee!
Week 10: July 12, Chapter 84-END, Hosted by Lisa at OVER THE EFFING RAINBOW
I didn’t really flag her comment about the signale, but now that you mention it, that was pretty terrible. BDSM doesn’t really work safely if the people involved see using the safeword as some kind of failure or embarrassing weakness.
Yes, it was pretty cool to see Phedre return to Cereus house, this time as a patron. It was probably a bit surreal for her.
Very good point about the signale. I think Melisande knows exactly what she is doing in praising Phedre for not giving the signale. However, I think Prince Baudoin is just a bit of a fool and not really into the whole BDSM thing, so there’s no toying with or scheming on his part in regards to Phedre.
Now that you’ve put it that way, I’m inclined to agree about the signale business. I think the fact of the rarity of real anguissettes is maybe shining a novelty light on Phedre for a lot of people, but where Melisande’s concerned I do think she’s giving that praise for a reason.
That said, it doesn’t erase the resulting implications. She is pretty antagonistic, even if we don’t know her motives or her game yet…