I just need to find somebody who’s read these books and wants to talk for two weeks.
Second time through: I still couldn’t make myself read slow enough, so I ended up typing out the book by hand. (Don’t ask. This is something I do.) It took me ten days to type-read the book in entirety, 60k words, which is at least more satisfactory than ten hours this time. Except now my copy is full of notes in the margins where I talked back to the book, carrying on conversation with— who? Damen, Laurent? Pacat? Myself? All of the above.
It’s even better the second time.
It’s still basically prologue, but guess what. I love epilogues now, so I love prologues now too. The story all tracks. Even this early, every detail adds up to what will be the full picture. Actions and dialogue that read one way the first time are full of different meaning the second time. That’s one reason I’m typing it out, to see how Pacat does it, no info dumps, no flashbacks, just the slow change of perception in one linear timeline in one limited POV.
That kind of enjoyment, I’ve got to bump it up to five stars. Even if, once again, I’ve already moved on to book two and it’s better.
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Original review, 9/10/19:
I’m losing sleep. It’s this book. I’ve been so good all year about not letting anything get in the way of a good night’s sleep and then here comes this trilogy to wreck my new habits. Not because it’s giving me nightmares or insomnia, but because I literally cannot put it down at night. Even worse: I’m waking up at dawn to read more. That doesn’t happen to me! Mornings are torture. I like delayed gratification. I can always put a book down. Not with this book.
Court intrigue is my weakness. Laurent is my kryptonite. This book has kept me up nights and I’m still gonna give it four stars because I’m already devouring the next one and holy moly, it’s better.
This is prologue at best. The best is yet to come. i.e. LAURENT.