Breath and Bone by Carol Berg
Feb. 14th, 2020 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaA really great end to this story.
+ I loved the Gram = Osriel reveal. I liked Valen/Osriel but it bothered me that Osriel's betrayal was addressed more.
+ Osriel's whole plan with the souls was so obviously evil that I just wanted Valen to say that during one of his attempts to convince Osriel against it. Even beyond being able to feel the pain/anger/fear of the souls and how it affects the earth itself common sense shows it to be wrong. Valen should have compared it to what Sila and her Harrowers were doing. Because that's what Dashon Ra was going to be - a much bigger version of the corruption and destruction of sianou that was caused by Ronila's hatred. How could creating even more pain/corruption save the land? It was so foolish and stupid, even if that's certainly not confined to just Osriel's actions, that it left me annoyed at Osriel whenever he got cold and stubborn and defended his choice and refused to listen to reason.
+ I did really like that Osriel's sacrifice of pain and blood and him actually listening to his capture souls both cooled their anger and shifted his thinking, and the plan he ended up enacting instead. Sending them to tell all warriors the truth about death, then freeing them to spend their last moments with the loved ones before moving on with the dawns light was an excellent solution.
+ I loved everything about Valen becoming a Danae. I enjoyed his training with his uncle. I loved the reveal of Clyste's purpose for having him was for him to be a living map to make the Aeginea whole again. I loved him quickly learning and growing in power, and how his gards manifested and how he used his abilities. The Well becoming his sianou felt very appropriate and I love that into the future Valen will always live and protect and nurture Gillarine, the first place he ever felt at home.
(I find it interesting that three of the four original sianou are held by Stian's family and I find myself wondering about an alternate world where Clyst wasn't murdered, would Valen instead have had the Plain, rediscovered, as his sianou? And then perhaps the ruins of Askeron would be made new again and the capital of Navronne moved there. Perhaps in this reality it would become a meeting place between the worlds where humans and Danae (and Purebloods) mingle freely as equals and learn from each other. That would have been a nice future too.)
+ Kol was great. I loved his relationship with Valen and the slow-build of love between them.
+ I liked Saverian a lot. I loved that she chose to try and save Valen from crippling and her general competence and no-nonsense attitude about everything.
+ I liked the slow-building romance between Valen and Saverian. It worked so much better then what we got of Valen/Elene and I also liked the reveal of Elene/Osriel.
+ I liked that Romila's death came at the hands of Sila. That worked for me well both because they always had different goals and them coming to head over Valen made sense, and because Romila being taken out by the granddaughter she raised to be her vengeance felt appropriate.
+ I liked the depth giving to Sila. She was very wrong in all ways but how she got there was understandable and I like that she wasn't this cardboard bad guy. I was also good with Sila's fate being turned into a sparrow to live out her life in Aeginea.
+ I liked the continued bond between Valen and Jullian, and Valen's unwavering determination to save him. I liked his reactions to Valen being Danae. I liked Jullian saving Valen from Gildas and how he did it. Jullian as scholar certainly makes sense though I'm sure he'll be the next Abbott. It feels only appropriate and it makes me happy considering how the Well is Valen's sianou.
+ I bothered me a lot that Tuari remained Archon at the end. Regardless that he was fooled by Romila his choice to turn to her, to offer her his help and listen to her words almost doomed both worlds and the Canon itself to destruction. He let his arrogance blind him to who she really was (seeing her submission as truth because that's what he expected to see) and his preconceived bias and convictions (humans suck) almost lead them all into ruin. That he didn't even lose his position for it (let alone be punished in any way) while Stian lost his place as Archon for what happened with Llio (which wasn't even his fault) and was punished for saving the canon is honestly kind of infuriating. It also got Kennet murdered! And yes, that wasn't his fault but it just added to his lack of judgment which is not something you want in your Archon.
+ Valen meeting King Eodward and being given a message to give if he ever went to Aeginea felt like a big thing in the first book but then it didn't come up again in this book. It feels like a dangling thread. Especially since Valen's first/second meeting with Stian would have been the perfect opportunity to give Eodward's message. Who better to give it to than Eodward's foster father, and it also would have given another good reason for Stian to give Valen a chance.
+ Mardane Voushanti and he ended also felt like a missed beat in the story. Considering Valen's connection to life and death I was really expecting something more from Valen becoming his master than the battle ends and Voushanti walks off never to be seen again. I thought among Valen's many individual skills he would discover how to set Voushanti free and was disappointed when it didn't happen.
+ I was disappointed we didn't see either Thalassa or Janus in this book, not even at the end.
+ I was surprised Picus didn't play a role in dealing with Romila or Sila at all. He just disappeared after his one part and felt a little weird.
+ I loved the Gram = Osriel reveal. I liked Valen/Osriel but it bothered me that Osriel's betrayal was addressed more.
+ Osriel's whole plan with the souls was so obviously evil that I just wanted Valen to say that during one of his attempts to convince Osriel against it. Even beyond being able to feel the pain/anger/fear of the souls and how it affects the earth itself common sense shows it to be wrong. Valen should have compared it to what Sila and her Harrowers were doing. Because that's what Dashon Ra was going to be - a much bigger version of the corruption and destruction of sianou that was caused by Ronila's hatred. How could creating even more pain/corruption save the land? It was so foolish and stupid, even if that's certainly not confined to just Osriel's actions, that it left me annoyed at Osriel whenever he got cold and stubborn and defended his choice and refused to listen to reason.
+ I did really like that Osriel's sacrifice of pain and blood and him actually listening to his capture souls both cooled their anger and shifted his thinking, and the plan he ended up enacting instead. Sending them to tell all warriors the truth about death, then freeing them to spend their last moments with the loved ones before moving on with the dawns light was an excellent solution.
+ I loved everything about Valen becoming a Danae. I enjoyed his training with his uncle. I loved the reveal of Clyste's purpose for having him was for him to be a living map to make the Aeginea whole again. I loved him quickly learning and growing in power, and how his gards manifested and how he used his abilities. The Well becoming his sianou felt very appropriate and I love that into the future Valen will always live and protect and nurture Gillarine, the first place he ever felt at home.
(I find it interesting that three of the four original sianou are held by Stian's family and I find myself wondering about an alternate world where Clyst wasn't murdered, would Valen instead have had the Plain, rediscovered, as his sianou? And then perhaps the ruins of Askeron would be made new again and the capital of Navronne moved there. Perhaps in this reality it would become a meeting place between the worlds where humans and Danae (and Purebloods) mingle freely as equals and learn from each other. That would have been a nice future too.)
+ Kol was great. I loved his relationship with Valen and the slow-build of love between them.
+ I liked Saverian a lot. I loved that she chose to try and save Valen from crippling and her general competence and no-nonsense attitude about everything.
+ I liked the slow-building romance between Valen and Saverian. It worked so much better then what we got of Valen/Elene and I also liked the reveal of Elene/Osriel.
+ I liked that Romila's death came at the hands of Sila. That worked for me well both because they always had different goals and them coming to head over Valen made sense, and because Romila being taken out by the granddaughter she raised to be her vengeance felt appropriate.
+ I liked the depth giving to Sila. She was very wrong in all ways but how she got there was understandable and I like that she wasn't this cardboard bad guy. I was also good with Sila's fate being turned into a sparrow to live out her life in Aeginea.
+ I liked the continued bond between Valen and Jullian, and Valen's unwavering determination to save him. I liked his reactions to Valen being Danae. I liked Jullian saving Valen from Gildas and how he did it. Jullian as scholar certainly makes sense though I'm sure he'll be the next Abbott. It feels only appropriate and it makes me happy considering how the Well is Valen's sianou.
+ I bothered me a lot that Tuari remained Archon at the end. Regardless that he was fooled by Romila his choice to turn to her, to offer her his help and listen to her words almost doomed both worlds and the Canon itself to destruction. He let his arrogance blind him to who she really was (seeing her submission as truth because that's what he expected to see) and his preconceived bias and convictions (humans suck) almost lead them all into ruin. That he didn't even lose his position for it (let alone be punished in any way) while Stian lost his place as Archon for what happened with Llio (which wasn't even his fault) and was punished for saving the canon is honestly kind of infuriating. It also got Kennet murdered! And yes, that wasn't his fault but it just added to his lack of judgment which is not something you want in your Archon.
+ Valen meeting King Eodward and being given a message to give if he ever went to Aeginea felt like a big thing in the first book but then it didn't come up again in this book. It feels like a dangling thread. Especially since Valen's first/second meeting with Stian would have been the perfect opportunity to give Eodward's message. Who better to give it to than Eodward's foster father, and it also would have given another good reason for Stian to give Valen a chance.
+ Mardane Voushanti and he ended also felt like a missed beat in the story. Considering Valen's connection to life and death I was really expecting something more from Valen becoming his master than the battle ends and Voushanti walks off never to be seen again. I thought among Valen's many individual skills he would discover how to set Voushanti free and was disappointed when it didn't happen.
+ I was disappointed we didn't see either Thalassa or Janus in this book, not even at the end.
+ I was surprised Picus didn't play a role in dealing with Romila or Sila at all. He just disappeared after his one part and felt a little weird.
