In the thirteenth chapter of The Will of the Empress, I cannot. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Will of the Empress.
Too many emotions.
Noble Understanding
I find the interactions between the foster siblings to be as realistic as I could imagine. While it’s frustrating for them to constantly argue, it makes sense. Now that a few of their connections have been reopened, Pierce isn’t rushing towards a joyous reunion. They’re still very careful around one another. I think the most difficult pairing thus far, and the one connection that’ll open last, is the one between Sandry and Tris. In terms of class, they just come from immensely different worlds. Their temperaments are at polar ends as well, and it makes matters more complicated than they already are.
So I get why both characters are so snappy with one another, but I also desperately want them to get along. But it’s their deliberate refusal to empathize or sympathize with the other that’s at the root of their issues with one another. Tris is dismissive of Sandry’s duties as a noble, and Sandry doesn’t even take into account that the entire notion of this duty is nonsensical to someone who came out of poverty. There’s no bridge building here, and until there is, the two of them will continue to bicker and pick apart each other.
But that sense of understanding about her duty takes Sandry to an even more complicated place. I swear, just when Sandry figures out some new responsibility to have or cultural tradition to live up to, she’s given ten more. While the foster-siblings are all given maids, Sandry gets two more maids and footmen. Why? Because that’s just the way it is. Well, it goes beyond that, as Gudruny explains to Sandry:
“With more servants to direct, I grow more important in the servants’ areas. They they’ll all serve us as they should. It may sound like little things to you, but one of those little things is your bath water. We’d both like it to be hot when it gets here.”
There are just so many unspoken rules to learn, y’all. So many of them!
Tris’s Offer
I’d actually forgotten about Berenene’s order that Ishabel court Tris with an offer to stay at Dancruan. Ishabel handles it well, even if she’s not subtle, and I think Tris appreciated how direct it was. And look, this clearly complicates matters, up to a point. Five hundred argib a year is a fortune to Tris, and the other resources she’d have at her disposal? It’s unreal.
But Tris, like Briar, is not easily swayed by grandiose offers. She’s well aware that ultimately, Berenene wants a war mage. Unfortunately for the empress, she has no idea what toll being a war mage (as a child!) has had on Tris, because then she’d know how much she despises the very idea of it. Plus, Tris has been fairly certain that her future includes time at Lightsbridge, not cooped up in Namorn working for an empress.
Still, it’s a tempting offer, one that’s also realistic for her to take. Gah, I don’t know what they’ll choose! I suppose it all relies on whether or not Sandry can leave for home.
The Welcoming Party
I don’t even know where to start. SO MUCH HAPPENS HERE, including THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER. The party the siblings attend is always going to be one of the more memorable things in this novel for me, but there’s truly a lot that occurs that’s important tot he book as a whole. Tris is courted by Quen concerning the empress’s offer, first of all, which allows Tris to figure out just who is closest to Berenene. That includes Shan, which further complicates EVERYTHING.
But while Tris is off with Quen speaking of her experience with Niko, my life is changed. I’ve spent a significant amount of time – since the reveal in chapter five – awaiting the inevitable. It’s so unbelievable to me that this is happening, but it’s real. I’m so used to doing this same thing but expecting nothing but a bait-and-switch that it feels foreign to me to expect Daja’s eventual romance with Rizu. But I’ve gotten to, and it’s not a trick, and then:
At the same time, seeing the way the light struck Rizu’s curly lashes, casting their shadow over her eyes, she thought, She’s so beautiful. The question burst out of her before she realized it: “Why aren’t you dancing? You haven’t danced all night. And nobody’s asked you, even though you’re almost as beautiful as the empress.â€
HA. HA. DAJA, YOU SLY THING, YOU. And when the kiss happened? Look, here’s the thing that broke me:
She felt as if the sun had just catapulted into her mind. Dazzled with what it showed her, she realized also, Rizu’s afraid. She’s had enough people tell her no that she’s not sure…
Perhaps this isn’t something that’s familiar to others, but it’s one of the more frightening aspects of being non-straight. While clubs, bars, and dating sites/apps have helped us immensely, there’s still a stigma around our sexuality, meaning that we cannot just approach people with our interest in them. We risk rejection, shame, or, in some cases, violence. Now, of course, everyone risks feeling foolish or ashamed when they put themselves out there in this situation, but I think Pierce touches on something else here. There’s a fear that the people we’re attracted to aren’t even compatible with us on a sexuality level, meaning any sort of romance is literally impossible. When I was in the closet in high school, all of my unrequited crushes were on straight men, and let me tell you: that is a path to darkness. DON’T DO IT.
My point is this: Rizu has most likely been rejected by woman after woman for most of her life, and Daja is finally the one to say yes, and my heart has exploded.
But you know what else rules about this? Well, there are two things. First of all, because the connection is open between Daja and Sandry, Sandry gets a WAVE of emotions and desire from her sister. So what does she do?
Once he was gone and she didn’t have to work to talk to him, she put up more blocks on her connection to her sister, trying to keep it open without knowing anything of what Daja was up to now.
I respect that SO MUCH. I respect that Sandry realizes her sister probably wants privacy during this time! That’s really cool of her because –
I don’t think she knew, thought Sandry. Or if she did, she thought she was more like Rosethorn, interested in women and men.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOW CAN YOU DROP THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF A THOUGHT LIKE THIS? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???
Oh my god OH MY GOD WHAT?!?!?!?!!? ROSETHORN IS CANONICALLY BISEXUAL, TOO??? I am overwhelmed by this book I CANNOT DO THIS.
And that’s not even everything that happens at this party. I haven’t even talked about poor Sandry, who goes from feeling overwhelmed by Fin’s attention to desiring Shan’s attention, only to be too flustered to actually accept it. Given that we now all know that Shan is Berenene’s lover and that he shouldn’t be courting Sandry at all, I’m now more worried than ever about his fate and Sandry’s. It’s sad enought that she’s stuck in this situation, unable to do as she wants or to see who she wants. I don’t think Shan is making this easier, either. Shouldn’t he know better? Isn’t he aware that he’ll just make things harder for Sandry if he’s not careful?
Then we’ve got Fin, who is so hurt by Sandry abandoning him to go outside with Shan and dance with Jak that he appears to be taking matters into his own hands by… I don’t know, maybe he’s actually going to kidnap Sandry and claim her as his own??? THIS IS NOT A GOOD PLAN, SIR, YOU SHOULD ABANDON IT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSqTbuov-3s
Mark Links Stuff
– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
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