In the second chapter of The Broken Kingdoms<\/i>, the news of Role\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death upsets Shiny, and he ventures out for a disastrous afternoon. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Kingdoms<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chapter Two: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dead Goddesses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (watercolor)<\/b><\/p>\n
HOLY SHIT, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BARELY THE SECOND CHAPTER<\/i>. And this<\/i> is what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m expected to deal with???<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just so happy that this book is already dense, complicated, and emotionally intense. TWO CHAPTERS IN. I mean, this chapter opens with an exploration of racial fetishization and<\/i> ableism. One of the things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m enjoying about The Broken Kingdoms<\/i> is how Oree is absolutely nothing<\/i> like Yeine. She has such a distinct voice, and part of that includes how she views herself. She hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had the same upbringing that Yeine did, and because of that, she approaches life with far less anger than Yeine does. (Though that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> get angry, of course.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting, then, to get so much insight into her own self-esteem, how she feels validated by others, and why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in relationships with godlings like Madding. I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partially due to the fetishization Jemisin describes here, and I know that from experience. Sometimes, when you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to get the sort of attention you want from others because you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have traditional looks, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make do (and make poor decisions) because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much else. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a simple way of talking about the dangers and harm that fetishization causes, because, truthfully, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredibly complex issue. I only wanted to bring it up because I know exactly<\/i> what it feels like to let loneliness get in the way of my own desire not to be fetishized. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hard thing to deal with, especially if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re someone like myself who always<\/i> felt lonely.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I think this information helps me understand why Oree reacts the way she does in this chapter. I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite figured out why<\/i> these chapters are meant to be the titles of paintings, but I at least got a greater sense of Oree as an artist, especially how that informs her life in Shadow. Her trinkets are to help her make money, and her paintings \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which she can somehow see??!?!?!? \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are for herself. Completely<\/i> for herself. As far as I understood, she never sold them. So her life is much like many people I know \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including many years of my own \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who spend their free time exploring their creative side in the pursuit of something more. For me, I was initially a musician trying to use a job in the entertainment industry to keep moving forward, but when that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pan out, I moved and eventually ended up doing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, this<\/i>. And now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my thing??? Sometimes, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wrap my head around my life, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n
This is relevant because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s within this framework of a life that Shiny has come to exist, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here that I have<\/i> to bring up something I mentioned in the video. Given what I know of Itempas, it is so fucking unreal<\/i> to see him behaving the way he does here. There is this genuine kindness to the way he makes breakfast for Oree, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny how<\/i> nice it is. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sensual with her in a way that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t erotic, but real<\/i>. And I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go so far as to suggest that he cares<\/i> about Oree, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 oh god, why is he acting this way?<\/i> Is it a strange way of thanking Oree for taking him in without judging him?<\/p>\n
Of course, her casual reveal over breakfast that Role is dead upsets Itempas so much that he agrees to come with her to the market for the first time ever<\/i>. Again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being repetitive, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impressive to me that in the span of forty-odd pages, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m able to understand why<\/i> this is a big deal, and why Shiny speaking is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153momentous event.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 he had shown concern for something in the world besides himself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From this point, Shiny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\/Itempas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior is only more<\/i> confusing, given that we know how apathetic he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been with Oree. When Order-Keepers arrive at Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stall to interrogate her about Role\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death (OR SO WE ARE LED TO BELIEVE), Shiny does something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, what the fuck<\/i>???<\/p>\n Before we get to that point, I do want to just briefly admit that this whole interrogation is out-of-this-world scary. Granted, I now know that the Order-Keepers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the same as they were in the previous book. With gods and godlings all over Sky\/Shadow, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to keep the heretics in line. Plus, the people in the Row are usually left alone, but in this case, Oree knows it will be very easy for this group to take that away from here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all these factors plus<\/i> Previt Rimarn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surprises \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that he is a scrivener and<\/i> can sense Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153magic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that lend themselves to an oppressive, frightening atmosphere. Something terrible is brewing here, and Rimarn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suspicion of Oree is made all the worse because HE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW THAT HER HOUSEGUEST IS THE VERY GOD HE SERVES. Which does make me wonder: Does the rest of the world know that Itempas was cast into a mortal body by Nahadoth? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t? If so, this behavior wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite make sense. Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t people still worshipping Itempas in the White Hall? And how long ago did Nahadoth destroy the Maroland? Was Oree referencing the original Gods\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 War, or the events of a decade earlier, when Yeine freed the gods?<\/p>\n Even if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand many of the details, I definitely got the idea that when Oree realized she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d insulted the Arameri and<\/i> recognized Rimarn as a scrivener, she became so terrified that Shiny knew she was scared<\/i>. AND HE DEFENDS HER BY ATTACKING RIMARN. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, HE KNOWS HOW HERETICAL AND ILLEGAL THIS IS. THERE IS NO WAY HE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. So why<\/i> does he do this? WHY DOES HE HAVE THAT HORRIBLE SMILE ON HIS FACE? Clearly, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s planning something<\/i>, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be hard-pressed to come up with any sort of theory about this. I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET IT.<\/p>\n The end of this chapter isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as heavy on mysterious behavior because friendship everywhere<\/i>. We get another chance to experience Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends Vuroy, Ru, and Ohn, who all comfort Oree as best as they can while also addressing the fact that clearly<\/i>, Oree has been hiding Shiny from all of them. They recognize that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to her, though they make the mistake of assuming that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a romantic<\/i> interest. Which I guess is understandable, given that she had a relationship with Madding.<\/p>\n AND WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WITH THAT? Why did he break her heart? Why does he owe her something? Why are Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends so great? Because they are great friends<\/i>. I can answer that one. Damn, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, the action in this book is already here, and I LOVE IT.<\/p>\n Please note that the original text and the videos below use the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153madhouse.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Part 1<\/p>\n