In the eighth chapter of The Will of the Empress<\/i>, Sandry learns just what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in store for her. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Will of the Empress<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For self-harm (specifically cutting), kidnapping, consent, rape, misogyny.<\/b><\/p>\n
There are just so many RULES to be followed, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m learning why that matters and why this is clearly going to be an issue for Sandry and her companions. A large part of this chapter is worldbuilding, sure, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deliberate<\/i>. We need a sense for how rigid this society is and how Berenene places herself on top of it. We need to understand why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vital that Sandry return to take care of her lands.<\/p>\n
Pierce starts off slow, introducing one complication after another. Initially, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Zhegorz, since Ambros is concerned that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a good enough reason to bring him along. Why does that matter? Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nobility! Why does she need to give a reason? Oh, it might be because of the SPIES ALONG THE WAY, including the two at the gate, who will inevitably report back to Berenene within the hour. Within minutes of this journey beginning, they already<\/i> have to factor in the empress.<\/p>\n
And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the start. Later into their journey to the Landreg lands, Sandry openly questions the empresses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 influence. As she puts it, no one person can have that<\/i> much power. (Oh my god, WHAT HAPPENED TO BRIAR. We were all Tris in that moment.) But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about someone being invulnerable. Berenene just appears<\/i> to be so, and she utilizes this culture in order to protect herself and her interests. That becomes much more clear once Pierce reaches the part of The Will of the Empress<\/i> set in Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s estate. To me, that<\/i> is where Berenene holds the most power. The duty that these people have to her isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just financial, though that definitely plays a huge part in it.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use the bridge on the road to the Landreg castle as an example. I personally thought it was brilliant of Pierce to use it as a visual metaphor of sorts because it helped me to understand Ambros\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role as a steward better than I did before. To Sandry, it seems absolutely ludicrous that no one repaired the bridge, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never had any trouble with money after leaving home a decade earlier. But from Ambros\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, it was simply one of a number of things he had to pay for. With taxes going up each year, as well as the loan he had to take out to cover the cost of them, Ambros had to prioritize other things before the bridge. Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had to learn the hard way that things are not as they seem.<\/p>\n
And then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to talk about all the spectacle and pomp that surrounds Sandry. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just absurd to me that people should have to salute and bow and curtsy in Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to feel that way. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sandry! We all know her well and we know that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been raised well by Vedris. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used to, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like. But that contrast is important because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let Rizu explain it:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lady Sandry, custom isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just enforced by the landholders. Rebellion in one village is seen as a threat to all nobility. They would have imperial lawkeepers here in a few days, and then they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d pay with one life in ten.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WELL, THERE YOU GO. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the risk that Sandry poses by not<\/i> doing as she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expected to as a noble. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so normal to these people that Fin makes a horrific<\/i> joke about the peasants. To him, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s common enough to be humorous<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Good lord.<\/p>\n
Even the other foster-siblings get a dose of noble shock. Tris is first mistaken for a servant, then treated bizarrely once it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revealed that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mage. I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perfect representation of how status in this society means everything. <\/i>Look how differently Tris is treated in just a matter of seconds! And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to blame the servants for this; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like they know anything else. That servant woman was just doing her job, and if she hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t? Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something built into this complicated system that would punish her for not<\/i> trying to assist Tris. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perpetual cycle, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what it seems like to me.<\/p>\n
Right in the middle of all of this, though, Pierce drops a whopper. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve actually given this some more thought, and I truly cannot think of another fantasy book I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read with a character who cuts. At all. Not a single one. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve only read two non-genre books that even mentioned <\/i>it. While I think that Tris is a bit rough with Zhegorz when she should be more sympathetic, I did appreciate that this was included because it makes it harder to conflate magic with mental illness. It means that Zhegorz is<\/i> disabled, and even though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s due to his massive mistreatment over the years, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a separate issue that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need care aside from his continued education in magic. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often said that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wary about metaphorical representations of marginalizations, and I think this is a great way to avoid that. His magic powers could be read as a disability, but then he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also an actual disabled person<\/i>. I appreciate that.<\/p>\n
The final part of this chapter, though\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is part of a larger part of this book, but I am fucked up<\/i> because of it. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like go over every detail of Gudruny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s captivity, but I felt compelled to ask whether or not Gudruny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only woman in this same predicament. How widespread is this practice in western Namorn? From Gudruny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, it seems like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been around at least a few decades, since Berenene was subjected to it twice in her youth. And jesus, can we please discuss this victim-blaming garbage?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153She said, when a noblewoman came to her, that any woman foolish enough to be caught was a caged bird by nature, and must content herself with a keeper.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I honestly had a friend \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve since drifted away from one another \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who believed this kind of nonsense. They literally thought that all people who stayed in abusive relationships deserved it because they could just \u00e2\u20ac\u0153leave\u00e2\u20ac\u009d any time they wanted, so when they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, they must have desired it in the first place. Interestingly enough, they revealed this to me while<\/i> I was in an abusive relationship, and it never really hit me until years later how terrible it was. I knew they were utterly wrong, but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sting at first. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not how abuse and rape work? At all???<\/p>\n
I am glad, though, that Sandry said this:<\/p>\n
When she felt she could speak without her voice betraying her, she said very quietly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I beg your forgiveness for\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 my family. For our not doing our duty by you. You deserved better.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a start. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said a lot in these eight reviews because things are always so daunting and complicated for these characters, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true. Sandry knows that Gudruny has been wronged, and she knows she needs to rectify that. I worry, then, that this<\/i> is how Sandry will discover what the will of the empress really means.<\/p>\n
<\/b>The original text contains use of the words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crazy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mxeLFQbcRr4<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\n– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S. this summer and fall Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the eighth chapter of The Will of the Empress, Sandry learns just what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in store for her. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Will of the Empress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,502,503],"tags":[482,250],"class_list":["post-3547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emelan","category-the-circle-reforged","category-will-of-the-empress","tag-mark-reads-emelan","tag-tamora-pierce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}