In the tenth chapter of The Will of the Empress<\/i>, Sandry is challenged in multiple ways. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Will of the Empress<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For kidnapping, consent, rape.<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m halfway through this book, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headed, and I<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m scared<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Tris<\/b><\/p>\n
You know, I think Tris might find that her magic would be better received if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just tell<\/i> people about it. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever get to a point where people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t unnerved by her power and what she can do; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just part of who she is now. So I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that this is a solution to everything<\/i>. But one of the reasons the people of Pofkim village reacted as they did here was because they had no idea what was going on. Like, couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Tris have gone over to Sandry or Ambros and quietly informed them that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be doing work on the banks of the river and that things might get weird? Instead, half a day later, <\/i>Sandry has to wake her from her meditation and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s covered in mud and everyone is creeped out by the HOURS of trembling earth.<\/p>\n
SO\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe a heads up is in order? Maybe<\/i>?<\/p>\n
Claim<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried that the horrific custom of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153marriage-by-kidnapping\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is going to be something I have to keep in mind throughout the rest of this book. Again, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite have a grasp on where The Will of the Empress <\/i>is heading. Is the main conflict Berenene? Sandry going home? Sandry being kidnapped? <\/i>I mean, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a legitimate concern now!!! Look what happens here, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so horrifying and absurd and it made me angry. Well, I should also state that it was a quiet<\/i> horror because I was mostly ecstatic about Sandry literally<\/i> dressing down these creeps. It was so beautiful! I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine a better way to embarrass them out of the way. No blood was shed, and everyone got away safely. But the very idea that this is a custom that is accepted<\/i> by people in Namorn is almost as disturbing as the practice itself:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The one of runaway marriages,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said reluctantly at last. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No magistrate will penalize a man who kidnaps an unmarried woman for the purposes of marriage. Or if they do, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fine, and one so tiny that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insulting. The only exception is if someone is killed during the kidnapping. Then the man must die.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh, okay, so then<\/i> the crime is actually punishable! Not when you kidnap someone and then force them into a marriage and spend years raping them. Because seriously, marriage does not imply consent at all<\/i>, and no amount of blabbering about tradition and custom will undo that. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s upsetting to know that this exists, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more <\/i>upsetting to know that when Sandry calls the act \u00e2\u20ac\u0153barbaric,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the guards bristle<\/i>. Shit, do they not find it to be a monstrous act? Who else supports this??? THIS IS SO MESSED UP.<\/p>\n Sandry<\/b><\/p>\n Okay, look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very sad for Sandry and her emotional turmoil. I AM. I am also REALLY FUCKING HAPPY that Briar, Tris, and Daja sit around and don<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t argue<\/i> for an entire scene as they discuss what it must be like for Sandry to go through this experience. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an act of deliberate empathy. Instead of writing it all off as a noble thing and acting disinterested with her, these people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Rizu included! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unravel the complicated emotions and duties that Sandry has before her. God, even Tris gets in on it, offering up her opinion on why Sandry might feel too prideful to hand over the estates to Ambros.<\/p>\n BUT THEN THEY ALL TRADE STORIES ABOUT SANDRY GETTING ALL FIERCE AND PROTECTIVE AND IT IS TOO MUCH<\/i>. Oh my god, I love this family so, so much.<\/p>\n Wait, hold on a second.<\/p>\n Daja<\/b><\/p>\n I have to do this.<\/p>\n Rizu threw her head back to laugh. The light gilded the line from her chin down to her bosom. Daja looked at that gilding, and away, feeling heat rise in her cheeks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This will actually destroy me. Nothing else in this series or in any of Tamora Pierce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s books will ruin me quite like this.<\/p>\n Back to Sandry<\/b><\/p>\n It really is odd to see people like Jak and Fin trying to wait hand-and-foot on Sandry because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, we know she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need it. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that kind of noble. But they both come from a completely different world, one where you can actually say shit like this without being laughed at:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And you shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to defend yourself!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he protested. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are a gentle creature who must not be touched by sordidness like that!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sir, do you know what Sandry has been through? Do you know how much sordidness has touched her? <\/i>Someone get this guy a copy of Magic Steps<\/i>, I swear.<\/p>\n I jest, though. The truth is that these men are trying their best under the rules they believe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re to live by. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offensive to Sandry to be treated this way, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grown accustomed to a much more free way of living. So how is she going to cope with men like Jak and Fin vying for her attention in increasingly irritating ways? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not trying<\/i> to upset her, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the affect they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re having on her. Jak is convinced that marriage will give Sandry freedom and happiness, but Sandry knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be an invisible cage for her. She is not someone to be wooed and owned, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s becoming more and more clear that this reality is at odds with the world of Namorn.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CUB3agoZHng<\/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>. In the tenth chapter of The Will of the Empress, Sandry is challenged in multiple ways. 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-3549","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\/3549","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=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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":"