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Some spoilers for later books of the series under the cuts, as well as this one.
This is the book where Julius and Marci both go from complete underdogs to potential major players—he ends up on the new clan council, she finds out what Ghost really is and renegotiates their bond. There are hints that both of them could change the world; mostly Julius at this point (both the dragon constructs seem fascinated by him and the possibility of real change that he represents, and it's in this book that Bob basically admits that many of his current plots are just "throw Julius at the problem, while taking basic precautions to avoid his death"). Despite all of the Chosen One tropes appearing around both of them, they still stay sympathetic, and still come off as profoundly overwhelmed most of the time; it's a nice balance. And while I've said this before—I really love that Julius becomes more of a pacifist as time goes on, and the narrative lets him succeed without going easy on him. So things like the way he manages to outwit Estella end up feeling earned.
(Julius's Fang is perfect for him: he can literally force his relatives to take a time out when they get violent. I kind of love that. And I'm interested in what it implies about the Quetzalcoatl, who seems to have been a weird mixture of a classically monstrous dragon and something much more thoughtful.)
Some random thoughts:
Vann Jeger's first scene (other than making Marci's eventual beatdown of him really satisfying) foreshadows a lot of stuff —the attitudes of the nature spirits, certainly, but also Ghost's nature—Vann Jeger threatens Marci with dying and being forgotten, and that's the core of Ghost. (Vann Jeger is my favorite new voice, though, other than Amelia; can't vouch for the quality of his Norwegian accent, but it's nice and distinctive.)
When Chelsie is trying to get Julius to kill their mother, she says "We were the ones she made do her dirty work". Her and who else? Bob and Amelia aren't under her control, Justin hasn't seen her worst side yet. So who is she talking about? Conrad, strained as their relationship seems to be? F-clutch, who haven't been properly introduced yet? Their jobs aren't so much "dirty" as menial, as far as I can remember.
Bob seems to be holding a grudge against Bethesda for his grandfather's death... which, unless I'm very confused, happens after Bob's seer powers activated. So either Bob failed to prevent it, or he was in fact complicit. And he quotes Bethesda back to her, something like "we'll need as much of your skin in the game as possible" (paraphrased), which sounds very much like she once forced him into an enterprise he didn't want to help her with. I really want to know their history.
My notes from before the latest book came out said that either Chelsie or Fredrick would be a decent council member, aside from their justifiable resentment of the clan, after the obvious barriers were removed. I am kind of impressed that I managed to predict Fredrick getting Chelsie's Fang; I'd been assuming he would leave the clan.
I really like that the narrator gives Bethesda and Amelia similar voices—I'm pretty sure it's on purpose, since the rest of the female characters sound distinct from each other, and it's a nice character note.
On the other hand, he mixes up Bob and the Black Reach in a key scene (the Black Reach's voice says a line that only makes sense from Bob) which is seriously distracting.
Aside from his semi-secret wish for Amelia to kill their mother and take over as Heartstriker, Conrad is pretty much a cipher in this book. (Although it's not really his fault, since he spends most of it mind-controlled by Estella). Still, it's kind of amusing to me that the sole member of Team Amelia for Heartstriker! is in fact Bethesda's bodyguard.
Ian as Julius's first Actual Draconic Ally (as opposed to friend) is interesting, although of course that's something that comes through much more in the next book. Each time I read, I’m a bit surprised by how much I like Ian—I think part of it is that he consistently keeps his word; then again, so far it's been to his benefit to do so. But he's a character type I usually dislike, and yet I'm fond of him.
I'd forgotten that Katya actually comes out and says she'll kill Estella for what she did to Svena. So I wasn't expecting her to do exactly that in the climax of the book. It's easy to think of Katya as the Three Sisters's failure, but just like Julius, she outgrows that role spectacularly.
Julius tracking down Justin via pizza takeout is one of my favorite Julius moments, ever. Smart, thinks out of the box, and then he makes up the workers' tips because he feels bad for them and it's his brother who made their lives difficult after all.
And Chelsie trying to save Julius's life by threatening to kill him: well, when all you have is a hammer... She’s had one tool for a very long time.
Amelia's list of things she likes about Marci includes a preference or female humans and thinking Marci is cute. If this was a bigger fandom there would so be fic after that line.
This is the book where Julius and Marci both go from complete underdogs to potential major players—he ends up on the new clan council, she finds out what Ghost really is and renegotiates their bond. There are hints that both of them could change the world; mostly Julius at this point (both the dragon constructs seem fascinated by him and the possibility of real change that he represents, and it's in this book that Bob basically admits that many of his current plots are just "throw Julius at the problem, while taking basic precautions to avoid his death"). Despite all of the Chosen One tropes appearing around both of them, they still stay sympathetic, and still come off as profoundly overwhelmed most of the time; it's a nice balance. And while I've said this before—I really love that Julius becomes more of a pacifist as time goes on, and the narrative lets him succeed without going easy on him. So things like the way he manages to outwit Estella end up feeling earned.
(Julius's Fang is perfect for him: he can literally force his relatives to take a time out when they get violent. I kind of love that. And I'm interested in what it implies about the Quetzalcoatl, who seems to have been a weird mixture of a classically monstrous dragon and something much more thoughtful.)
Some random thoughts:
Vann Jeger's first scene (other than making Marci's eventual beatdown of him really satisfying) foreshadows a lot of stuff —the attitudes of the nature spirits, certainly, but also Ghost's nature—Vann Jeger threatens Marci with dying and being forgotten, and that's the core of Ghost. (Vann Jeger is my favorite new voice, though, other than Amelia; can't vouch for the quality of his Norwegian accent, but it's nice and distinctive.)
When Chelsie is trying to get Julius to kill their mother, she says "We were the ones she made do her dirty work". Her and who else? Bob and Amelia aren't under her control, Justin hasn't seen her worst side yet. So who is she talking about? Conrad, strained as their relationship seems to be? F-clutch, who haven't been properly introduced yet? Their jobs aren't so much "dirty" as menial, as far as I can remember.
Bob seems to be holding a grudge against Bethesda for his grandfather's death... which, unless I'm very confused, happens after Bob's seer powers activated. So either Bob failed to prevent it, or he was in fact complicit. And he quotes Bethesda back to her, something like "we'll need as much of your skin in the game as possible" (paraphrased), which sounds very much like she once forced him into an enterprise he didn't want to help her with. I really want to know their history.
My notes from before the latest book came out said that either Chelsie or Fredrick would be a decent council member, aside from their justifiable resentment of the clan, after the obvious barriers were removed. I am kind of impressed that I managed to predict Fredrick getting Chelsie's Fang; I'd been assuming he would leave the clan.
I really like that the narrator gives Bethesda and Amelia similar voices—I'm pretty sure it's on purpose, since the rest of the female characters sound distinct from each other, and it's a nice character note.
On the other hand, he mixes up Bob and the Black Reach in a key scene (the Black Reach's voice says a line that only makes sense from Bob) which is seriously distracting.
Aside from his semi-secret wish for Amelia to kill their mother and take over as Heartstriker, Conrad is pretty much a cipher in this book. (Although it's not really his fault, since he spends most of it mind-controlled by Estella). Still, it's kind of amusing to me that the sole member of Team Amelia for Heartstriker! is in fact Bethesda's bodyguard.
Ian as Julius's first Actual Draconic Ally (as opposed to friend) is interesting, although of course that's something that comes through much more in the next book. Each time I read, I’m a bit surprised by how much I like Ian—I think part of it is that he consistently keeps his word; then again, so far it's been to his benefit to do so. But he's a character type I usually dislike, and yet I'm fond of him.
I'd forgotten that Katya actually comes out and says she'll kill Estella for what she did to Svena. So I wasn't expecting her to do exactly that in the climax of the book. It's easy to think of Katya as the Three Sisters's failure, but just like Julius, she outgrows that role spectacularly.
Julius tracking down Justin via pizza takeout is one of my favorite Julius moments, ever. Smart, thinks out of the box, and then he makes up the workers' tips because he feels bad for them and it's his brother who made their lives difficult after all.
And Chelsie trying to save Julius's life by threatening to kill him: well, when all you have is a hammer... She’s had one tool for a very long time.
Amelia's list of things she likes about Marci includes a preference or female humans and thinking Marci is cute. If this was a bigger fandom there would so be fic after that line.