Maybe you’re right about the past. But the stories we choose to tell—those matter. It’s important that the Anevrai told a story about harmony, that they went to the effort of writing it on finely made tablets with gold at their heart. Sacred tablets. That says it was an ideal. And even when we fall short of ideals, that doesn’t mean we should give up striving for them.

And so, an extra book! We’ve finished the main series that follows the eponymous Lady Trent, so now we get a book from the point of view of her granddaughter. On top of that, we’re going full on epistolary format–it’s told through diary entries, letters, and the text of in universe books.

It’s an interesting style and I think it gives a lot to the book. It’s also non-linear, but not egregiously so.

Overall, I think it’s weaker than the first five Lady Trent books, but there’s a bit more depth to the Draconean history we didn’t quite get to in those books, which I appreciated. If that’s something you were left wanting more of, go for it!

A few supporting notes / other comments.

The linguistics we get a good amount of!

Sometimes you’re supposed to read a given character as its word meaning, like galbu for ‘heart.’ Sometimes you’re supposed to read it for its syllabic value instead, lal.

Sounds like (my understanding of) hieroglyphics.

Draconean writing is really quite irrational, when you get down to it. But it was the first time anyone had invented writing, anywhere in the world, and we can’t really fault them for not doing a very good job on the first try.

Reminds me in a lot of ways of learning Latin. 😄

Which we could also say of dinner at home sometimes, but it’s different when it’s strangers—until you’ve seen one of those strangers have a bit too much brandy and begin lecturing everyone within earshot on the proper pluralization of “octopus.” (He insisted it should be “octopodes,” after the Nichaean.)

I … may resemble this remark.