When Kai says "no I did it because I wanted to" oh yes we are definitely in Martha Wells town

/settles in with a wiggle, like a cat who has found A Very Good Spot

Ahahahahaha

The Kiddo we immediately meet is delightful

IT'S SO GOOD KAI'S SO GOOD

I AM LOVING KAI

Sanja is, understandably, my darling daughter whomst I birthed

Ziede is my wife

So so valid

i mean Tahren would obliterate me but

i am hearteyes for Ziede

Martha Wells stop creating ladies who are so precisely my type 2024 challenge

also UGH the flips between past-Kai and now-Kai and the shift in skill and naivete and perception are just SO GOOD

Kai-Enna sweeatheart darling baby child

Eeeeeeeee!!! I swapped to an audio book to cook my supper

I am so looking forward

(I might have to wait though bc Z was wearing the cologne that's a migraine trigger for me again. I thought he'd quit using it.)

(He doesn't know I've been - experiencing it as a trigger)

(Because I haven't been sure how to say. I know I reeeeeeally need to. Ugh.)

I think I averted full blown migraine! Hurrah! Gonna listen to a few radio plays just in case)

phew!!

Kai: /encounters coffee
Kai: why

Kai, for a century: Dahin, is this really the time?

Dahin: /is ND af and has never once not pursued a hyperfixation/

He so so is. I love how totally taken aback Kai Enna is the first time.

Gah that was good

I finished last night, turned it in to the library and immediately placed a hold for a second read

And found out that my library does have the first Raksura book so I put that on hold too.

Slightly less hoarding behavior with words.

OH i should read that one, I know nick has it!

IT WAS VERY GOOD

AND

THE RUGPULL AT THE END!

sorry 'bout it Ramad

Sorry not sorry SOME of us believe in using and working hard at democracy and its mechanisms instead of subverting them by mind controlling people to lock them into an enchanted stasis wtf

It was a BEAUTIFUL rug pull

Kai being so deeply of both his people in the end, in the way he acts and the things he chooses and values, even if some of his choices and some of the things done to him and them, have also sundered those ties in many ways

BASHASA DIDN'T WANT AN EMPIRE!!!!!!!

things that I loved so much (an inexhaustive list):
1) they weren't in stasis for hundreds of years. They were literally only out of the game for A SINGLE YEAR, for the purpose of an election. I have never seen an elaborate tomb setup used for that purpose in fiction before, 10/10 no notes

2) how perfectly Wells sells Kai, Zeide, Dahin, and Tahran as Very Very Old Friends/Fam. they know each other so well they are able to effectively surprise one another FOR THAT ACTUAL REASON. See: Dahin sneaking back off to the Summer Halls

2b) sold further by dialogue like everyone asking Kai if he's sleeping with Ramad, because "he's basically your type" to which Kai replies "I HAVE LITERALLY ONLY EVER HAD ONE SERIOUS LONGTERM RELATIONSHIP" and them all going "yeah with that guy's spiritual clone" prompting Kai to hurl himself into the nearest body of water

3) the Arn-Nefa reveal, and how Zeide immediately hones in on it by referencing the attempted life-drain in the past as "he was an older demon in an older Saredi, of course it felt like a betrayal, you would never have done that to a junior demon/clansperson, it's just not who you are or representative of your values."

3b) which is ITSELF backed up by literally everything Kai has done for ancillary characters throughout the whole text. THAT BOY IS SO SAREDI IT'S COMING OUT HIS PORES AND I LOVE HIM.

Sanja, Tenes, the cohort, if he perceives even the SLIGHTEST social obligation or law of hospitality in place he goes all out every time

Kai: whose feral child is this? /already whisking Sanja under his cloak before anybody has the chance to speak up/

not-so-casually breaking Tenes' familiar bonds 2.6 minutes after becoming aware of her existence

heck his sense of obligation to ENNA

i just i love him, i love him so much, what a good kid

4) STOPPING AND THINKING ABOUT HOW CULTURES RESHAPE THEMSELVES IN THE WAKE OF NEAR-POPULATION-WIPE. Empty cities! agriculture gone rogue! very little common grasp of anything beyond the most recent generation of history (and even THAT'S wildly mythologized). I mean the fact that A Tomb At Sea could enter into local folklore IN THE SPAN OF A YEAR says a lot!!

5) Bashasa's whole schtick boiling down to 'Find a hill to die on. Wait, we're not all dead yet? FIND ANOTHER HILL.'

the absolute madman

has a whole train of immortals chasing after him yelling at him to nap and eat. does not listen. assigns his best soldiers to do the exact same thing to the train of immortals.

Martha Wells knows exactly what dynamics we thirst for and she delivers EVERY TIME

Yes!!! It is AMAZING

I also love how Dahin hops in at the deep end with like "if you're romantically together he shouldn't be talking to you that way I don't like it >:/"

Kai: ... ... ....never mind the horrific water tomb is less uncomfortable than this conversation

And yes yes yes

Gah it's SO good

I love how Kai tells Sanja "we're friends" while she's still totally panicking over seeing the body's previous person die and watching Kai spring into terrifying self protective violence

And she's like "...we are?"

And then within twelve hours she's like "WE'RE FRIENDS"

Hey! You! Important looking person!!! Be nice to my FRIEND!!!!

Dahin is and always has been Team Kai since minute 1

"No i wouldn't eat you, we're friends" says the demon who has stolen bodies all of twice and THE FIRST TIME IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

for obvious reasons I adore Sanja and her instinctive con artist tricks

she immediately knows how to align herself with the right adults and absorb any and all useful knowledge they may be able to impart

That one Captain: this child should not be hanging out with a demon and a witch!!!

Sanja, deadpan: a childcatcher sold me to an evil wizard who wanted to sacrifice me to this demon, my life has drastically improved in the last 48 hours

heck I love how KAI is so upset to have to take over the body without any knowledge of its previous occupant. Like. That's not how this is meant to be done. it's supposed to be consensual, with people to properly memorialize the former tenant! or at least it's supposed to be a victory over a terrifying and equally skilled enemy!

Kai: I'M NEVER EVEN GOING TO KNOW THIS BOY'S NAME

Zeide: at least he's pretty

Kai: ZEIDE THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT AND YOU KNOW IT

I KNOW it's so heartbreaking and so hard and like - he would have protected Sanja anyway? But clearly the kid was protecting her - that's why he died before they brought him all the way, because he was provoking them to try and shield her and li k e

That bit of intention "too young to be in this" towards Sanja

Is all Kai gets from his passing

So protecting Sanja takes on an extra weight to him