A Cast of Corbies - Chapter Twenty-Two
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i_read_whatWoo. I'm just noticing how little I've posted in December. End of the year shit and holidays will do that every time. (Read: Laziness).
But hey, I get to finish a book today! Thank god!
So last time, things were genuinely exciting - as long as we don't think about the fact that Bardic Magic would have been specifically useful throughout the chaos and not a single character remembers they have it.
So we start out with some lovely imagery, as Raven wakes up to a bleak and gray morning, "the sky dead and dull over a world of ashes". There's someone with him - Maggie, of course, and the fire is out.
Raven reaches out to stroke her hair and realizes his hand is undamaged - apparently someone had come by and worked a healing spell on him. He wonders if it was Nightjar. He hopes so, because it would mean she got out safely.
We get some very nicely written imagery here:
To his left, a small family group, father, mother, and son, ragged as homeless wanderers, huddled about a small campfire, their one blanket pulled taut about all of them. To his right, a man wandered disconsolately, staring into each face he passed, till at last he sank to the ground, weeping. A woman rose wearily from where she sat and pulled him against her, rocking him gently in her arms, and Raven turned away, suddenly flooded with memories of the horrors he’d seen. A little girl met his glance with the steady gaze of the very young, clutching what he at first thought was a doll. Then the small pink thing moved in her arms, and Raven realized it was a cat. Almost all its fur had been singed off, but the animal didn’t seem to be particularly bothered by that; it joined the child in staring at him, feline arrogance in every naked pink line of it.
Life, Raven thought with a smile, fierce, silly, wonderful life.
Aw.
He spots people he knows: Jaysen and Linnet, curled up together and mostly unsinged. There are tents. And then he spots Duke Arden and Regina, who seem very happy. And we get a halfassed romantic moment.
As I guess they are, Raven thought, and glanced down at Magpie, astonishing himself at the warm surge of- Yes. Nightingale had been right with her prediction back however long ago it had been. It was love, it was indeed. Just then, Magpie came awake with a start and a shout, hand reaching blindly for him. “It’s all right,” Raven soothed, crouching beside her, taking her into his arms and stroking her poor, scorched hair. “I’m here, my love. We’re safe. We’re on the other side of the river.”
Look, I don't like being negative about the main pairing of the book, but this was very badly handled all around. I'm still not altogether sure that these two even LIKE each other as people. There was plenty of time to build an actual relationship here, but the book honestly didn't bother.
Maggie is upset about her singed hair, but Raven reassures her. And to be fair, she's smiling and admits that it's because of him that she has any hair left at all.
We do get some hint that our heroes are affected by the trauma of what they, and everyone else, have been throguh:
“Ah, well,” Raven muttered in embarrassment. “I could hardly have let you burn.”
Magpie shuddered, the smile fading from her face. “Others weren’t so lucky.”
“Love, we all did our best,” he said, as much for his own sake as hers. “No more could have been done.”
But she stared out over his shoulder, at the smoke that hovered over the blackened remains of the city, and shivered. “I know, I know. What happened, happened. I … just can’t get some of those horrible, horrible images out of my mind.”
“I know,” Raven said softly. “Neither can I.”
I won't mock this bit. It's reasonable and realistic.
So they get to see the damage in the city. Fortunately, some of it's still standing. Stone houses. And the ducal palace. And okay, considering how negative I've been to Magpie for the whole book, I'll give her this line:
“I’m sure that’s going to be a great comfort to all the homeless,” Magpie said drily.
Fair fucking point.
The Manager pops up with a good quote and we learn that most of the Company made it - he doesn't specify who didn't, but he does say that all the musicians are alive.
Magpie asks if they're harmed and well...
“Your drummer, the one you call Crow ….he’s a hero. Raced into a burning building to rescue no less than three children from death by fire. He moved so fast they were quite unscathed. Unfortunately,” the Manager added reluctantly, “he wasn’t quite as fortunate.”
“Powers!” Raven exclaimed. “Is he-did he—”
“He’s alive.” The Managers tone suggested they not ask further. “But I’m afraid he was rather badly burned. He’s in the nearest tent, that gray one.”
Poor Crow. Raven wants to see him. He's told Crow is sleeping, but Raven wants to go anyway, noting that while they're not the same clan, they're both Roma and maybe Crow will know he's there.
Because we still can't escape microaggressions even at the end of this fucking book, the Manager shakes his head at "what he plainly thought superstition". But he does take him.
Aw, poor kid:
The tent was crowded with makeshift cots full of the injured. Weary priests and lay healers made their way down the narrow aisles, casting healing spells and soothing pain. On the nearest cot lay Crow, most of his hair singed short, what was left curling tightly about a face that looked very young and vulnerable in sleep. His wiry body was thick with bandages. Raven snagged a passing priestly mage, a plump, harried, middle-aged man with gentle eyes.
Aw. Poor kid. Raven frantically asks after him, but is told he'll heal. Nightjar's been seeing to him. The mage-priest is one of the good ones and compliments her talent.
Raven had to relax. “And a true gift for knowing exactly how and when to use it. Well, her spells had already set your friend on the road to healing by the time we’d found him. A pity she claims to have no religious vocation, because that Nightjar was a true selfless wonder, here, there, tending everyone she could possibly tend, wearing herself out to the point of exhaustion. Finally we had to set a sleep spell on her so she wouldn’t kill herself!” He looked fondly over at another cot, three or four rows away. “If I had been a layman and had a child, I would have been proud to have one like your Nightjar.”
And I'm realizing I don't know how old Nightjar is. I figured she was older, but this sounds like she's quite a bit younger. In which case, I don't see why SHE couldn't have played love interest, since she's done considerably more in the plot than Magpie.
Raven traces a Roma sign for luck and health on Crow's head, and Crow smiles in his sleep. Sadly, no one witnesses this, so no one has to eat their skepticism. That's the main problem with all the microaggressions in this story - they're probably realistic to the setting, but there's never a time when we get the gratification of seeing the characters acknowledge that they're wrong.
He gets back to the Manager and Magpie. He asks if the Manager was able to save any of his plays - yes, actually. It's standard practice for playwrights to register a copy with the Church and store it in the vaults. The Manager hadn't seen the point, but complied, and thus his play will be seen again.
Magpie suspects it won't be soon though, pointing out the homeless folk around them. Right now the weather is okay, but how will they be fed. What happens when winter comes.
Which of course allows Regina to appear and the story to remember that she and Magpie are supposed to be friends:
“Regina!” The two women fell into each other’s arms, chattering busily in relief while Raven and the Manager exchanged wry male glances. Regina had somehow managed to wash her face and bind up the remains of her costume into something like a serviceable set of clothing. And, as always, she looked magnificent. More like the survivor of a fire in a play, than a real survivor of a real fire.
Regina, of course, gasps over Magpie's hair but starts immediately talking about how they can fix it before getting herself together to touch base.
We find out who died - two actors. An extra no one met, and "Kedrin", the dude who played Sir Verrick. Aw.
Raven remembers seeing the guy standing firm and shouting directions at the mob in the future and thinks about how much braver he was than Raven. I'm not sure about braver, but it might have been nice if you bards remembered that Bardic Magic is SUPPOSED to help calm the crowd...
Sorry, broken record.
Regina tells us that Kedrin had been terrified of growing old and too feeble to remain in the theatre. Instead, he died a hero.
The real reason Regina's there though is because Arden's going to give a proclamation.
It's a good speech of course. The key takeaways is that he's sent a messenger to the King for relief. The Church Mages have said that the Church will provide tents for shelter until more lasting ones can be built. He also says that his coffers, and that of the Council, will be immediately turned toward rebuilding the city.
They can't go home yet though, until the workers sent by the Duke determine it's safe. And any looters will be hanged.
He also explains the cause of the fire: as far as they can tell it was a bungled assassination attempt. This of course leads to an affirmation of the crowd's support of the Duke. Yay.
Lady Ardis shows up. Raven recognizes her immediately and vocally which causes Magpie to ask if she's the mysterious friend. Raven confirms, stating Talaysen had told him not to talk about her. Magpie noticeably does NOT apologize for having accused him of pursuing an affair. Because why would she? She's the heroine. She doesn't need to treat her love interest like a person, right?
This bit is interesting though:
“Duke Arden,” she began formally. “Please accept my sorrow for all your people.”
“I’m sorry, Lady,” the Duke said, just as stiffly. “Words are easy, and I can’t accept them. With the Church’s aid, the fire would never have spread so far. But without it-we were doomed. Where were you?”
She winced at that cry of pain. “Believe me,” the Lady Ardis said grimly, “if we could have helped you sooner, we would have done so. There was … internal trouble in the Church. Trouble that detained us until it was almost too late.”
I like the tension here, between two characters that are unequivocally heroic. Ardis hedges a little with her explanation, but Raven speaks up: the theatre hating priest was involved after all. She just calls him a "Clever [Roma]" which is answer enough.
Ardis, by the way, is now the High Bishop and Chief Priest of Kingsford. Arden thinks that's good, but asks what she'll do for his people, and she has an answer: anyone who doesn't want to stay in the tent city can live on the Cathedral Grounds in the Faire tents. They'll get food and clothing from the Church in outlying districts, and the Church's coffers will also help rebuild.
The Duke is happy and Ardis has another gift:
“Thank you,” the Duke said simply, and went to one knee in deepest reverence. The Lady Ardis placed a gentle hand on his soot-stained hair in blessing, then told him, “Rise, please. Thanks to what our good Raven has told me, I have learned there is still one matter that needs to be resolved.” As a puzzled Duke Arden got back to his feet, Lady Ardis looked straight at Regina. “It is unfortunate that Regina Shevron perished in the fire. She was a good and brave lady.”
Everyone's confused, but Ardis formally introduces the Duke (and Regina) to the "Honorable Lady Phenyx Asher", Ardis's cousin, who's been helping them all night. She does a little baptism to legitimize it.
Raven figures it out first and explains it for the readers who might not follow: she's basically, legally, made Regina a new person which gets her out of the vow AND makes her able to marry the Duke since she's "a new person, born into the nobility".
...bullshit.
Okay, look, Regina's a good character and she and Arden are the closest thing this book has to a real romance, so I'm glad they got together. But you can't tell me that an Oath to God like Regina swore is so easily circumvented. She and Arden genuinely believed that that was it. There would never be a marriage.
It makes sense that Raven's on board with this solution, but I don't see how this is any different from the solution I suggested earlier: just lie and pretend it never happened. It's the same thing.
Well, to be fair, the elevation into nobility is new.
So Arden proposes and Regina accepts. And I'm still kind of sad that this book wasn't a threesome. Or even a love triangle with Arden-Regina-Raven. I think that could have been reasonably compelling: Regina loves Arden but their statuses keep them apart. She and Raven have chemistry. He's a performer too. And they CAN marry, but they're looking for different things in life. In the end, Regina chooses the flawed, unequal but true love that she has with Arden. And Ardis still gives us this solution, which Raven knows is false, but he goes along with it because he's happy for a woman he loved too.
I think that would have worked fine! And maybe if Magpie weren't in the picture, we could have gotten to know some of the other performers better too.
Absurdly, this leads to another proposal:
He laughed at her wariness. “Oh Magpie, my love, don’t be dense! As the Duke said so forcefully, will you marry me?”
She stared at him blankly for a moment. “Oh—” she said. “Oh! Oh my dear, my very dear-b-but I don’t have any dower at all!”
He tossed back his head in a loud roar of laughter. “Hell, woman, I’m a Gypsy! What sort of dower do you think I have? Magpie, dearest, I don’t have anything but the clothes on my back-and my fiddle, of course.”
“But-but-Raven,” she protested weakly, “You’re getting short-changed! I don’t have courage, wit, or beauty!”
He laughed at her. “You have wit enough to keep me working to come up with snappy retorts, beauty enough to satisfy meeven with that silly, frizzy hair- and as for courage-well, cowards are simply people who have forgotten they are brave.”
...yep.
After an entire book of clashing, Magpie taking potshots at him while he stews resentfully, Magpie being a shrieking harpy every time he talks to another woman, we get a marriage proposal.
That last speech is supposed to convince us about what Raven sees in Magpie, which...maybe, I guess? But I'm still not sure what Magpie sees in Raven. She hates his jokes and wisecracks, was offended and angry when he provoked the priest, is casually racist, assumes he's sleeping with everyone. She likes his appearance, sure, but that's it.
The book tries to convince us that this is a happy ending equal to that of the other two:
Her brow wrinkled. “It’s not going to be a peaceful life together, I warn you that.”
“If I wanted peace, I’d have joined the Church.”
Raven stopped short, blinking. “Does that mean you’ve accepted?”
“Yes!” she cried, with a smile as dazzling and joyous as Regina’s. “As Regina, the Lady Asher put it, a hundred times yes!”
“I wish I’d written that, too,” the Manager moaned in an agony of envy.
Yeah, no, you're a better writer than that by all accounts.
Also, it might have been nice if Magpie promised she'd treat him better than she has? But no, he's just going to have to live with never speaking to another woman again.
Oh, and hey, remember the long-running mystery that was joked about and forgotten at the beginning of the book?
How DID Raven lose his eye?
A timeless moment later, Magpie nibbled his ear-lobe gently, then whispered,
“There’s only one thing I need to know before we wed?” Uh-oh. “Hmm?’
“Just how did you lose that eye?” Her face was alive with curiosity.
Raven grinned. At long last, he would be able to tell someone the truth! No matter how ridiculous it was. “Ah well, no secrets between husband and wife. You know how a mother’s always saying to her son, “Be careful with that stick or you’ll poke your eye out’?”
And okay, I do rather love the dramatic subversion here.
However, it does bring to mind a regular complaint I've had about this book. We hear on and on about Magpie's traumatic backstory and how it justifies her behavior. We don't hear a thing about Raven's. Except the occasional sympathetic "Roma don't treat their children like that" - which is irritating because we've seen the Patsonos. Racist stereotype, sure, but there you go.
We've ended this series knowing one fact more about Raven's backstory than we started: this admittedly funny anecdote. But we don't know if his parents are alive. We don't know if he has siblings. We don't know his NAME.
I know, because his real name was stated in the Lark and the Wren. A book that wasn't even about him. But does MAGPIE know?
I suppose in some ways, that's similar to Gwyna in the Robin and the Kestrel. But that felt different, because while we may not know about her immediate family, we do know about her adventures in the Deliambren city as a child. We know about her complicated relationships with Roma secrets. We know that she has elders that she needs to get permission from to even discuss those secrets or deal with the Patsonos' behavior. We know that she has trauma, both from the big dramatic transformation plot, and from general life as a Roma woman in this society.
Raven gets absolutely none of that, and it's aggravating.
But I suppose I should save this rant for the Verdict. (And I need to catch up on my table of contents, because at least one prior series hasn't gotten one yet. Oops.)
But hey, I get to finish a book today! Thank god!
So last time, things were genuinely exciting - as long as we don't think about the fact that Bardic Magic would have been specifically useful throughout the chaos and not a single character remembers they have it.
So we start out with some lovely imagery, as Raven wakes up to a bleak and gray morning, "the sky dead and dull over a world of ashes". There's someone with him - Maggie, of course, and the fire is out.
Raven reaches out to stroke her hair and realizes his hand is undamaged - apparently someone had come by and worked a healing spell on him. He wonders if it was Nightjar. He hopes so, because it would mean she got out safely.
We get some very nicely written imagery here:
To his left, a small family group, father, mother, and son, ragged as homeless wanderers, huddled about a small campfire, their one blanket pulled taut about all of them. To his right, a man wandered disconsolately, staring into each face he passed, till at last he sank to the ground, weeping. A woman rose wearily from where she sat and pulled him against her, rocking him gently in her arms, and Raven turned away, suddenly flooded with memories of the horrors he’d seen. A little girl met his glance with the steady gaze of the very young, clutching what he at first thought was a doll. Then the small pink thing moved in her arms, and Raven realized it was a cat. Almost all its fur had been singed off, but the animal didn’t seem to be particularly bothered by that; it joined the child in staring at him, feline arrogance in every naked pink line of it.
Life, Raven thought with a smile, fierce, silly, wonderful life.
Aw.
He spots people he knows: Jaysen and Linnet, curled up together and mostly unsinged. There are tents. And then he spots Duke Arden and Regina, who seem very happy. And we get a halfassed romantic moment.
As I guess they are, Raven thought, and glanced down at Magpie, astonishing himself at the warm surge of- Yes. Nightingale had been right with her prediction back however long ago it had been. It was love, it was indeed. Just then, Magpie came awake with a start and a shout, hand reaching blindly for him. “It’s all right,” Raven soothed, crouching beside her, taking her into his arms and stroking her poor, scorched hair. “I’m here, my love. We’re safe. We’re on the other side of the river.”
Look, I don't like being negative about the main pairing of the book, but this was very badly handled all around. I'm still not altogether sure that these two even LIKE each other as people. There was plenty of time to build an actual relationship here, but the book honestly didn't bother.
Maggie is upset about her singed hair, but Raven reassures her. And to be fair, she's smiling and admits that it's because of him that she has any hair left at all.
We do get some hint that our heroes are affected by the trauma of what they, and everyone else, have been throguh:
“Ah, well,” Raven muttered in embarrassment. “I could hardly have let you burn.”
Magpie shuddered, the smile fading from her face. “Others weren’t so lucky.”
“Love, we all did our best,” he said, as much for his own sake as hers. “No more could have been done.”
But she stared out over his shoulder, at the smoke that hovered over the blackened remains of the city, and shivered. “I know, I know. What happened, happened. I … just can’t get some of those horrible, horrible images out of my mind.”
“I know,” Raven said softly. “Neither can I.”
I won't mock this bit. It's reasonable and realistic.
So they get to see the damage in the city. Fortunately, some of it's still standing. Stone houses. And the ducal palace. And okay, considering how negative I've been to Magpie for the whole book, I'll give her this line:
“I’m sure that’s going to be a great comfort to all the homeless,” Magpie said drily.
Fair fucking point.
The Manager pops up with a good quote and we learn that most of the Company made it - he doesn't specify who didn't, but he does say that all the musicians are alive.
Magpie asks if they're harmed and well...
“Your drummer, the one you call Crow ….he’s a hero. Raced into a burning building to rescue no less than three children from death by fire. He moved so fast they were quite unscathed. Unfortunately,” the Manager added reluctantly, “he wasn’t quite as fortunate.”
“Powers!” Raven exclaimed. “Is he-did he—”
“He’s alive.” The Managers tone suggested they not ask further. “But I’m afraid he was rather badly burned. He’s in the nearest tent, that gray one.”
Poor Crow. Raven wants to see him. He's told Crow is sleeping, but Raven wants to go anyway, noting that while they're not the same clan, they're both Roma and maybe Crow will know he's there.
Because we still can't escape microaggressions even at the end of this fucking book, the Manager shakes his head at "what he plainly thought superstition". But he does take him.
Aw, poor kid:
The tent was crowded with makeshift cots full of the injured. Weary priests and lay healers made their way down the narrow aisles, casting healing spells and soothing pain. On the nearest cot lay Crow, most of his hair singed short, what was left curling tightly about a face that looked very young and vulnerable in sleep. His wiry body was thick with bandages. Raven snagged a passing priestly mage, a plump, harried, middle-aged man with gentle eyes.
Aw. Poor kid. Raven frantically asks after him, but is told he'll heal. Nightjar's been seeing to him. The mage-priest is one of the good ones and compliments her talent.
Raven had to relax. “And a true gift for knowing exactly how and when to use it. Well, her spells had already set your friend on the road to healing by the time we’d found him. A pity she claims to have no religious vocation, because that Nightjar was a true selfless wonder, here, there, tending everyone she could possibly tend, wearing herself out to the point of exhaustion. Finally we had to set a sleep spell on her so she wouldn’t kill herself!” He looked fondly over at another cot, three or four rows away. “If I had been a layman and had a child, I would have been proud to have one like your Nightjar.”
And I'm realizing I don't know how old Nightjar is. I figured she was older, but this sounds like she's quite a bit younger. In which case, I don't see why SHE couldn't have played love interest, since she's done considerably more in the plot than Magpie.
Raven traces a Roma sign for luck and health on Crow's head, and Crow smiles in his sleep. Sadly, no one witnesses this, so no one has to eat their skepticism. That's the main problem with all the microaggressions in this story - they're probably realistic to the setting, but there's never a time when we get the gratification of seeing the characters acknowledge that they're wrong.
He gets back to the Manager and Magpie. He asks if the Manager was able to save any of his plays - yes, actually. It's standard practice for playwrights to register a copy with the Church and store it in the vaults. The Manager hadn't seen the point, but complied, and thus his play will be seen again.
Magpie suspects it won't be soon though, pointing out the homeless folk around them. Right now the weather is okay, but how will they be fed. What happens when winter comes.
Which of course allows Regina to appear and the story to remember that she and Magpie are supposed to be friends:
“Regina!” The two women fell into each other’s arms, chattering busily in relief while Raven and the Manager exchanged wry male glances. Regina had somehow managed to wash her face and bind up the remains of her costume into something like a serviceable set of clothing. And, as always, she looked magnificent. More like the survivor of a fire in a play, than a real survivor of a real fire.
Regina, of course, gasps over Magpie's hair but starts immediately talking about how they can fix it before getting herself together to touch base.
We find out who died - two actors. An extra no one met, and "Kedrin", the dude who played Sir Verrick. Aw.
Raven remembers seeing the guy standing firm and shouting directions at the mob in the future and thinks about how much braver he was than Raven. I'm not sure about braver, but it might have been nice if you bards remembered that Bardic Magic is SUPPOSED to help calm the crowd...
Sorry, broken record.
Regina tells us that Kedrin had been terrified of growing old and too feeble to remain in the theatre. Instead, he died a hero.
The real reason Regina's there though is because Arden's going to give a proclamation.
It's a good speech of course. The key takeaways is that he's sent a messenger to the King for relief. The Church Mages have said that the Church will provide tents for shelter until more lasting ones can be built. He also says that his coffers, and that of the Council, will be immediately turned toward rebuilding the city.
They can't go home yet though, until the workers sent by the Duke determine it's safe. And any looters will be hanged.
He also explains the cause of the fire: as far as they can tell it was a bungled assassination attempt. This of course leads to an affirmation of the crowd's support of the Duke. Yay.
Lady Ardis shows up. Raven recognizes her immediately and vocally which causes Magpie to ask if she's the mysterious friend. Raven confirms, stating Talaysen had told him not to talk about her. Magpie noticeably does NOT apologize for having accused him of pursuing an affair. Because why would she? She's the heroine. She doesn't need to treat her love interest like a person, right?
This bit is interesting though:
“Duke Arden,” she began formally. “Please accept my sorrow for all your people.”
“I’m sorry, Lady,” the Duke said, just as stiffly. “Words are easy, and I can’t accept them. With the Church’s aid, the fire would never have spread so far. But without it-we were doomed. Where were you?”
She winced at that cry of pain. “Believe me,” the Lady Ardis said grimly, “if we could have helped you sooner, we would have done so. There was … internal trouble in the Church. Trouble that detained us until it was almost too late.”
I like the tension here, between two characters that are unequivocally heroic. Ardis hedges a little with her explanation, but Raven speaks up: the theatre hating priest was involved after all. She just calls him a "Clever [Roma]" which is answer enough.
Ardis, by the way, is now the High Bishop and Chief Priest of Kingsford. Arden thinks that's good, but asks what she'll do for his people, and she has an answer: anyone who doesn't want to stay in the tent city can live on the Cathedral Grounds in the Faire tents. They'll get food and clothing from the Church in outlying districts, and the Church's coffers will also help rebuild.
The Duke is happy and Ardis has another gift:
“Thank you,” the Duke said simply, and went to one knee in deepest reverence. The Lady Ardis placed a gentle hand on his soot-stained hair in blessing, then told him, “Rise, please. Thanks to what our good Raven has told me, I have learned there is still one matter that needs to be resolved.” As a puzzled Duke Arden got back to his feet, Lady Ardis looked straight at Regina. “It is unfortunate that Regina Shevron perished in the fire. She was a good and brave lady.”
Everyone's confused, but Ardis formally introduces the Duke (and Regina) to the "Honorable Lady Phenyx Asher", Ardis's cousin, who's been helping them all night. She does a little baptism to legitimize it.
Raven figures it out first and explains it for the readers who might not follow: she's basically, legally, made Regina a new person which gets her out of the vow AND makes her able to marry the Duke since she's "a new person, born into the nobility".
...bullshit.
Okay, look, Regina's a good character and she and Arden are the closest thing this book has to a real romance, so I'm glad they got together. But you can't tell me that an Oath to God like Regina swore is so easily circumvented. She and Arden genuinely believed that that was it. There would never be a marriage.
It makes sense that Raven's on board with this solution, but I don't see how this is any different from the solution I suggested earlier: just lie and pretend it never happened. It's the same thing.
Well, to be fair, the elevation into nobility is new.
So Arden proposes and Regina accepts. And I'm still kind of sad that this book wasn't a threesome. Or even a love triangle with Arden-Regina-Raven. I think that could have been reasonably compelling: Regina loves Arden but their statuses keep them apart. She and Raven have chemistry. He's a performer too. And they CAN marry, but they're looking for different things in life. In the end, Regina chooses the flawed, unequal but true love that she has with Arden. And Ardis still gives us this solution, which Raven knows is false, but he goes along with it because he's happy for a woman he loved too.
I think that would have worked fine! And maybe if Magpie weren't in the picture, we could have gotten to know some of the other performers better too.
Absurdly, this leads to another proposal:
He laughed at her wariness. “Oh Magpie, my love, don’t be dense! As the Duke said so forcefully, will you marry me?”
She stared at him blankly for a moment. “Oh—” she said. “Oh! Oh my dear, my very dear-b-but I don’t have any dower at all!”
He tossed back his head in a loud roar of laughter. “Hell, woman, I’m a Gypsy! What sort of dower do you think I have? Magpie, dearest, I don’t have anything but the clothes on my back-and my fiddle, of course.”
“But-but-Raven,” she protested weakly, “You’re getting short-changed! I don’t have courage, wit, or beauty!”
He laughed at her. “You have wit enough to keep me working to come up with snappy retorts, beauty enough to satisfy meeven with that silly, frizzy hair- and as for courage-well, cowards are simply people who have forgotten they are brave.”
...yep.
After an entire book of clashing, Magpie taking potshots at him while he stews resentfully, Magpie being a shrieking harpy every time he talks to another woman, we get a marriage proposal.
That last speech is supposed to convince us about what Raven sees in Magpie, which...maybe, I guess? But I'm still not sure what Magpie sees in Raven. She hates his jokes and wisecracks, was offended and angry when he provoked the priest, is casually racist, assumes he's sleeping with everyone. She likes his appearance, sure, but that's it.
The book tries to convince us that this is a happy ending equal to that of the other two:
Her brow wrinkled. “It’s not going to be a peaceful life together, I warn you that.”
“If I wanted peace, I’d have joined the Church.”
Raven stopped short, blinking. “Does that mean you’ve accepted?”
“Yes!” she cried, with a smile as dazzling and joyous as Regina’s. “As Regina, the Lady Asher put it, a hundred times yes!”
“I wish I’d written that, too,” the Manager moaned in an agony of envy.
Yeah, no, you're a better writer than that by all accounts.
Also, it might have been nice if Magpie promised she'd treat him better than she has? But no, he's just going to have to live with never speaking to another woman again.
Oh, and hey, remember the long-running mystery that was joked about and forgotten at the beginning of the book?
How DID Raven lose his eye?
A timeless moment later, Magpie nibbled his ear-lobe gently, then whispered,
“There’s only one thing I need to know before we wed?” Uh-oh. “Hmm?’
“Just how did you lose that eye?” Her face was alive with curiosity.
Raven grinned. At long last, he would be able to tell someone the truth! No matter how ridiculous it was. “Ah well, no secrets between husband and wife. You know how a mother’s always saying to her son, “Be careful with that stick or you’ll poke your eye out’?”
And okay, I do rather love the dramatic subversion here.
However, it does bring to mind a regular complaint I've had about this book. We hear on and on about Magpie's traumatic backstory and how it justifies her behavior. We don't hear a thing about Raven's. Except the occasional sympathetic "Roma don't treat their children like that" - which is irritating because we've seen the Patsonos. Racist stereotype, sure, but there you go.
We've ended this series knowing one fact more about Raven's backstory than we started: this admittedly funny anecdote. But we don't know if his parents are alive. We don't know if he has siblings. We don't know his NAME.
I know, because his real name was stated in the Lark and the Wren. A book that wasn't even about him. But does MAGPIE know?
I suppose in some ways, that's similar to Gwyna in the Robin and the Kestrel. But that felt different, because while we may not know about her immediate family, we do know about her adventures in the Deliambren city as a child. We know about her complicated relationships with Roma secrets. We know that she has elders that she needs to get permission from to even discuss those secrets or deal with the Patsonos' behavior. We know that she has trauma, both from the big dramatic transformation plot, and from general life as a Roma woman in this society.
Raven gets absolutely none of that, and it's aggravating.
But I suppose I should save this rant for the Verdict. (And I need to catch up on my table of contents, because at least one prior series hasn't gotten one yet. Oops.)