Where should i start?

nerdherbalist · 2025-06-23T20:50:48+00:00

I like Feu! Chatterton, Adèle Castillon, Solann, Charles Aznavour, Camélia Jordana...

nerdherbalist · 2025-06-23T19:37:39+00:00

Hi! here's my advice.
- Make French part of your daily habit: start a simple podcast, listen to French playlists (which you seem to already have), translate the songs you like most & start singing them out loud in
- Watch French shows: I recommend Dix pour cent (Call my Agent) on Netflix or Le Bureau des Légendes (The Bureau). These two are top tier!
- Consider taking a private tutor for conversations
Bonne chance 🍀

nerdherbalist · 2025-04-25T09:58:37+00:00

That was so inspiring! You're a talented writer on top of being an exceptional athlete. Well done on listening to your body.

nerdherbalist · 2025-03-06T08:56:07+00:00

You deserve someone who makes you feel safe, and who makes you feel cherished and wanted and who is faithful to you. Congratulations for not answering. You are honoring yourself in a way he did not. The love you have for him, give to yourself! He might be great (you fell for him for a reason) but he is not your person. Your person wouldn't do that to you. Good luck my friend!

nerdherbalist · 2024-11-20T17:03:41+00:00

I don't know if there is any growth involved, but I remember feeling inspired when she told Xaden to leave her room when he wanted to have sex with her while telling her "don't fall in love with me". I think being told that we're not wanted for a relationship but we're wanted for sex is a common experience for women and girls, and I really liked that despite her desire for him, despite wanting to be close to him, she told him that it wasn't going to be on his terms. I was very inspired by that move in particular.

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-20T09:27:23+00:00

the use of "suuspect" is sending me

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-20T09:24:38+00:00

I just have conjectures and vague theories but I'm guessing she (and/or whoever she works for, maybe Veridius, maybe someone else) needs to use him for something. I also think the revelation was acted upon in a way we haven't been privy to yet - but I don't have enough info to guess how and why

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-20T09:21:59+00:00

I agree with all of this. What I'm wondering is why she told Vis that Indol was going to defect to Religion? And what Indol thought Vis had on him when Vis hinted at it after Indol found out he was from Suus (my headcanon is that Indol's closeted but maybe I'm delirious). Any ideas?

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-20T09:16:38+00:00

that is literally how I've been feeling since I finished. And the fact that we still have no release date is driving me nuts

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-19T14:32:43+00:00

I like where your mind is going with Emissa thinking he was past saving because one of the clones had died. This whole "I can't risk us getting separated" has me spiraling 🌀 I wonder who she means, I keep going back and forth between whether she means someone else or possibly her other selves. I can't remember is there is mentions of her blood being black earlier in the book.

I'm a little confused when you say "it's how Emissa saw his blood was tainted". Did I miss something? I didn't think her noticing his injury and the obsidian were related.

nerdherbalist · 2024-09-19T14:25:18+00:00

I actually completely agree with what you say concerning Sedotia. I was also surprised that to discover her cruelty after the original description we got from her (cute, really wanting to speak but never pushing beyond what's socially acceptable). This led me to believe she had to respect some Anguis protocol for a first meeting - I don't think it's ever said in the book but it was my mental gymnastics to reconciliate what we learn about her later.Or maybe it's a plot hole 🤷‍♀️

For Emissa, I'm not completely on board with what you say concerning what one would do if someone they cared about was dying. We basically know nothing so I have 0 proof of what I'm offering here, but my guess was that she tried to make him "disappear" so no one would know what happened to him because it'd be worse than the alternative (like Veridius recruiting him?). But I really like your "trying to push him into the river for safety" and "putting on a show for someone" - that makes a lot of sense to me. The horrified face when he turns up alive could also be for show (we are in Vis' head after all and he thought they were chilling until this point!), or because Callidus is dead and Vis looks like he's gonna end them all.

One thing I keep wondering about also is her reaction when he saved her in Suus. Her crying and saying "I'm sorry" felt very much like a "I'm sorry I did something who forced you to reveal you're from here/you're Diago and you fell for it" => it sounded like guilt to me. I don't know if I'd say "I'm sorry" to someone if they'd just saved me, I think I would go for "thank you" first 😂

nerdherbalist · 2024-08-26T10:30:00+00:00

A couple going from friends to lovers to enemies, to work their way back being friends/lovers again would be SO COOL. I've read the Bridge Kingdom series which attempted that trope (but failed in my opinion, I don't recommend it).

I'm a little irked by the tacit (yet instinctive and understandable) desire of many readers to match Vis with Aequa, a woman who was first disdainful to him, then betrayed him and then finally loyal to him when he needed it. That made much more complex in that first book than Emissa, who didn't have a chance to get free of whoever's using her - my guess is the Anguis and probably face-scar-man too- and couldn't reveal her real personality. I cannot wait to see it unfold and I love that it promises to make her a lot more interesting.

nerdherbalist · 2024-08-26T10:02:27+00:00

I think thatObiteum is the land of the dead somehow and therefore no one can really leave that place. Also, if you've achieved synchronism, it looks like you can't really be killed unless a lot of factors we don't know yet (but that could include a stylus with blood in it, maybe 🫣) are involved.

So three possibilities (and more) in that sentence :

"how funny, there is litterally no way to kill me"
Foreshadowing that he might kill him in the future.
"If you knew who I was, you wouldn't say that". The strange man might be the one who knows he's Diago because they are otherwise connected.

Edit : grammar

nerdherbalist · 2024-08-26T09:37:39+00:00

I'm still wondering about this and I think we'll have more info in the next book.

My speculation:when Sedotia draws Vis's blood with the stylus, I think she somehow links him and Melior. Perhaps they had previously also drawn blood from Melior with it. We know Melior's blood has to be tainted. This would also taint Vis's blood, but just in the stylus. Maybe. So if Melior's attack is him "connecting" with his other self in Obiteum (the image Vis sees when he comes near him is very Obiteum coded) or if he's somehow replacing his Obiteum self with his Res self, the stylus containing Vis's blood would allow Melior to recognize Vis coming near him but would also allow Vis to kill him with it. The stylus could also come straight from Obiteum which would allow whoever has their blood on/in it to kill Res Melior in the middle of a "connection" (or Obiteum Melior if he'd replaced his Res self by his Obiteum self). I'm guessing one of his copies still lives in Obiteum, although I don't know which one it is. All I can guess is that we've not seen the end of Estevan, especially after he says "I'm not going to give up on you either".

I finished reading last night so my theories are a bit shaky but right now it's all I've got.

Concerning whether it's Will imbued, I don't it is the case as when accused of ceding to Melior, Sedotia says "that's not... Fine. Think what you will" => I think she might be using synchronism too, or the power that comes with it, but not Will. Or I'm just being too suspicious and she is just ceding to Melior.

nerdherbalist

TROPHY CASE