At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard

[lightreads]

At the Feet of the Sun

4/5. Sequel to The Hands of the Emperor. Cliopher is an ase spectrum disaster for another 300,000 plus words, either you’re into it or you’re not.

I thought when reading Hands that this excessive, under-edited length is just how her brain works. Turns out it’s not – she can produce a tidy 100,000 word novel or a tight novella. No, apparently this is just how Cliopher books work. Which I guess follows since he can’t stop thinking to save his own life. Literally. I balanced on a knife’s edge through these many, many words. There’s going to be a third book, so quite probably over a million words of Cliopher’s particular brand of bullshit. And I simultaneously think that’s delightful in the wallowing in a million words of fanfic part of my brain, and also that it is a war crime because for the love of God, we would not need all these words if he would just learn to communicate JFC.

So yeah. It’s 300,000 words of Cliopher falling into his particular giant mental blind spots over and over and over again, punctuated by that luminous, grown-up folktale magic that she does so well.

And, I will admit to being wrong. I was pretty sure she was not going to let the queerplatonic relationship go anywhere, and she really does. Is it a satisfying place? To me, really no. I’m still unpacking that some because I’m not sure if my dissatisfaction is because they basically commit to a life partnership without ever once talking about some really important things, like how one of them is on the ase spectrum and one of them is not. Or is it that we get this whole thing from Cliopher’s perspective, and he is so thuddingly oblivious to sexual tension that his POV erases it entirely from the narrative? The first one is Cliopher not being a very good partner, which is on the book and on him, and the second one is me rarely finding ase narratives compelling, which is on me. The third book will tell. But if it takes another 300,000 words for Cliopher to work up to using some feeling words like a three-year-old, I might lose it.

Comments

[readerjane]

I started reading Hands based on Jo Walton’s recommendation and saw your review after I’d started it.

I did wander away for awhile, but then realized that I got to sleep a lot quicker on the nights when I read Hands before sleeping, then on the nights when I was doomscrolling. I guess my brain finds this style soothing?

So I’ll probably read Feet at some point, though not until I’ve read a few other books first because geez, Hands is taking forever.

One thing I missed and it’s confusing me: what did the fall of Astandalas mean? At the start of Hands, Artorin is emperor. So what exactly was lost in the fall? Did his family used to be even more magically powerful?

[lightreads]

You didn't miss it, it's really not explained at all in Hands. I have not read all the books and there is probably a more thorough explanation somewhere, but my rough understanding is that the empire was magically complex and multi-dimensional. The Fall constituted the collapse of a lot of the associated magic that did a whole lot of things, including imposing the taboos on the royal family, and pinning the assorted dimensions more closely together so that passage between them was easier. It did a whole lot of other stuff specific to empire-building that is revealed over time as the magic slowly fades away. There's a bunch of interesting speculation by various characters about why it all collapsed when it did -- Artorin thinks it may have been his fault because of something specific he did (or didn't do, rather) but my read is that there was something much bigger and more long-lasting that went sour in the magical construction. There's this whole thing about schooled magic versus wild magic which you should pay attention to whenever it comes up, because it underpins a lot of how this universe works. (Where the capitol city "fell" from in a more literal sense is less clear to me). So at the start of Hands he remains emperor of an empire that doesn't exist anymore, but some of the magic remains, enough to impose some of the taboos, and the cultural worship of him remains. And -- rather by accident, not by intention -- he was appointed Lord Magus of the paticular dimension where the capitol city ended up, meaning both head-of-state and also the person in charge of great magical works. (I'm talking around a big thing that you will likely figure out in the course of Hands -- unlike Cliopher, who willfully does not figure it out -- but I don't want to spoil it if you haven't yet. Don't go to the AO3, the tags will spoil you).

There are some books you should read after Hands but before Feet for reasons I won't spoil for you. I think she has a reading order on her site, though personally I'm not actually interested in every nook and cranny of this world, I just want to follow a handful of particular storylines. LMK if you want pointers.

[readerjane]

Thanks for that. I’ll check her site for reading order.

Good to know that I didn’t miss a critical explain-y bit right at the beginning. I’ll watch for schooled-vs-wild discussions as I go.

I’m sure I’ll keep following this series, albeit with breaks in between for other stories, other genres, other pacing.

It’s not an unmanageable TBR list! It’s a promise that we will Never Run Out. *grin*

[aella_irene]

I think that the Original Empire consisted of Nine Worlds, with the original capital on Earth, which is called Ysthar(?) and is referred to as the only place where you can grow rose petals and tea, so a source of luxury. The Fall* destroyed most of the connections (gates?) between the worlds, with side on effects of magic going haywire, time going weird (it has been 7000 years on Ysthar, about ten on the world the Greenwing and Dart books take place in, if that in some places). I think some places maintain technical fealty...again, Greenwing and Dart books, but I haven't re-read them recently enough, and also, to an extent that worldbuilding annoys me.

*We find out that Artorin is not quite right, but possibly not quite wrong in another book, Til Human Voices Wake Us, which is very...First Novel.

[lightreads]

Yeah...don't get me started on the time magic stuff. It makes my brain hurt in the not fun way. Differing time streams in different places I will buy. This casual assertion that Cliopher worked for 1,000 years but doesn't really rmember it as such and certainly didn't age and die as such, and also his friends/family on the other side of the world didn't time slip away from him . . . wait . . .

[readerjane]

Thanks!

Hm, Narnian chronology but not quite. I will keep that in mind.