So I Started Reading The Queen's Thief Series And Uh

So I started reading the Queen's Thief series and uh

The nice thing about a character as clever as Gen is he can be ascribed multiple motivations at once and it can be true. Like, with Kamet’s rescue, it’s spite, it’s kindness, and it’s politically motivated. All three are true.

With his befriending Kamet as a kitchen boy, maybe multiple things are all true at once. Maybe he saw a good source of information about the Medes and pumped Kamet for intel much in the same way Kamet was supposed to pump the Attolian servants. Maybe he really did want to know about the Mede gods and afterlife, to hedge his own bets. Maybe he was as interested in Kamet’s knowledge and scholarly ways as he had been with the Magus, as Pheris would be with Kamet later on. And maybe Gen saw how lonely Kamet was, isolated as he saw by his unusual status, and decided to plow right over that gulf.

I don't know where it is, but someone said Irene went out of her way to touch Gen 6 times in Queen of Attolia, which is a lot for someone who says she doesn't love him, but like. No one ever talks about kamet and costis. Every time kamet gets dizzy or injured, or they have to "pretend" to be friends, or costis gets injured, the other is so ready to physically help them. When they end up in the water, kamet clings to costis's neck. When he gets hit on the head, costis literally hugs him for a looooong time. And you wanna say kamet hates him? You wanna say there are any negative feelings between them? The way they both go out of their way to always be physically supporting the other.

Chapter 4:

I think it's funny that Costis so readily volunteers to fight off the approaching swordsmen, leaving Kamet to scramble. "My alarm was perfectly reasonable, as the horsemen appeared to be waving at us, and I was certain that what they were waving was swords." Kamet's precision does nothing to hide his anxiety (which I think is well-warranted).

I have to wonder, when would Costis have realized the true depth of Kamet's fear about the skirmish? Or, more generally, that every bit of Kamet's worldview is informed by his life as a slave?

"I didn't come all the way to this godsforsaken cesspit so that I could go home and tell my king I failed him." / loyaltyyyyyy. I love Costis. flashback to KoA: "He knew he would march into hell for this fathomless king."

I know everyone has already talked about the absurdity of the lion's den, but: Costis. what are you doing.

Also, I love the surgery song. that is all.

"...how did you come to Ianna-Ir?" / "I punched the king in the face." / I knew that he would say that, but I still smiled like a loon. I love KoA so much.

Also: "He was more kind to me than I deserved and he forgave me." / love.

"Well, the Namreen aren't dropping roof tiles on my head or trying to stab me in the back." / lol.

the cooks really spent months risking their lives by putting sand in his food just to say "we miss you come visit us already you asshole"