ummmmm i loved this? i wept countless times. i am an enormous bitterblue guy, so it rly says something remarkable about cashore’s character work that i fell so deeply for lovisa, my bravest sneakiest upper-class asshole. the parallels between bitterblue & lovisa, WHEW! it’s about looking someone dead in the eye and knowing they know what you know: the same pain & fear & desperation & helplessness, and recognizing that you can’t fix it but trying anyway. it’s about abuse, it’s about privilege, it’s about realizing you’ve been taught wrong and making a promise to be better than the people who failed you. idk. it just really worked on me. WE CAN BUILD A BETTER WORLD!!!!!!! god i am such a sucker but i really believe it.

bitterblue the book probably made these points more effectively — but i still really enjoyed the expansion of the world here and i still cried a bunch so five stars for crying