#but are stated to have some scars/distinctive marks somewhere??? hmm

[advernia]

an ongoing study on ghosts || 3 sentences: lancelot kingsley + a symphony for your glory.

In the beginning he was a fool that moved slow and left his blade too long on his skin, so the angry sharp line he’d just made on the center of his palm readily stained his sword with crimson. The fact that he had to clean his sword after he’d done what he had meant to do was a show of inexperience that he eventually grew out of though, but he never seemed to get rid of the habit of taking a survey of his own hand; eyes having difficulty locating that first scar since it has already been buried and overthrown by others of similar shapes but of greater sizes and differing ages.

Also, what still haunts him on the long nights that follow the day he would make a new mark on his hand isn’t the pain that sears slowly through his worn skin, but the scream of fear that would always accompany the trickle of blood down his fingers - another echoing wail well-matched to the gloom and chill of stone dungeon walls, and another addition to many other cries that ring in his ears each time he tries to slip into a dreamless sleep.

[snarktheater]

Carve the Mark — Part 4 (Chapters 30-31)

FOR A TICK THERE was only her weight, her warmth, and relief.

I love it when these books have accidental moments of self-awareness and reveal where their priorities really lie. Which…it wouldn't even really be a bad thing to focus on romance more, but when your book is attempting to set up a whole universe and tell an engaging story about a dictatorship, focusing on the romance above all else is a bit of a distraction.

But hey, at least our protagonists are safe again. I know, it was a really pressing question for all three chapters where one of them was in actual danger.

Teka offers to have Jyo take care of Cyra, since she's still grievously injured and he apparently has medical training, but Akos refuses, because the renegades only saved her out of self-interest. Which is true, but I'm not sure what his point is, considering they're on a renegade ship full of renegade people and if they want to get something out of Cyra, they have every mean to force her.

But instead, Cisi steps in and offers to take care of Cyra, because she also has medical training. Funny how many characters suddenly have that as soon as it's needed. Also, yeah, calming powers, I guess she sensed how best to defuse the situation.

Of course, do we really need to defuse the tension when the book's constant obsession with the romance does it for her?

“Come on, Noavek, get it together […] My Cyra would have made at least two snide remarks by now.” “Hmm.” She smiled a little. “Your Cyra.”

Aw, I guess?

Of course, neither Akos nor Cisi can read Shotet, so they actually need Cyra to point out the stuff they need to heal her, because that's just so much more practical than taking any help from those dirty renegades.

…Wait, aren't the renegades, you know, the good guys? Or the closest thing to good guys we have, anyway? Well not anymore.

“You’d think after all that time in Shotet you’d have learned something”

You would, wouldn't you.

They banter, Akos gives her a painkiller that puts her under, and oh, I guess now is the right time to have Cisi tell us her backstory about becoming a doctor.

“It seemed like a good fit for my gift,” Cisi said. Ease was her gift—always had been, even before her currentgift came around—but it wasn’t her only one, he could see that. She had steady hands and an even temper and a sharp mind. More than just a sweet person with a good disposition, as if anyone was just that.

This character brought to you by the Veronica Roth school of Characters Only Have One Trait Ever, But We'll Pretend They Don't, Even If They Totally Do. I mean, seriously. If you wanted to make her seem multidimensional, give her a job that's unrelated to her gift, not one that is, but also happens to match other informed traits that we've never seen about her before (and, spoilers, never will see again).

Anyway. Cisi directs Akos into applying "silverskin" to the flayed side of Cyra's face, which is exactly what it sounds like: artificial skin that's…well, silver. And Akos has to do it since no one else can touch Cyra.

It didn’t take long. Mostly they would heal on their own, and the real trick for her would be forgetting how she got them. There was no stitching cloth for the mind’s wounds, real though they were.

It did indeed take a painfully short time to heal these wounds, to a point where I'm curious why you even bothered. Because it gives Cyra a cool, distinct look? As for the "mind's wounds", first of all, coping with trauma isn't forgetting it. And…well, you can guess that, as we're somewhere around the 75% of a standalone book, her trauma won't have much room for impact.

“Never thought I would be trying to heal Cyra Noavek,” Cisi said. “On a transport vessel full of Shotet, no less.” She glanced at him. “I can see why you like her, you know.”

Based on…the three glib remarks and the few insctructions she gave them? Or is Cisi commenting on her looks?

“Well,” Cisi said, “if you are destined to serve the Noavek family, I think you could do worse than the woman who was willing to endure all this just to get you home.” “So you don’t think I’m a traitor?” “That sort of depends on what she stands for, doesn’t it?” Cisi said.”

Didn't we…already reach that conclusion? Twice?

Cisi goes to find Isae, with Akos teasing her because they're apparently a couple, but it's going to take a few more chapters for the book to actually say it out loud. And I'll concede that we actually do have queer representation that's (mostly) sympathetic at last. It's very little, very late, but it's better than nothing. (And spoilers: unlike our token lesbian in Divergent, they don't die, so that's nice too)

Akos gets some moping while he's alone, until Cyra wakes up and berates him for coming back after all she did to get him out of Shotet. Which is…what, exactly? She struck a deal with the renegades, but the fact that they kept to that deal even after their assassination attempt failed mostly speaks to their characters, not hers. Unless she helped with the prison break, since the book still hasn't told us (and never will) how Akos escaped.

He comforts her in Thuvhesit, and that's apparently meaningful because it means they're on equal footing now, and so they get on with the kissing.

“Can I kiss you?” he said. “Or will it hurt?” Her eyes went wide. Then she said breathlessly, “And if it hurts?” And smiled a little. “Life is full of hurt anyway.”

Wow. Good echoing of that iconic line. I'm sure this will make it to the quote hall of fame.

…Please, don't send me fan creations using that quote. I'll choose blissful ignorance.

Their kiss gets interrupted by landing, but who cares, let's hop into Cyra's mind and think about how beautiful Akos is in spite of still being covered in blood and grime from the rescue and essentially performing surgery. Akos also tells her she looks good, because if she looks good to her boyfriend with her new artificial skin, then it's just like the scar never existed, right?

“And don’t think I didn’t notice the chancellor of Thuvhe standing in the next room.”

Wasn't it the point of Isae and Ori wearing veils in public to conceal their appearances so no one knew what they looked like? Well, I guess Cyra recognized her anyway. How convenient.

So. That landing. We're back in Voa, and finally, over 80% into the book, we get a proper description of the city. Better late than never, although…actually, maybe not? At this point I've developed my own image of the city, and since I had very few details to use, it ends up clashing with what's actually presented now. But hey, whatever, right? It's not like books have editors or anything!

They land on the fringes of Voa, in an abandoned apartment complex that no one bothers to go to ever, because who wouldn't waste perfectly functional (seriously, they still have running water and whatnot) lodging facilities in their capital city, right?

Oh, it gets stupider. See, the ship has a "hologram cloak" that Teka invented to look like an army ship. Which, okay, standard technobabble, but…why bother? It's not like this ship was ever established before. You could just have a stolen army ship. I guess it gives Teka something more that she accomplished? But again, that doesn't really detract from her One Character Trait (which is to say: engineering).

Cyra and Isae finally meet, with the book trying to give Isae hidden depths, i.e. make previous descriptions of Isae sound out of character. Or maybe the issue is that Isae's character seems to constantly change, and not in a developing character kind of way.

“I spent most of my life in a little cruiser vessel that smelled like feet,” she replied. “I’m hardly fit for my own company, by the usual definitions.”

Well, the two of them, plus Akos and Cisi, go for one of the apartments to speak in private. And by that I mean Akos helps Cyra get cleaned up first. And yes, it's awkward, even if she doesn't get fully naked in front of him.

I looked at the pile of clothes with some dismay. It was one thing for him to see me in my underwear, but to help me take it off . . . Well. If that was going to happen, I wanted it to be under different circumstances. “Cisi,” Akos said. He was also staring at the pile of clothes. “Maybe you should help with this part.” “Thank you,” I said to him.

Because it's much better if it's a complete stranger help you than the boy you are literally thinking about how you want to sleep with anyway, as long as the stranger is the same gender as you? Straight people, you are so weird.

In-between this nonsense (complete with Akos flatly stating that he has trouble keeping his eyes on her face, because ha ha, boobs), we learn that Cyra somehow still has her armguard hiding her kill marks, for some reason, and the book also tells us all about bras on this planet. Which…okay, why not?

Okay, there's also a nice character moment with Cisi regarding her gift, as Cyra asks her if it's hard to trust people.

“You don’t really ever know if it’s you they want to be around, or your gift.” “The gift comes from me,” Cisi said. “It’s an expression of my personality. So I guess I don’t see a difference.” […] “You want to keep people away,” Cisi said finally. “I’m not sure why pain is the way your gift accomplishes that.”

This is an interesting statement. Or it would be, if the book ever bothered to do anything with the currentgifts. So it's more…a hint of an interesting statement, that ends up never being made. But it's something. Which is immediately contradicted, of course.

“It’s strange. Usually I can’t speak this freely with anyone, let alone someone I just met.”

See, if the gift is an expression of her personality…then why can't she speak freely? Because that implies she wants to say something but is prevented by an outside force. A.k.a. her gift. If it's part of her personality, then she should just…not want to speak bluntly to people. Maybe it's just poor wording, but…well, this is a book. You don't get a pass for poor wording.

And with that, Cyra and Isae meet face-to-face, which is probably not as climactic as the book would like, since we barely know Isae, Cyra's power in Shotet appears to be nominal at best, and they don't really have any character contrast or conflict that would make this interesting. So instead they just exposit about what Ryzek may or may not do to Ori, and what they can do to rescue her, and whether they can trust each other. I'm pretty sure you can figure out most of that by yourselves.

Well, except for their plan. Which is: Ryzek will probably want a public execution for Ori to lure them out, so they should totally use that to get to Ryzek. To quote the Wheel of Time Abridged:

"I will be there. A trap isn’t a trap, if you know it’s a trap." "Like a chair isn’t a chair, if you know it’s a chair?"

Then we get another shippy moment, where Cyra tells Akos that her power has changed thanks to him.

“I don’t know what you want to call it, what we are to each other now,” I said. “But I wanted you to know that your friendship has . . . quite literally altered me.”

“You don’t know what to call it?” he said, when he finally spoke again. […] “Sivbarat. Zethetet.” One Shotet word, one Thuvhesit. Sivbarat referred to a person’s dearest friend, someone so close that to lose them would be like losing a limb. And the Thuvhesit word, I had never heard before. […] “What does it mean, ‘zethetet’?” […] “Beloved,” he said softly.

Well on that very important note, let's have Akos's mom crash the party by literally crashing a ship in their apartment complex. That seems like a good place to take a break from the nonsense.