Maven, Cal, and Mare all try to argue their way out of a sparring match, logically citing Mare’s inexperience and how it would be an unbalanced fight. Evangeline and her friends point out that, since they have magic healers around, it’s not like she can get really hurt.

Finally Evangeline just starts throwing knives at Mare, and that…makes Mare suddenly want to fight? Damn, girl, that’s some poor impulse control for someone living under and oppressive regime.

Over his shoulder, Evangeline prowls like a predatory cat, a glittering storm of knives in her fist. In that instant, I know nothing and no one will stop her. Not even the princes.

I still don’t understand why Evangeline hates her so intensely. I get having a rivalry at all, sure, Mare almost fried her back at the Queenstrial even if it was an accident. But that’s, at best, a starting point, and the book has not bothered to do anything from there. Bad meeting, ???, burning eternal hatred.

Of course, in order to have that rivalry progress, we’d have to have a scene with Mare interacting with girls more. This book actually has a lot of female characters, but I think there’s only two or three scenes where Mare directly interacts with them. Going to thieve with her sister, getting interrogated by the queen, and that one lunch party. Otherwise, it’s all be talking to men or talking to Farley with/about men.

A bolt of lightning escapes me, streaking through the air at my command. It hits her in the chest and she staggers back, colliding with the outer wall of the arena. But instead of looking angry, Evangeline regards me with glee.

“This will be quick, little lightning girl,” she snarls, wiping away a trickle of silverblood.

1. Why is she immune/resistant to lightning? Is Mare’s lightning a muted version of the natural thing? Entirely possible; real lightning is wicked powerful, but even still, it doesn’t’ take much to shock the human body.

2. Why do stone bookcases explode and squishy humans just fall back a step?

3. Why is she bleeding? And from where? She didn’t get cut, she got shocked.

Why did this book give the main character lightning powers without knowing anything about lightning? I swear, all the research from this book came from frikkin cartoons.

They fight, and it’s fight-y. Finally Mare gets pinned under a giant metal monster thing, and it cuts her cheek.

And then a blazing arm of fire knocks the metal monster off me, burning it into nothing more than a charred black pile of ash.

Not how fire works, either. Or metal. Metal doesn’t ash.

Also anything hot enough to change the makeup of metal at all should have also roasted Mare and Evangeline to a crisp.

Maven gets her out of the room and blocks everyone’s view, while Cal and Evangeline get into a shouting match over what just went down. Out in the hallway, Maven assures her that the guards watching the security camera won’t give away her secret, but I dunno, that sounds overconfident. The more people who know a secret, the less secure it is, and he’s pretty blithe about it getting out.

Mare insists on going to see Julian, so Maven takes her there, where we see that Maven and Julian have some really bad history between each other and keep sniping and glaring a lot. Julian says they should call in a lady named Sara Skonos, who is a skin healer the same age as Julian and who gets praised because she doesn’t use her magic for evil, evil plastic surgery.

This Sarah woman behaves oddly, not speaking through the entire scene. She heals Mare’s cheek, gets super mad as soon as Maven says anything, has a goopy-eyed stare with Julian, and then flees.

Man, finally a female character who isn’t pure spite and she isn’t even allowed to talk.

After Sara leaves, the queen shows up to alternately taunt and check on Mare.

“And take a little more care in your Training sessions. Red blood is just so hard to clean up.”

“You would know,” I snap, remembering Shade. “Because no matter how hard you try to hide it, I see it all over your hands.”

What happened to the Mare we’ve had so far and who is this sassy little shit? I mean, she’s right, but it still doesn’t seem in character!

Well, Elara magically kicks her ass for speaking like, until Maven pulls her off and the two get into a silent, mental battle of wills. Mare escapes while that’s still going on.

Since they have to pretend like nothing untward happened, she has to go get changed for lunch.

As usual, they don’t say a word, even though I look frantic and harried after such a morning.

It’s really disturbing to me that in this book about class warfare, the maids aren’t allowed to speak. And that they repeatedly point out that the maids aren’t allowed to speak. The only speaking reds in this book are either rebels or Mare’s family, because I guess people just trying to survive aren’t good enough to get speaking lines.

Usually the women eat together to discuss the upcoming weddings and all the silly things rich ladies talk about

I’m just really so, so, so very sick of this line. First because there’s no reason this group that includes several military ladies should stick to wedding talk, and second because royal weddings (two of them!) are kind of a big deal and so why is it silly to talk about them?

But, today, instead of “silly girl talk,” there’s a legion of young soldiers visiting for lunch because they’re on their way out to war.

These Silvers are going to war, yes, but not to the real fighting. They’re the sons and daughters of important people, and to them, the war is just another place to visit.

…so Maven and Lucas are both put on the front line before puberty, but also these people are full-grown and getting cush jobs? I don’t understand what your standard is, book.

Mare thanks them all for their service until the hypocrisy gets too much and she finds a corner to hide in. Cal finds her and thinks she should be nicer to those fighting forces, and she says she won’t because they’re all going to cush and plenty like the Reds never get.

Cal says this is a new group, using a new tactic, and they’re going to be fighting in the trenches dressed like Reds. Then when the Lakelanders try to overrun them, they’ll be shocked to get a face full of super powers.

I’m not sure how I feel about this, because it makes me wonder why they’ve been doing before now. I mean, I can certainly imagine Silvers not getting dirty and throwing bodies at the problem instead. Sure. But…how many Silvers are there? Are there just a lot of people sitting around in the rear, do they have all-Silver legions who fight openly, were all these kids recruited? And if they haven’t been trench-fighting because…IDK, pride or something, then how did they overturn that so fast to get this group put together?

Also the whole thing was Cal’s idea and he’s going to be leading them.

Um, no. That is not what crown princes do. He gunna die that way.

Through this whole conversation/explanation of what these kids are going to go do, there’s this pervasive sense of “hah, so there” to Mare’s earlier statements that the Silver soldiers get cushness when they go fight. And it really pisses me off because there’s no indication at all that it’s not going to still hold true. That these Silvers will get adequate supplies, magical healers, priority defense and support on the battlefield. Not to mention the fact that when it’s all over, they’ll still be Silvers and get to come home to palaces and parties. The idea that because they are fucking doing what soldiers are supposed to do in a war should somehow make up for the vast amount of disparity is just sick.

Mare parts ways with him going all “wow, what is this funny feeling I get when I think of him dying.” Sigh.

This world is Silver, but it is also gray. There is no black-and-white.

This started out so good and now we’ve got this stupid shit. Because, actually, nothing has changed. Reds are still oppressed and Silvers are still oppressing. The fact that the ruling class has emotion beyond mustache-twirling doesn’t actually change the situation.

You can use “has emotions beyond mustache-twirling” as a plot line, sure. But it should be about finding a better way to combat the system, not “aw, poor woobies.” Emotions do not excuse oppression.

Later that night, Cal shows up at her room under the guise of offering her dancing lessons. I’m sure romantic hijinks will ensue, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.