Kelsea and Mace arrive in New London with no fanfare, and we get several pages of description about the city that gives us barely more information than “it was a big city with lots of hills.” Although it does mention a river running around the city and a gulf nearby, but the city doesn’t seem to be…really on the water? Which is strange, because large towns in a pre-industrial society basically need water travel in order to exist. (Unless they are on some other sort of busy trade route, but even then, water is hella important, guys.)

One good fire, Kelsea thought, and half the city would burn down.

Which means it already has, most likely several times. I don’t think there’s a major city in the world that doesn’t have a history of massive fires. Given their pseudo time period, this should be a “duh” not a “man, the town is really rickety.” In fact, she shouldn’t be using it as a “aw, poor low quality buildings,” because she’s already had a big shpeal about how bricks are hideously expensive, so of course no one is going to be building out of those even if they are well to do. Everyone built in wood in preindustrial societies and houses burned down a lot, even the wealthy ones.

Kelsea notices the big church in town, and she says that their country’s founder didn’t like religion but Christianity has made a comeback in a big way and it’s a fixture in the country now.

But it was too late; Kelsea’s distrust of the golden cross was instinctive and visceral, even though she knew that she would have to come to some sort of compromise with what it represented. She had never been good at compromise, even during the easy conflicts that arose in the cottage.

Yet another excellent quality in a leader.

Will this book never stop pointing out why her upbringing was such a bad idea?

There were shops as well, each with a gaily-colored placard out front, and Kelsea saw a tailor, a baker, a healer, a hairdresser, even a haberdasher! What sort of vanity supported a hat shop?

Um…???? Hats are useful? It’s not like only person is supporting that hat shop? Everyone could buy one or two hats and keep a haberdasher in business? Why is Kelsea confused by hats? I’m confused by her confusion.

As they rounded one corner, a street performer caught Kelsea’s eye. […] Kelsea smiled, charmed. Most likely he was gifted only with extraordinary dexterity, not true magic

Confirmation that magic exists and is acknowledged in this world! It took way too long for the book to remember to do this.

Sometimes Kelsea and Mace were forced to ride through a cloud of stench that suggested that the houses were plumbed poorly, or not at all.

This is what it smells like in February, Kelsea thought, sickened. What must it be like in high summer?

Yes, we are still getting descriptions of the town, it’s been like five pages now. But more to the point. The book keeps bringing up stuff like this and I think it’s trying to stress the point that the country is poor and failing and riddled with corruption. Except…this is some really, really basic shit going on. This is, like, you either need (big) magic or an industrial revolution to fix it. The best government in the world isn’t going to fix the fact that hundreds of thousands of people shit and that shit has to go somewhere.

(Also, sewers are pretty old and have been around in major cities for a long time, but without proper disposal or treatment plants, that stuff’s just going to go into the river. Check out The Great Stink. Pre-industrial sewers aren’t going to unyuck your city.)

Kelsea goes through a ‘blue district,’ which is just a red light district with the name changed for no reason I can see thus far. She thinks the prostitutes look really beat-down and soulless and that when she’s queen she’ll shut the whole district down and give them ‘real employment.’ Uh, I think if there was real employment to be had, they would have taken it already?

Anyway, then she has a conversation with herself that makes me want to stab things.

Carlin’s voice spoke up in her head. Will you regulate the length of their dresses as well? Perhaps forbid novels deemed too pornographic?

There’s a difference.

No difference. Blue laws are blue laws. If you wish to dictate private morality, march yourself over to the Arvath.

Look, if the prostitutes have a general air of desperation, it’s not because of sex. (Well, probably, for most of them.) It’s because their conditions are horrible and/or they are doing this as a last resort/under duress. That’s the part you need to change, not the fact that penises are going into things. Sex for money is not inherently soul-destroying, so saying you can’t improve this district because morality police is so fucking horrible I want to slap both these characters and also anyone who agrees with them. Especially because the end result of this little soapboxing is just “well, things will have to stay like this I guess,” and just fuck that.

Also, what the fuck kind of route is Mace taking? They go in the gate, they are headed for the main palace…do all roads into the main seat of government pass through red light districts? But also well-to-do shopping areas first? Mace, are you lost?

They finally make it to the castle, and Kelsea sees that there’s a large crowd of morose people gathered there, all lined up official like, getting into giant cages. It takes 795 words of Kelsea painstakingly describing the scene, before we find out all that information and Mace tells us what’s going on. 795 words. Over three manuscript pages of literally describing a scene, mistaking the intent, going back and describing something else, wondering what’s going on, describing more things… This isn’t a fucking mystery short story; just spit it out already. There is no reason, none at all, to make it this confusing and round-about.

So, we finally find out that the treaty that Kelsea’s mother signed included an agreement to send 250 people to Mortmesne every month. Why was this a secret? She literally found out as soon as she arrived at the Keep (well, 795 words after she arrived at the keep, but that wasted our time, not hers) so there is no reason for it to have been hush-hush all this time.

Kelsea and Mace stand around watching the slave-transport going on, talking about how people are chosen and how terrible it is that her mother allowed this to happen.

“All’s not lost, Lady,” Mace said unexpectedly, putting a hand on her arm. “I swear to you, you’re nothing like her.”

Kelsea gritted her teeth. “You’re right. I won’t allow this to continue.”

“Lady, the Mort Treaty is specific. There is no appeals process, no outside arbiter. If a single shipment fails to arrive in Demesne on time, the Mort Queen has the right to invade this country and wreak terror. I lived through the last Mort invasion, Lady, and I assure you, Mhurn wasn’t exaggerating the carnage. Before you take action, consider the consequences.”

So, Kelsea’s nothing like her mother, but her mother only did this to stave off wholesale destruction? So…is Mace saying Kelsea is going to get the country invaded and destroyed, in that case?

Also, I don’t see how agreeing to send 250 people a month would have stopped the invasion – which Mort was already winning – when they could have just finished invading and enslaved everyone.

I swear, 75% of the worldbuilding and history in this novel is just “the author wanted to make a point about something.”

There’s lots of horror-porn going on as we get some exacting descriptions, then Kelsea decides she’s going to just sword-whack her way down there and set fire to everything. Oh, sorry, she and Mace talk about how she’s going to do that for several pages, in very flowery language, and Mace seems to imply that this is a very queenly decision instead of something very stupid that has a high likelihood of just killing a bunch of innocent people, and Kelsea, before the trade carries on again next month.

WHY DO PEOPLE IN THESE STORIES NEVER UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF POLITICAL SOLUTIONS? Smashing up a small group of people right in front of you might make you feel better, but it does very little against the system that perpetuates it. I don’t know if you know this or not Kelsea (probably not, you know nothing) but ruling queens tend to be able to change high level stuff. Not at a whim, of course, but more change than you can get but just lighting shit on fire your first day in town.

Of course, this story being what it is, I’m sure this will go swimmingly despite all logic saying it shouldn’t, but we’ll have to find out later.