*hides under blankets*

Note to self:

Don't research plague before bedtime.

Especially when you know their impact. Mortality rates of bubonic plague is estimated at 30-75%, pneumatic at 80% or higher, and septicaemic nearly 100% and no, you can't make me go back to Wikipedia and check my figures.

And it's not like smallpox. There's an animal carrier that we can't exactly eradicate :(

Kiesha'ra

Yesterday someone linked an ebook archive and in a fit of nostalgia I downloaded Hawksong (actually, the entire Kiesha'ra series) and I read all of Hawksong, starting at 1am. I don't make good decisions past midnight, all right?

I'm not sure I can make a coherent review about this book! Everything is submerged in a flood of feelings about ZANE COBRIANA because oh yeah, I remember why I loved these so much! To say I ship Danica/Zane (or rather, OTP) would be a gross understatement. It has some weaknesses I never noticed years ago but the magnetic quality of the characters is still there. And I'm so glad.

I'm not sure I want to read past Hawksong either. Everything is okay right now. Like, ( spoilers )

On the other hand, I kind of want to read the entire thing to see "black night on black ice", that phrase, again.

Some of my objections aren't really fair, seeing as it's a YA novel and quite short. The parts I was didn't like much were all the issues with Tuuli Thea and such; kingship is very personal there (perhaps even more, for the serpiente) and so it makes sense that personal decisions like marriage would affect the kingdom. Well, as though it didn't before. But the politics I had trouble buying, since I feel like there should be more complexity, more resistance, more internal inertia. The personal relationships were drawn beautifully, for such a small book. I felt that the politics needed more; they felt like one-on-one sorts of decisions, which is hard for me to swallow, accustomed to modern political systems.

Also looking back, I can see that Atwater-Rhodes knew the series' plot when she was writing it--the notes dropped in about the falcons, especially about the poison, are all setting it up.

I felt a bit bad for Rei, but on the other hand, haha, too bad! It's the same in with poor Raisa ana'Mariana and Amon Byrne, who are in a similar queen/protector situation; the other character is always more compelling. (Question: where do the snakeskin pants come from? I mean...did he skin someone for it? I find myself asking all sorts of magic-worldbuildy questions. Humans exist: that's why the Mistari moved, because the humans were taking over Central Asia. But what about plain sparrows, plain cobras?)

I don't think I wrote fic for this, but I definitely recall reading a lot of fanfiction.net. Now I'm mad that I've completed my fandom stocking and yuletide is far away. FFN says it has 200 works in--oh my god, apparently the Georgina Kincaid series has fifteen works excuse me I have to investigate this.