THEM ( )

In this novella, we get the emperor's perspective on the hiring of Cliopher Mdang as his personal secretary -- the calm proficiency, the underlying humor, the potentially disastrous eye contact -- and the early days of their work together. (We still don't get to know what the joke was -- I suspect that, like the Noodle Incident in Calvin & Hobbes, the author believes that our imagination will be better than any specifics she could provide.) Since these events are discussed in [The Hands of the Emperor], this book is treading familiar ground, but it's lovely to drop back into that world. I don't usually like second-person narration, but when I realized that the narrator is using it to differentiate between himself as the emperor ("you") and himself as a man ("I") it made it more interesting to me. Recommended to fans of the author who want just a little more of that story. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/01/2023013-petty-treasons-victoria-goddard.h... ( )

A novella from the point of view, not of Cliopher, but of His Radiancy himself, of the time before the Fall, of waking up, of Cliopher's arrival in his life to the moment when he finds a way to give Cliopher the 'title' he deserves, 'The Hands of the Emperor.' Lovely! ****1/2 ( )

Told from the perspective of His Radiance, the last Emperor of Astandalas, this is the story of how Cliopher Mdang became his right hand man, beginning with their first meeting when Cliopher made eye contact - and a joke - both forbidden actions but much appreciated by the man who has been constrained by traditions for years.

It was fun to revisit the world of The Hands of the Emperor in this novella. The emperor tells his own story, sort of to himself because he's often talking to "you" but occasionally switches to "I". I couldn't tell if it was a way of distancing himself from who he had been in the past or something less intentional, though for a character who loves poetry and precision of language, I rather think it was meaningful. I enjoyed seeing the story from a new perspective and getting some of the background of events that were part of the back story of the larger novel as well. ( )