Comments | ninedaysaqueen: The Jamey Dodger Society

ninedaysaqueen

The Jamey Dodger Society

Mar 19, 2017 23:59

For prevention of cruelty to reprobates.

Current Members
ninedaysaqueen
smallsotong
inkasrain
an_english_girl
dannybailey
filkferengi
mikkaybear
agh_4
frosted_feather

*rings gong*

I call to order the first meeting of the Jamey Dodger Society, a group for those who have read a "Thick as Thieves" arc or want to become as spoiled as Varuca Salt.

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queen's thief series

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On the twists and turns... smallsotong March 20 2017, 20:51:03 UTC

1. I did guess the big twist (that Nahuseresh wasn't dead) somewhere along the way, maybe around the second time that Kamet is sure that someone will mention it, and nobody does. I'm not sure if that made me like the book more or less. Gen = Boots, I didn't see coming and that was great. Also, Gen's really fond of his boots!!

2. I actually had a harder time figuring out Costis. Part of the reason is that Costis looks and feels very different from outside Costis’ head (which is where we're in from most of KoA). Kamet’s descriptions completely threw me off. Firstly in terms of his physical description - I never thought of Costis as particularly large or physically intimidating, but both Kamet and the family in the farm at the foothills do. (What would Kamet think of Aulus and Boagus????). Secondly because the narrative in KoA is so tuned into Costis’ thoughts, I never really got a good sense of his personality as seen from the outside, i.e., how he interacts with people who aren’t Aris or Gen or Gen’s lapdog attendents, though we do know that the other guards like him. I liked seeing the outside perspective, but it also wasn't quite what I expected.

I loved the return of righteous-angry Costis when they finally get to Attolia! That was the Costis I knew and remembered.

Re: On the twists and turns... inkasrain March 20 2017, 21:32:39 UTC

I was also thrown by the physical description. I can't remember whether the Aris-alias or the Miras ring came first, but those were my first solid clues. (Though I wasn't sure if Costis would still be wearing a ring like that, given his new devotion to Eugenides.)

(Sidebar, that moment where Kamet is like, "I didn't even bother to remember his name, he was so unimportant!" was the first of several points in the book where I was like, Megan! RUDE!)

As for Costis's size, I suspect that Kamet himself is quite small, which would put Costis in perspective. That, or Costis had nothing to do but the Attolian equivalent of pumping iron, while Gen figured out what to do with him ;-)

Re: On the twists and turns... smallsotong March 20 2017, 22:05:07 UTC

On hindsight, I think that it's the contrast between Kamet's POV (to him, Costis is big) and Costis' POV in KoA (Costis doesn't think of himself as big or intimidating). The farmers do seem intimidated by Costis' size, so maybe he IS objectively big, but that observation is also filtered through Kamet's perspective, so maybe they're responding to something else.

RE: Re: On the twists and turns... ninedaysaqueen March 21 2017, 01:19:02 UTC

Something else that juat occured to me. Kamet and Costis are possibly different races based on their physical descriptions and the farmers could have been as well. So, Costis could be average (six feet) in Attolia and Kamet is average for a Sentran and most of the Medes (5 foot 6 or 7). So, so, so... If a six foot caucasian man went to Japan, for example, he'd be objectively taller than most Asian men but average in Europe or the US and Canada.

Re: On the twists and turns... an_english_girl May 9 2017, 19:01:13 UTC

Different races = different heights, quite true! I know -- I peer over the heads of most Welsh folk, and I used to be "short." :)
I got the impression in QoA that Kamet was quite short, at least in relation to Nahuseresh, though I can't recall exact text evidence for it

RE: Re: On the twists and turns... ninedaysaqueen March 21 2017, 01:05:59 UTC

And when Kamet is like... "My Attolian was better than his. He sounded like a farmer." The infinite disdain! I was just like, OMG grammar Nazi! If Kamet ever texted he would always be the one going... *you're

Of course, Costis IS from a family of farmers! It reminded me of Gen calling Sophos and Ambiades the Uselesses.

I do think Costis did some training as he seems much mors physically competant here. So, he got buff like Sophos? Maybe, he built walls?

I think Gen always wanted him for this mission. Everything he put him through in KoA makes much more sense now. It was a job interview!

Re: On the twists and turns... smallsotong March 21 2017, 02:18:21 UTC

Yeah, I loved the farmer comment! I enjoyed seeing Costis endear himself to the family of farmers and fit in so well because that's his background

RE: On the twists and turns... ninedaysaqueen March 21 2017, 00:52:29 UTC

I thought Nahuseresh was dead, but I had figured out the boot boy was Gen from the "terrible handwriting" on the scroll. Also, the hiding in the gardens was a hint.

I knew Costis immediately from the poor Mede language skills and and Kamet's retrospective observation of him being laconic. The ring of Miras and using Aris as an alias were huge give aways. Of course, you don't know for certain till he says he punched the king. Kamet's reaction was great... D:

The physical description didn't really confuse me. I've always thought of Costis as average size for a man, and he probably is for an Attolian guard. Say... six feet and on the hefty side. I doubt he thinks of himself as a large person like Sophos does. Clearly, Kamet is quite small. The same size as Gen or smaller. His observation on Godekker being "smaller than even he is" was a pretty clear indication of that. Costis appearing very intimidating is largly because he's a larger to average size trained soldier and Kamet is a smaller than average accountant. XD

The outside perspective was great! Aulus and Boagus and Sophos must be like 6 foot 5 roid monsters!

KoA Costis pops up more and more towards the end. Since Megan was trying to hide his identity, I'm sure that was a deliberate choice. I think that's also a sign of Kamet getting to know him. The Costis we know is more visible as Kamet gets to know him like we do. Kamet doesn't seem to think Costis has any sense of humor, which he clearly does! Thus, he interprets what I imagine was humor to something entirely different.

Re: On the twists and turns... smallsotong March 22 2017, 01:57:33 UTC

Gen didn't think Costis had a sense of humour either :D

RE: Re: On the twists and turns... ninedaysaqueen March 22 2017, 03:17:18 UTC

He's always plesantly surprised whenever Costis makes a joke! XD

I was laughing whenever Kamet says somthing along the lines if if he had a sense of humor I would've suspected that of being a joke. It was a joke, Kamet... XD

Re: On the twists and turns... frosted_feather April 18 2017, 01:04:57 UTC

I was thinking what it said about Kamet that he calls Costis "the Attolian" throughout the entire book, even though he was given a name at some point. It seems like he's trying to distance himself by not even bothering to know his name. I was briefly distracted by the Aris psudonyme, but soon after I knew it had to be Costis.

Re: On the twists and turns... ninedaysaqueen April 18 2017, 08:38:19 UTC

When he said he punched the king and was in Medea to avoid roof tiles it became pretty obvious. Anyways, Megan wouldn't set up a mission for Cosits only to reveal that it was Legarus the whole time.

I agree that this is a distancing tactic on Kamet parts. I think he's actually the type of person who gets emotional invested in others pretty quickly, but doesn't like that about himself.

Also, didn't Kamet say something like Costis wasn't important enough to learn his name? Oh, Kamet... XD

Re: On the twists and turns... empmai May 17 2017, 01:00:57 UTC

I thought it was Costis from the begining (but could have been wishful thinking as ever since KoA I've 'shipped Costis). I was really happy when the punching him in the face comment came up because I was happy to be right :)

I didn't think Nahuseresh was dead, but I was never sure if Costis was in on the plan to pretend he was dead or not. The location of the boats was a twist that I didn't see coming. Even when Kamet was sorting it out in his head I didn't see it until it was spelled out on the page.

Re: On the twists and turns... an_english_girl May 9 2017, 18:58:25 UTC

I guessed it was Costis right off :D Just ... because.
OK, I admit it. I guessed it was Costis because I had come here the day Lady Jane added me to her friends list, and though I saw the Jamey Dodgers spoiler warning and hit Ctrl-W fast to close the tab, I saw the first question about Kamet and Costis :( So I was looking out for him!
Nahuseresh's "death" threw me at first. I put the book down and staggered out into the garden a bit like Kamet himself, thinking of all things, bang goes my How It All Ends fanfic ;D Then I suddenly remembered Puck of Pook's Hill -- write that Fulke himself is sick to death of a dropsy -- and I thought, HANG ON! WE HAVEN'T SEEN THE BODY!

RE: On the twists and turns... ext_4128236 May 16 2017, 18:14:00 UTC

I just completed reading the book. I can tell you that I found out about Gen being the boy in the kitchens. 😊 It occured to me about half way of that scene when Kamet said that he met the boy in the gardens first when he was hiding behind a bush. I got so excited that I immediately went back to the beginning of that scene and read it really carefully. I was almost sure by the time I finished rereading because Costis was so "hmm, this could not happened, that boy must have been a liar"...

On the other hand I almost missed the Nahuseresh part... it occured to me only toward the end and even then i was not sure about it...

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