regshoe

I was unfamiliar with the history of the Rising (which included being entirely innocent of Culloden) on my first read-through, and I have to say, Broster built the foreboding doom very well: the exhaustion and hunger and demoralization was extremely evocative, and whatever was going to happen after the end of the chapter couldn't possibly be good, that much was clear. However, I'm torn on her choice to entirely skip the battle and its aftermath, even in summary. Perhaps this comment is better left for next week, but I was left floundering in quite a big hole of bewildered ?????? by the time-and-pov skip of the coming chapter. (That said, I acknowledge I was probably never her imagined target audience, so.)

I really liked the chapter with Alison. I love how loving and affectionate their relationship is, and for all Ewen's talk in the Prologue of carrying her off, he's ultra-careful to never let himself be intimidating or cruel with her, however desperately he wants them to be married while they still can. (I'm reminded of that description near the beginning of the Gleam in the North: Like many large, strong men, Ewen Cameron was extraordinarily gentle with creatures that were neither. It's something that I love about Ewen.) I'm glad that they had their two days together here, for courage against everything that's coming. And here is the second time a ring is given as a gift! Gurer ner n ahzore bs fznyy zbzragf guebhtubhg gur abiry jurer Xrvgu vf pnfg cnenyyry gb Nyvfba -- gur bofreingvba gung cebcurpvrf bsgra fubj bar'f fcbhfr, gur jnl Rjra guvaxf bs obgu gur fuvryvat naq uvf jrqqvat avtug nf ubyl, gur jnl vg vf Xrvgu jub raqf hc pneelvat arkg gb uvf urneg gur ybpx bs Rjra'f unve zrnag sbe Nyvfba -- naq V guvax guvf tvsg bs n evat nf n jrqqvat cerfrag vf cneg bs gung frevrf jurer Xrvgu'f fvtavsvpnapr vf yvxrarq gb Nyvfba'f.

As for Ewen almost blowing himself up for love of Lochiel, and Lochiel's grief over Ewen nearly having done so, and also the various MacLarens' similar devotion to Ewen caught in glimpses throughout these two chapters... Ewen is so unlike Keith in this respect: he is deeply embedded in a wide circle of people who love deeply, devotedly, and unreservedly. Loving is a thing that you do as a part of living, as natural and necessary as breathing air, and is deeply entangled with duty and honour and loyalty, inseparable from any of them. It is such a marked contrast to Keith's emotional isolation, and I think that contrast is fundamental to several things that are coming.

And I have to say, Lachlan's perversity is growing on me, this read-through. He does what he wants (but only out of devotion to Ewen, of course!), and whenever Ewen tries to rein him in, Lachlan immediately goes for extreme overreaction and threatens suicide, thereby ensuring that he can continue to do what he wants. It's 100% clear that Ewen hasn't the least idea how to manage him. Lrf, V'z jryy njner guvf jvyy nyy raq va grnef, ohg sbe gur zbzrag, uvf novyvgl gb pbzcyrgryl syhzzbk Rjra znxrf zr ynhtu.