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372 pages, Hardcover
First published July 18, 2023
The needle-thin alleys between every building sag, the earthen ground always muddy because it is sweating with overexertion.
”He lets them suffer in their filth and misery instead, even those who once lived under his very roof”
“Though his cheeks have a babyish roundness to them, his limbs are stick-thin with the mark of hunger.”
“He could have chosen life instead…a miserable, dirty life, hungry and cramped, persistently in fear of debt collectors”
“Instructions from the palace.” August’s voice is dull, emotionless. It has to be, because the guards are still listening. “We must punish insurrectionists against the throne, and when this village is razed, we will use the barren land to build a security base and oversee business regarding the wall.”
“Because I’m not doing this to rule,” she says quietly. “I just want to stop King Kasa.” [...] “This is Kasa’s rot,” Calla continues steadily. “And when he’s gone, no child will go hungry again.” [...] “Calla Tuoleimei is too clever to be fooled into such elementary thinking, too sensible to believe a kingdom could change so wholly by merely swapping one mortal man for another. Though…perhaps she is simply weary enough to be fooled.”
”This is someone else’s body, but in San-Er, that detail is as normal as jumping. When it comes to this sort of use, bodies are only accessories, discardable and utilized based on need.”
”All the hospitals in San-Er are like this. Overworked and overpacked, underpaid and understaffed. The people who run shifts are either short-tempered or entirely apathetic.”
”Where other bodies are only impenetrable when they’re already invaded, the Weisannas are born as if they are doubled, though they have but one set of qi. While they can occupy others with ease, others cannot occupy them back.”
“Kasa’s father had started them in his previous reign, and what began as a yearly one-on-one battle to the death eventually grew to a multicontestant affair, expanding past the coliseum and using all of San-Er as a playing field [...] Now, the games are a thrill that anyone can participate in, a solution to a kingdom simmering with complaints. Don’t worry if your babies drop dead because they have hollowed into starved husks, King Kasa declares, Put your name in the lottery, slaughter only eighty-seven of your fellow citizens and be awarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams..”
“The games make jumping legal for the players, after all–they must answer for it by providing some sort of care. Collateral casualties who are gravely injured must be taken to the hospital free of cost; collateral casualties whose bodies are destroyed must be paid handsomely, and if their qi is killed alongside it, then their family members get money.”