- She notes, too, that the Avar seem to have a “‘quiverfull’ mindset” concerning reproduction, i.e. that they have as many children as quickly as possible.

So their solution to killing so many children due to their own stupidity is to...breed more cannon fodder to potentially kill. Brilliant. I'm never going to get over how absolutely braindead these guys have to be to think continuing to do this is a good idea. They're committing self-inflicted genocide.

- Yes, this is another Axis chapter, wherein Axis is finally told things we have known for quite a while already and we will have more Drama.

I feel like a distressingly alarming amount of this book is little more than a giant "As you know, Jim". Having the readers know things that the characters don't can be done, and done very well, but the way to do it isn't to constantly reiterate those things we already know under the guise of characters thinking about it. It's tedious, it's repetitive, it's a horrible writing choice, and I hate this book.

- His reaction at seeing Raum and Shra had been “sympathy, not hatred”. So we were supposed to see that as weird?

Every time Axis shows a basic positive human emotion, we're either supposed to be stunned, or fawn over him for being so kind and noble. Douglass, are you...are you a robot? Maybe an alien? You're clearly some kind of creature that thinks they understand human emotions, but in reality, they have absolutely no clue what they're talking about.

- Hagen did not even die due to Azhure (and why would she stick a knife in his belly to kill him?)

That actually would have been a decent revenge, if she had known what she was doing. Stomach wounds are horribly painful, and usually slow to kill. If she wanted him to suffer the way she suffered, that would be a good method. I'm kind of sorry that's not what happened, honestly. It would have been some excellent character development for Azhure. Was she justified in giving him a slow death after all he did to her? Should she have just run without severely injuring him? Does this mean she's evil? What's the right thing to feel about his death? Happiness? Relief? Apathy? I feel like Douglass tried to go in this direction, but it just didn't work.

- Ogden and Veremund said they could help him and are now with him. Well, we have seen that the Sentinels can heal concussions, so these are the right people to ask… though I cannot help but wonder if they wanted to implant messages in his mind, too.

Those two idiots shouldn't be put in charge of babysitting a stack of bricks, let alone an injured person! They're probably just as likely to eat him as they are to heal him. Never let them be alone with anyone. Ever.

- No one has a dissenting opinion, no one finds any nuance, since they are all a hive mind, apparently.

Yeah, it feels like Douglass took the whole "nobody had a bad word to say about him" thing and cranked it up to a hundred, and now expects us to take it seriously.

- I would also like to see how accurate they are in stitching the wound when they cannot see what they are doing, and to see Hagen get buried in his tear-soaked habit. This makes so little sense.

To be fair, since the wound is going to be covered up, they don't have to make the stitching pretty. It would be respectful to do the best work you can even on a corpse, but somehow, I don't think that's one of their considerations.

- Still, if they cannot have a burning, the villagers do have a burial “to entertain themselves with”, and they find it quite fortunate that Ogden and Veremund are there to “conduct the Service of the Dead”.

Oh, cool, so their wailing and sadness was all just a show, if the burial is viewed as nothing more than an entertainment. I know that the concept of professional mourners exist, so the tears don't actually have to come from a place of sadness or grief, but the way that's phrased just makes it feel like the villagers are bored, and hey, something happened! We don't have to be bored anymore!

- So Axis makes to go in, wondering if Arne will still believe in him if he knows “who, what, he really [is]”.

Axis, you don't even know who or what you really are, so this statement kind of falls flat. You have an idea, sure, but maybe don't start moping around, woe is you, how can you hold up under such hardship when you only have the word of one person, who is a stranger to you. He could be lying, for all you know!

- Then I am genuinely happy that Axis came in here; they have dragged this out long enough already, after all (and they are reminding me of Brom now).

*twitches violently, her hand creeping towards the nearest cactus*

- He jokes that Belial’s smile must have “charmed her just enough to stop the killer blow”. Belial says that he always had a way with the women and then closes his eyes as he gets a “spasm of pain”.

In a better book, this would actually be a cute moment of playful banter between close friends. Even though it's Axis, I don't completely hate it, but because it's Axis, I can't quite bring myself to smile over it like I otherwise might have.

- Both there and here, the phrasing does not quite fit the gravity of the scene

Not really a comment on the content of the paragraph, but I read that as "the gravy of the scene" at first, and it cracked me up, so I wanted to share.

- (not in the least because you cannot exactly “slide” a knife or sword in)

Actually, it's quite common to use "slide" when you're talking about some kind of blade going into a body. It might be because extremely sharp blades really can go through flesh like its butter, but regardless, it's a genuine description.

- Sure, the Brothers Ogden and Veremund have died long since, but I am not happy about them continuing to impersonate them.

If I didn't hate these two so much, I might be willing to cut them some slack and say that since they've been using those identities for who knows how long, that's the form they're most comfortable in, and the one they would choose to return to if they had to change into someone else. As it is, though...fuck 'em.