#pen&des

I did! In fact, I reread it before finally, belatedly, replying to this!

Tbh it was not one of my favorites. I think LMB has a very strong voice as a narrator, and unfortunately this makes her less good at multiple-POV stories because they get a little same-y, and that does NOT work when 2 of your POV characters are 11-year-old girls. Those should sound different than the middle-aged man.

One time they get captured by pirates, just by unfortunate coincidence (and also probably the will of the Bastard), and the pirates end up paying a ransom to get rid of them.

This kinda applies to every protagonist in the World of Five Gods books, but: ongoing personifications of the idea that sometimes you receive a miracle, and sometimes you are the miracle for someone else.

Desdemona is scared of heights. One time, they have to basically rappel down the side of a cliff, and she explodes multiple seagulls to cope.

LMB is clearly having fun figuring out how you can cleverly use pure destructive power for good, or at least very selective harm, especially in the human body. Pen & Des are also having fun, Pen in a particularly nerdy way. As the series goes on, he gets increasingly disappointed that no one else knows more than him, such that they could learn by comparing notes.

Pen: It’s natural that other sorcerers, and really anyone with the Sight, are surprised by the strength and density of Desdemona. I wish laypeople would stop eyeing me with concern just because I wear the sleeve-braids of a temple sorcerer, though.