#cheshire castle library card

[cheshire-castle-library]

November 28, 2023 | A Darker Shade of Magic - 001

I decided to do this anyway, and maybe its cringe or annoying, but I'm still excited about this book even a few exhausting Uni days later. I'm also hoping to like.... prevent myself from falling off of reading by giving myself some interaction to do with it?? This is very much going to be a Spoiler-filled series of posts (assuming I keep up with this), so please be warned. I'm probably going to use Keep Reading cuts and tags so I'm not super annoying with this.

I made it through the first true chapter, and I'm honestly really excited I picked up this book. I recognized the author's name from Bookblr posts about Viscious, but I have that in audiobook form and I already knew I was going to be spending too much at the Barns and Noble that night, so I didn't pick it up. Instead I was really drawn in by the blurb on A Darker Shade of Magic, so I took the chance on it and it proceeded to sit, egging me on, in the corner of my consciousness for the next few days. I'd even started reading something else I bought that day! But something about the vaguely Vash the Stampede figure on the front (and His association with the last book I got brainworms reading) and the idea of a setting of not only one period London, but many, and I could no longer hold myself back. Its Finals, what's better than starting a new obsession? ...

Something odd that I didn't really notice until I got to the page with the big roman numeral 2 on it is that the chapters are broken into sub-chapters like some light novels I've read; I've never seen that in a western novel before, but I also maybe don't read a lot of non-textbooks these days so who knows if that's more common than I imagine. But structurally, it makes the transitions of scenes nice and clean, so its maybe something I'd like to play with in my own writing. I've been really enjoying how Schwab doesn't explain every little detail, but still gives us enough of whats important. The way Kell uses his magic, the way Kell takes care of his appearance, the colour and act of drawing blood - but not so much the transitionary actions when they aren't characterizing or important. When he was leaving the bridge, in 1-3 for instance, we got Kell's little flex of wrist to still the stream and make it reflective, and Schwab spent the time to explain relaxing the wrist when voices carried from other parts of the park; but we didn't get a, "and Kell stood, before walking off the bridge". Instead it was just a "Kell continued on his way". It honestly answers some questions I've had with my own writing, that I've been brunting up against with my NaNo novel this month. How much do I need to explain for the audience to see the motions? I think my difficulty with imagined pictures makes me assume you need a lot more detail to conjure up a scene than is really necessary. I'm also thoroughly enjoying Kell's character. There's a certain stylishness that's innate with the coat of many coats, that honestly resonates with me via my favorite tabletop OC I play. Also a kind of snarky, cocky, stylish, magic-user; I'd like to imagine what chaos Ashton and Kell might get up to if left in a room together. Though the discussions of the rules of Magic would be very interesting, because the Blood of Heroes Sorcery power is much more the Halloween Town "Want something and then let yourself have it", while the magic system of the Many London's seems more structured so far. Though there's this hint in Kell's relationship to magic, that it might not be so different. Something that's interesting to me about it is that the "elemental magics" are less will and word and more just the will part; but the magic described as "true magic" has a language associated. Something feels logically backwards to me about that - implying that the "elements" (which includes Bones) are less natural than the true magic. But then again, the True Magic is life itself, so maybe it makes sense that life is the underlying true magic. But why is the true magic tied to something of human construction - language - while the others are controlled in a more intuitive way?

I'm really excited to learn more!

[charismaofobedience]

also i assumed that shuffles wouldn’t have sekais but it would be so funny if they did because what would the flambe shuffle sekai be like.. the polar express but on fire?

OK HI SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO ANSWER KSJEKFJID but yeah!!! honestly the shuffles work as both having or not having sekais, i originally did have the idea only because it'd be insanely funny for me to have both la mort sekai being this big goth cold castle where nagisa just stays in the library because otherwise hed get lost 4 minutes max, sakumas walking around fully used to the atmosphere, mayoi hiding in places and kohaku confused and fully lost + YEAH THE FLAMBE SEKAI. no one there knows how the hell to command a train and they're all rushing towards their impending doom as ibara and yuzuru fight on the roof of the train + rinne and subaru try to learn how to make the train to faster (tomoya is suffering). it's not even because it makes sense it's fully just because i think the shuffle sekais would be funny gknrkfjd

YEAH!!!! queen of hearts miku and her silly soldiers... <3 either the other vocaloids are also card soldiers or maybe even other characters? because honestly cheshire cat len is just too funny to think of <3

and oooout, yeah!!! when i was first thinking of them i did also think itd make more sense if it was like the leo/need sekai since haha friends with a star theme, so i do really like the idol training + planetarium one!!!

YES FOR THE CRAZY B DINNER ONE!!! i was thinking what else could it be since it'd make a bit less sense for kohaku if it was a nightclub, and a dinner is so good!!!! cute miku using one of those cute waitress clothes with rollerblades and everything being bee themed... <3

also ooooh, yeah!!! i think it'd def be very interesting if the mama sekai went from a empty and eerie wild west town in the beginning to somewhere happy and exciting with lots of festival stands as he slowly progresses and stop pushing others away... oooo...

[dry-valleys]

"Rather deathe than false of Faythe”

Tatton Park came into the Egerton family in 1598; Sir Thomas Egerton, one of the rising Protestant official class who had benefited from the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536 and the rise of the administrative state, bought the land with money from his career as Lord Chancellor of England.

(Although the son of a nobleman, and obviously a talented man, Thomas had been born out of wedlock and did not inherit wealth; his gifts alone would not have been enough to get him to the top if he’d lived a hundred years before. He was able to get where he did because of his education at Oxford University, from being a Member of Parliament, and the new official careers open to men like him in the Tudor age).

Thomas, the first of a centuries-long line of Egertons in public life, extended a house which already stood here, though it’;s unknown who exactly built it. The Old Hall is still around, though it was not lived in for long because John Egerton (1679-1724),  great-great-grandson of Thomas, had a new house built in 1716.

Little remains of this house, as between 1780 and 1813 lords  Samuel Egerton (1711-80), William Egerton (1746-1806) and Wilbraham Egerton (1781-1856) employed Samuel Wyatt and his nephew, Lewis, to build a new house on the same site. (These Egertons were all, in an Egerton tradition, local leaders and Members of Parliament)

You can see that the Wyatts did a fine job; it’s still here, and I went inside for the first time in June 2022 (only the downstairs was open, though I hope to see the upstairs very soon).

Please see here, here and here for the garden, which was remade at the same time; I go into the garden’s history and more about the family there.

The Egertons, though rooted in Cheshire soil, profited from the new industries; they owned a quarry in nearby Runcorn, from which much of the sandstone to build the mansion was quarried.

The Egertons gained when, after the railway came to Knutsford, the nearby town most of which they owned, in 1863. They also owned land in the boming industrial city of Manchester, which was put to use as workers’ houses whose rent came here, they owned land around the Manchester Ship Canal and Wilbraham Egerton (1832-1909; grandson of the above Wlbraham Egerton) was chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal Company.

The highest point for Tatton came around this time, in 1887, when the second Wilbraham Egerton (also a Member of Parliament, like his father William) entertained the Prince and Princess of Wales, who in 1901 became King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

In 1906, Country Life magazine said that “there has been a park here since time immemorial” and noted that the second Wilbraham Egerton opened the garden to visitors on Saturday afternoons; the hall’s links to Knutsford are longer than the National Trust ownership which began in 1958 after Maurice (1874-1958), fourth and last Baron Egerton, left it to the nation in his will.

Maurice, who is remembered in a permanent exhibition here, was a fascinating man, a pioneer of motorcars, photography and flying, who fought in WW1 in the navy, but, never marrying or finding Cheshire to be truly his home, spent much of his time in Kenya, where he is fondly remembered for being better than most of the white settlers in Kenya, founding (1938-54) a castle and (1939) what is still Egerton University.

Kenya, though it still reveres Maurice, became an independent state in 1963, showing (as does the sale to the NT) that his world had gone out, the first intimations of which came when Maurice’s father (Wilbraham’s brother), Alan, who (following so many of his forefathers) had served as the local Member of Parliament since 1885, was voted out in 1906. No Egerton held public office after that.

But as you can see the house stands with (2,3) entrance hall, (4) card room, (5) library (which holds Fox’s Book of Martyrs and many other Prod books- the Egertons obviously remembered what they owed their start in life to!), (6) music room, (7,8) drawing room, (9) dining room, (10) yellow drawing room (used as a sitting room by the family, unlike the more formal drawing room). (I look forward to sharing the servants’ quarters and work stations in a later post).

A big Indian wedding was being held when I went, therefore the upstairs could not be seen, though I will come back to see it and share my findings with you soon. It shows that the Egerton traditions of grandeur and openness are still being followed and discovered by anyone lucky enough to find their way here.

[justagirlwithblog]

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I know I kind of cheated in some cases but I wasn't able to choose! :D I tag: @malcolmbrighteyes, @pattoyourkatto, @freckle-queen, @cheshire-castle-library, @pentagraphing, @omg-physics, @sipping-on-acorn-juice and @floof-butt. :)

painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // cake or pie // bath or shower // blue or yellow // roller-coasters or bumper cars // iced tea or hot tea // left side of the bed or right side of the bed // zip-up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // rings or necklaces // comfort or style // sneakers or flip-flops // bowling or mini-golf // pasta or pizza

I was tagged by @artsymaddie to answer these, thanks for thinking of me!

I'll tag @queenofworry @bizzyfish @smallerthantherain and @godzelle . Of course, anyone who wants to is more than welcome to join in ☺️!