#kate liveblogs her audio library

[eidetictelekinetic]

So, given what happened next, it's very bleak... but Cedric and Harry fighting over who should get the Triwizard Cup is, in itself, pretty funny.

[onlyknowwhaticando]

You know, we never do find out why Alex flipped sides - yes, he was Roger’s squire, but...

I kinda have this weird headcanon that there’s a mental link between him and Roger, and that’s why Alex seems to go almost as, well, off-kilter as Roger in Lioness Rampant. It might also explain why he seems almost robotic when he and Alanna duel in In The Hand of the Goddess.

Back to my actual liveblogging, Liam and George meeting is fun. George meeting Thayet is also fun. Reading this book the first time after I had read the Daine, Aly, and some of Kel’s books was also fun because it turned the Alanna series into a prequel of sorts.

[silvertonguedopportunist]

I love how many scandalous marriages happen among the extended Tudor family. I mean there are so many, it's hilarious.

[eidetictelekinetic]

Han and Leia teasing Karrde about Shada is even better in audiobook form 😂

[eidetictelekinetic]

Ok but the scene where Fake!Moody demonstrates the Cruciatus Curse in front of the boy whose parents he helped torture into madness is just - it's -

I'm not minimizing Harry's reaction to the Killing Curse, but the personal aspect to Crouch Jr. demonstrating that in front of Neville is horrifying. It's one of the less obvious most brutal moments in the series to me, actually.

And then Crouch Jr. offers him tea and, and fake sympathy, like what the fuck? Was it a flash of conscience, did he get his kicks from it, what the fuck?!

And I wonder why Neville volunteered it. I suppose he did it himself because he knew someone would, it was better to name it himself and know precisely when it was coming.

[eidetictelekinetic]

OK I am pretty sure the creepiest image in all the earlier Tortall (or Emelan) books is Ozorne crushing the tiny Numair simulacrum in his hands while it screams and he smiles

And it's still one of the creepiest scenes she's done, though probably not the worst after killing devices or unmagic.

[eidetictelekinetic]

So I'm listening to the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone audiobook and...

OK, look. I love Hagrid but the end of the reveal chapter (Keeper of the Keys) bothers me. The reader knows Dudley is a bully. Hagrid may well suspect, though I don't think there's any obvious clues in the scene. Maybe he saw some things while tracking the Dursleys? But I just... can't be comfortable with an adult taking out his anger at another adult/pair of adults by hexing their eleven-year-old. Hagrid is angry with Petunia and especially Vernon who won't quit objecting. Aiming at Dudley... bothers me.

(I'm not keen on the Ton-Tongue Toffee prank in GoF either but Fred is also a teenager, and well aware that Dudley is a bully. Magic still makes it unequal but it's less... discomfiting, somehow.)

[eidetictelekinetic]

OK listening to Emperor Mage after rereading Tempests and Slaughter was an error

Knowing what Arram and Ozorne were, listening to the voice actors playing them as they became... It hurts.

[eidetictelekinetic]

The guy who does Rikash is really good at the vocal part of what I call the "poisoned sugar smile", aka the smile and voice you learn in customer service when you must be sweet and friendly because customer but you are imagining punching someone's teeth out

And Rikash is aiming that at Ozorne rn

[eidetictelekinetic]

Coram's rants are so much better in audiobook version

[eidetictelekinetic]

OK so thoughts on listening to Prisoner of Azkaban audiobook, the chapter where Harry hears Fudge, Flitwick, Hagrid, McGonagall, and Rosmerta talking about the official story of what happened to the Potters

Bellatrix would have gone into a rage at hearing her cousin called Voldemort's most faithful servant even if Sirius had been a Death Eater

Also, Fudge's eyewitness account of the spell explosion. That's legit, I think, how horrible it was. And that was real. It's oddly easy to forget that betraying the Potters isn't the only thing Pettigrew framed Sirius for, easy to think of Pettigrew as the sullen cowering lackey of book 4 onward, but he did that. Cornered, he was as vicious as the rest of them.

[eidetictelekinetic]

-listens to the Horcruxes chapter of HBP-

OK so... I'm pretty sure the diary was Riddle's first Horcrux - he acquired the ring first but I think he wore it for a while before making a Horcrux of it. For one thing even if Dumbledore is wrong that he stopped wearing it as soon as he made it a Horcrux, he wore it at Hogwarts. Wearing a Horcrux at Hogwarts? Seems risky. (Harry's Horcrux status was likely hidden by his own soul.)

But also, if Riddle was going to make a Horcrux with Harry's death, did he bring an artifact with him? Is it still in the Godric's Hollow ruins?

[eidetictelekinetic]

Stiloit would have made an interesting emperor... I'm imagining an AU where it really was university rogues who undid the barrier and there needs to be a diplomatic mission to Stiloit's court to figure out an alliance.

My current working theory is either Mikrom or Ozorne's mother and Chioké are behind Stiloit's death. I don't think Ozorne is certain enough that he wants to be ruler to be actively involved in maneuvering to become heir - though he might suspect that such moves are being made on his behalf.

[eidetictelekinetic]

"I can't fight any chaos queen, I can't even fight bullies!"

Oh Arram, you're adorable.

[eidetictelekinetic]

Every time I read (or now listen to) Otherworld books, and it comes to Haunted or other post-death Eve stories, I'm torn between Eve/Kristof (who are actually my canon faves) + Eve and Trsiel as celestial justice fighter bros, or an eventual endgame of Kristof/Eve/Trsiel.

I mean... They have eternity, so it's... not impossible?

[eidetictelekinetic]

Ok but Hand of Isis has this throwaway comment from Cleopatra that has me thinking of Cleopatra/Antony/Fulvia, which, just...

Well, it's intriguing.