Dragon Quill

Risa’s the first in line when Sonia calls them to come up. Roland would have been, but Connor threw an arm out like a turnstile to let Risa get to the stairs first.

Connor continues to be a dick for no reason!

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Part Three
Transit

So we’re one-fourth done in terms of “parts” although they don’t seem to be even sections. In total length, we’re edging toward halfway done.

This one opens with a BBC article about a Ukrainian hospital that was accused of taking babies and cutting them up for organs, with speculation that they might also have been interested in stem cells. I can’t find any followup on it, only that everyone ran with the stem cells thing despite (or likely because of) Ukraine using fetal tissue for stem cells and so not needing them from newborns, while they obviously did want the organs.

Why is it here? Because everyone knows abortion is really about murdering babies for science.

On to the chapter. It’s Lev.

“Ain’t no one gonna tell you what’s in your heart,” he tells Lev. “You gotta find that out for yourself.”
Lev and his new travel companion walk along train tracks, surrounded by thick, brushy terrain.
“You got it in your heart to run from unwinding, ain’t no one can tell you it’s the wrong thing to do, even if it is against the law. The good Lord wouldn’t have put it in your heart if it wasn’t right. You listenin’, Fry? ‘Cause this here is wisdom. Wisdom you can take to the grave, then dig it up again when you need some solace. Solace—that means ‘comfort.'”

It’s time for the author to remind us that he can only write identical characters or really annoying ones.

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Risa’s turn again.

So they spend three weeks getting moved between safe houses. That much movement really seems like it’d just attract more attention. And the safe houses themselves only allow five or six, because ??? author says so. Also for no reason they like to shuffle the kids but they let Risa and Connor stay together because they pretend to be a couple, because that’s the only kind of relationship that counts.
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The Fatigues arrive with Christmas dinner an hour late. It’s the same old slop, but the Fatigues wear Santa hats. Impatience rules the evening. Everyone’s so hungry, they crowd noisily around, like it’s a food delivery in a famine, and to make it worse, there are only two Fatigues there tonight to serve the meal instead of the usual four.

I do like that the book is being pretty consistent with time. Earlier Lev and annoying kid were saying it was Thanksgiving, now it’s Christmas. It’s still annoying that it’s impossible to figure out time or location based on the actual description of their surroundings, but less than if that was the only way to know.
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Part Four
Destinations

Part four already?

The book continues to be “hip” about the “internet” and this time has a quote about ebay telling someone they can’t sell their soul on ebay because either it doesn’t exist or it’s considered a human part which you can’t sell on ebay. I think this is mostly there because the author just thought it was cool.

Then, proving the author is not at all hip, the chapter is titled Pawnbroker because yeah, those will totally still be all over the place a hundred years after ebay.

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Another giant chapter, and look who it’s about.

The day after Connor explained to me why I should sympathize with his parents getting rid of him, the adults he didn’t bother getting to help Risa wake them up early and rush out.
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This chapter opens informing us that Risa is unaware of what happened with Connor’s group, in case we were confused and thought she was psychic.

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Lev again! It’s sad that I’m kind of happy about that. Lev is the only one doing shit.
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Part Five
Graveyard

Part five already! And yet going by chapters we’re not yet halfway done.

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Now it’s Risa’s turn to illustrate what I said last chapter about this setup really not seeming like it’s the best way to minimize friction.

Her residency begins with an exercise in humility.

Also I will bet right now that this is not how Connor’s chapter goes.
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This chapter just goes on. And on. And fucking on. The author thinks Connor is the hottest shit in the desert so why wouldn’t you want thousands of words about him?
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Continuing our adventures in Connor is a terrible person and also a sue the book insists we should love, Connor’s invited into the admiral’s quarters to fix something because sue.
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So, we’re reached the halfway point by chapter count. Quite a bit farther by page count. And I really can’t stand another chapter of this at the moment, so break time.

Often these involve going over how to fix things and still keep the general plotline, but instead let’s go over how there are plenty of good stories you can tell with these elements and the author didn’t because he’s a bad person who prefers writing propaganda for kids.

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Where Lev was between the time he left CyFi and his arrival at the Graveyard is less important than where his thoughts resided. They resided in places colder and darker than the many places he hid.
He had survived the month through a string of unpleasant compromises and crimes of convenience—whatever was necessary to keep himself alive.

So yeah, the idea the novella could explain his behavior is a retcon, as is the very idea he stumbled onto a “chancefolk” reservation.
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Yup, the viewpoint character for Ch37 is seriously “Emby and the Admiral”. Book, you have a simple format and you can’t even stick to it? It’s not like you’ve been shy in past chapters to just have a tiny couple-paragraph extra chapter for a different viewpoint character when you want to add something that wasn’t covered.
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